How to format to other number bases besides decimal, hexadecimal? [duplicate] - rust

Question

Currently I'm using the following code to return a number as a binary (base 2), octal (base 8), or hexadecimal (base 16) string.
fn convert(inp: u32, out: u32, numb: &String) -> Result<String, String> {
match isize::from_str_radix(numb, inp) {
Ok(a) => match out {
2 => Ok(format!("{:b}", a)),
8 => Ok(format!("{:o}", a)),
16 => Ok(format!("{:x}", a)),
10 => Ok(format!("{}", a)),
0 | 1 => Err(format!("No base lower than 2!")),
_ => Err(format!("printing in this base is not supported")),
},
Err(e) => Err(format!(
"Could not convert {} to a number in base {}.\n{:?}\n",
numb, inp, e
)),
}
}
Now I want to replace the inner match statement so I can return the number as an arbitrarily based string (e.g. base 3.) Are there any built-in functions to convert a number into any given radix, similar to JavaScript's Number.toString() method?

Answer 1

For now, you cannot do it using the standard library, but you can:
use my crate radix_fmt
or roll your own implementation:
fn format_radix(mut x: u32, radix: u32) -> String {
let mut result = vec![];
loop {
let m = x % radix;
x = x / radix;
// will panic if you use a bad radix (< 2 or > 36).
result.push(std::char::from_digit(m, radix).unwrap());
if x == 0 {
break;
}
}
result.into_iter().rev().collect()
}
fn main() {
assert_eq!(format_radix(1234, 10), "1234");
assert_eq!(format_radix(1000, 10), "1000");
assert_eq!(format_radix(0, 10), "0");
}

Answer 2

If you wanted to eke out a little more performance, you can create a struct and implement Display or Debug for it. This avoids allocating a String. For maximum over-engineering, you can also have a stack-allocated array instead of the Vec.
Here is Boiethios' answer with these changes applied:
struct Radix {
x: i32,
radix: u32,
}
impl Radix {
fn new(x: i32, radix: u32) -> Result<Self, &'static str> {
if radix < 2 || radix > 36 {
Err("Unnsupported radix")
} else {
Ok(Self { x, radix })
}
}
}
use std::fmt;
impl fmt::Display for Radix {
fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
let mut x = self.x;
// Good for binary formatting of `u128`s
let mut result = ['\0'; 128];
let mut used = 0;
let negative = x < 0;
if negative {
x*=-1;
}
let mut x = x as u32;
loop {
let m = x % self.radix;
x /= self.radix;
result[used] = std::char::from_digit(m, self.radix).unwrap();
used += 1;
if x == 0 {
break;
}
}
if negative {
write!(f, "-")?;
}
for c in result[..used].iter().rev() {
write!(f, "{}", c)?;
}
Ok(())
}
}
fn main() {
assert_eq!(Radix::new(1234, 10).to_string(), "1234");
assert_eq!(Radix::new(1000, 10).to_string(), "1000");
assert_eq!(Radix::new(0, 10).to_string(), "0");
}
This could still be optimized by:
creating an ASCII array instead of a char array
not zero-initializing the array
Since these avenues require unsafe or an external crate like arraybuf, I have not included them. You can see sample code in internal implementation details of the standard library.

Answer 3

Here is an extended solution based on the first comment which does not bind the parameter x to be a u32:
fn format_radix(mut x: u128, radix: u32) -> String {
let mut result = vec![];
loop {
let m = x % radix as u128;
x = x / radix as u128;
// will panic if you use a bad radix (< 2 or > 36).
result.push(std::char::from_digit(m as u32, radix).unwrap());
if x == 0 {
break;
}
}
result.into_iter().rev().collect()
}

Answer 4

This is faster than the other answer:
use std::char::from_digit;
fn encode(mut n: u32, r: u32) -> Option<String> {
let mut s = String::new();
loop {
if let Some(c) = from_digit(n % r, r) {
s.insert(0, c)
} else {
return None
}
n /= r;
if n == 0 {
break
}
}
Some(s)
}
Note I also tried these, but they were slower:
https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/collections/struct.VecDeque.html#method.push_front
https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/string/struct.String.html#method.push
https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/vec/struct.Vec.html#method.insert