Reading from a binary file, outputting 0s and 1s as txt

[champion7891]

Hello!

Basically, I have a program that captures data from the serial port of the computer and saves it as a binary file whose output if opened in notepad is something like this:
ÿbýýýbýýýbýýýbýýýbýýýbýýýbýýý"ýýýbýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýý"ýýýbýýýbýýýbýý....

Now, I want to be able to open this file and actually read the bits sequentially. there are important patterns that I need to determine for a project that I am working on. Now, I know that a binary file could be open as someone posted the code in these forums, which I've edited to my purposes as:

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <cstring>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main(){
ifstream fin;
fin.open("LogicAnalyzer.txt",ifstream::binary|ifstream::ate);
int size;
size=(int) fin.tellg();
fin.seekg (0, ifstream::beg);
ofstream fout;
fout.open("output.txt");
char bindata[size];
while(!fin.eof()){    
   fin.read(bindata,size);
}   
fout<<bindata;
return 0;
}

Now, the problem is that the data that I've just read and out put in the file output.txt is the exact same. I can't understand it. What I require is an output files either containing 0's and 1's or HEX representation. I need this and can't do it through a HEX converter/viewer etc. because I have to search for patterns and stuff like that. Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks!

[ashishkumar]

I didn't understand the issue here. Isn't each char comprised of 8 bits. So the array of chars that you have read already has the bits, all you need to do is to scan each char bit by bit.

[coder777]

What I require is an output files either containing 0's and 1's or HEX representation.

Do you mean character representation? For Hex you can use the hex format of the stream: http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/iostream/ios_base/setf/

[writetonsharma]

first thing, dont put binary data in char. use unsigned char.

[champion7891]

Hello!
What I mean is that whatever data that I store in the char bindata, I want to be able to output in a text file as a character or integer sequence if one's and zero's

[z05DSL3A]

an idea:

int main()
{
    ifstream fin;
    fin.open("c:\\test.txt");
    
    unsigned char bindata;
    stringstream oss;

    while(fin.good())
    {    
        bindata = fin.get();
        if(fin.good())
        {
            for(int i = 0; i < 8; ++i)
            {
                unsigned char mask = 0x80;
                mask = mask >> i;
                oss << ((bindata & mask)? '1' : '0');
            }
        }
    } 

    std::cout << oss.str();
    
return 0;
}

[champion7891]

@Grey Wolf...that does not work....any other ideas?

[champion7891]

@coder777....does not work...the stuff that I read in the variable bindata, when I out put it as:

cout.setf ( ios::hex, ios::basefield );       // set hex as the basefield
cout.setf ( ios::showbase );                  // activate showbase
cout<<bindata; 

I get garbage rather than HEX

[coder777]

It must be:

cout.setf ( ios::hex, ios::basefield );       // set hex as the basefield
cout.setf ( ios::showbase );                  // activate showbase
for(int i = 0; i < size; ++)
{
  cout<<bindata[i]; // << ' '?
}

Ther might be an issue with signed/unsigned though. You also may want a space between the values.

What's the problem with Grey Wolf's solution?

[writetonsharma]

it will be garbage if you see them in text editor.. did you see that in any hex editor like notepad++ or ultraedit?

[coder777]

Ok, I should have checked it. This works:

cout.setf ( ios::hex, ios::basefield );       // set hex as the basefield
cout.setf ( ios::showbase );                  // activate showbase
for(int i = 0; i < size; ++i)
{
  cout<<(unsigned int) bindata[i] << ' '; // ?
}

EDIT: I checked Grey Wolf's algorithm also and it works fine

[z05DSL3A]

champion7891 wrote:

@Grey Wolf...that does not work....any other ideas?

I admit that it is probably not the most elegant solution but in principle it works fine, you just have to tailer it to your needs.