convert a cipher to binary

[DeathLeap]

Suppose I have this ciphertext:

╟êZÇN^Θ·@▒cI┴F√wî▀-:  ⌡┤╡╨╨ETh«╣å"▒7┌ΦWU<═êâº╝7Rσ&╥,òN║P%╕╠WεYAîτ▄k─&V╜│k╝úΦwC
√╩ú╕;     V       çü_e(gdp=α≤╒$@
>▒Ya∩> 

How can I convert it to binary? I am so confused. I couldn't find anything that works.

[jonnin]

What do you mean binary? You want to print 001001011100101010101010110 type stuff? Or you want to re-encrypt it to a full byte including unprintable chars? Or something else?

[DeathLeap]

I want to represent each character in binary (10101010101 stuff, yes).

[integralfx]

You can use std::bitset.

#include <bitset>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>

int main()
{
    constexpr std::size_t wchar_bits{ sizeof( wchar_t ) * 8 };
    std::cout << "wchar_t bits = " << wchar_bits << "\n\n";
    
    std::wstring cipher{ L"╟êZÇN^Θ·@▒cI┴F√wî▀-:  ⌡┤╡╨╨ETh«╣å\"▒7┌ΦWU<═êâº╝7Rσ&╥,òN║P%╕╠WεYAîτ▄k─&V╜│k╝úΦwC
√╩ú╕;     V       çü_e(gdp=α≤╒$@>▒Ya∩> " };
    for( wchar_t wc : cipher )
        std::cout << std::bitset<wchar_bits>{ static_cast<unsigned long long>( wc ) } << '\n';
}

[DeathLeap]

I want a function that returns the output. How can I do that?

What will the function type be?

[integralfx]

What will the function type be?

Well that depends on how you want to handle the binary string. std::bitset has a to_string() member function, so you could concatenate the strings to one long string. You could also have a std::vector<std::string> to store the binary interpretation of each character. I've given you the code that you asked for, it's up to you how you want to implement it.