Question

Can I format an Erlang binary so that each byte is written in hex? I.e.,

> io:format(???, [<<255, 16>>]).
<<FF, 10>>

I don’t see an obvious way to do it in io:format documentation, but perhaps I am simply missing one? Converting a binary to list and formatting its elements separately is too inefficient.

Answer 1

No, there is not such formating option but you can do something like:

io:format("<<~s>>~n", [[io_lib:format("~2.16.0B",[X]) || <<X:8>> <= <<255,16>> ]]).

There is a lot faster solution if you need.

-module(bin_to_hex).

-compile([native, {hipe, [o3]}]).

-export([bin_to_hex/1]).

bin_to_hex(B) when is_binary(B) ->
  bin_to_hex(B, <<>>).

-define(H(X), (hex(X)):16).

bin_to_hex(<<>>, Acc) -> Acc;
bin_to_hex(Bin, Acc) when byte_size(Bin) band 7 =:= 0 ->
  bin_to_hex_(Bin, Acc);
bin_to_hex(<<X:8, Rest/binary>>, Acc) ->
  bin_to_hex(Rest, <<Acc/binary, ?H(X)>>).

bin_to_hex_(<<>>, Acc) -> Acc;
bin_to_hex_(<<A:8, B:8, C:8, D:8, E:8, F:8, G:8, H:8, Rest/binary>>, Acc) ->
  bin_to_hex_(
    Rest,
    <<Acc/binary,
      ?H(A), ?H(B), ?H(C), ?H(D), ?H(E), ?H(F), ?H(G), ?H(H)>>).

-compile({inline, [hex/1]}).

hex(X) ->
  element(
    X+1, {16#3030, 16#3031, 16#3032, 16#3033, 16#3034, 16#3035, 16#3036,
          16#3037, 16#3038, 16#3039, 16#3041, 16#3042, 16#3043, 16#3044,
          16#3045, 16#3046, 16#3130, 16#3131, 16#3132, 16#3133, 16#3134,
          16#3135, 16#3136, 16#3137, 16#3138, 16#3139, 16#3141, 16#3142,
          16#3143, 16#3144, 16#3145, 16#3146, 16#3230, 16#3231, 16#3232,
          16#3233, 16#3234, 16#3235, 16#3236, 16#3237, 16#3238, 16#3239,
          16#3241, 16#3242, 16#3243, 16#3244, 16#3245, 16#3246, 16#3330,
          16#3331, 16#3332, 16#3333, 16#3334, 16#3335, 16#3336, 16#3337,
          16#3338, 16#3339, 16#3341, 16#3342, 16#3343, 16#3344, 16#3345,
          16#3346, 16#3430, 16#3431, 16#3432, 16#3433, 16#3434, 16#3435,
          16#3436, 16#3437, 16#3438, 16#3439, 16#3441, 16#3442, 16#3443,
          16#3444, 16#3445, 16#3446, 16#3530, 16#3531, 16#3532, 16#3533,
          16#3534, 16#3535, 16#3536, 16#3537, 16#3538, 16#3539, 16#3541,
          16#3542, 16#3543, 16#3544, 16#3545, 16#3546, 16#3630, 16#3631,
          16#3632, 16#3633, 16#3634, 16#3635, 16#3636, 16#3637, 16#3638,
          16#3639, 16#3641, 16#3642, 16#3643, 16#3644, 16#3645, 16#3646,
          16#3730, 16#3731, 16#3732, 16#3733, 16#3734, 16#3735, 16#3736,
          16#3737, 16#3738, 16#3739, 16#3741, 16#3742, 16#3743, 16#3744,
          16#3745, 16#3746, 16#3830, 16#3831, 16#3832, 16#3833, 16#3834,
          16#3835, 16#3836, 16#3837, 16#3838, 16#3839, 16#3841, 16#3842,
          16#3843, 16#3844, 16#3845, 16#3846, 16#3930, 16#3931, 16#3932,
          16#3933, 16#3934, 16#3935, 16#3936, 16#3937, 16#3938, 16#3939,
          16#3941, 16#3942, 16#3943, 16#3944, 16#3945, 16#3946, 16#4130,
          16#4131, 16#4132, 16#4133, 16#4134, 16#4135, 16#4136, 16#4137,
          16#4138, 16#4139, 16#4141, 16#4142, 16#4143, 16#4144, 16#4145,
          16#4146, 16#4230, 16#4231, 16#4232, 16#4233, 16#4234, 16#4235,
          16#4236, 16#4237, 16#4238, 16#4239, 16#4241, 16#4242, 16#4243,
          16#4244, 16#4245, 16#4246, 16#4330, 16#4331, 16#4332, 16#4333,
          16#4334, 16#4335, 16#4336, 16#4337, 16#4338, 16#4339, 16#4341,
          16#4342, 16#4343, 16#4344, 16#4345, 16#4346, 16#4430, 16#4431,
          16#4432, 16#4433, 16#4434, 16#4435, 16#4436, 16#4437, 16#4438,
          16#4439, 16#4441, 16#4442, 16#4443, 16#4444, 16#4445, 16#4446,
          16#4530, 16#4531, 16#4532, 16#4533, 16#4534, 16#4535, 16#4536,
          16#4537, 16#4538, 16#4539, 16#4541, 16#4542, 16#4543, 16#4544,
          16#4545, 16#4546, 16#4630, 16#4631, 16#4632, 16#4633, 16#4634,
          16#4635, 16#4636, 16#4637, 16#4638, 16#4639, 16#4641, 16#4642,
          16#4643, 16#4644, 16#4645, 16#4646}).

Which performs 90MB/s on mine notebook i5 CPU M 520 @ 2.40GHz when tested on 10MB chunks. But optimization was brought to the extreme there. It can also do 97MB if using 16bit lookup but it is crazy and too long to post here.