Question

I am looking for a way to convert a base-10 number into a base-N number where N can be large. Specifically i am looking at converting to base-85 and back again. Does anyone know a simple algorithm to perform the conversion? Ideally it would provide something like:

to_radix(83992, 85) -> [11, 53, 12]

Any ideas are appreciated!

Roja

Answer 1

That was kind of an interesting question, so I went a little overboard:

class Integer
  def to_base(base=10)
    return [0] if zero?
    raise ArgumentError, 'base must be greater than zero' unless base > 0
    num = abs
    return [1] * num if base == 1
    [].tap do |digits|
      while num > 0
        digits.unshift num % base
        num /= base
      end
    end
  end
end

This works for arbitrary bases. It only works for integers, although there is no reason why it couldn’t be extended to work with any arbitrary number. Also, it ignores the sign of the number. Again, there is no reason why it must do that, but mainly I didn’t want to have to come up with a convention for returning the sign in the return value.

class Integer
  old_to_s = instance_method(:to_s)
  define_method :to_s do |base=10, mapping=nil, sep=''|
    return old_to_s.bind(self).(base) unless mapping || base > 36
    mapping ||= '0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'
    return to_base(base).map {|digit| mapping[digit].to_s }.join(sep)
  end
end

[Fixnum, Bignum].each do |klass|
  old_to_s = klass.instance_method(:to_s)
  klass.send :define_method, :to_s do |base=10, mapping=nil, sep=''|
    return old_to_s.bind(self).(base) unless mapping || base > 36
    return super(base, mapping, sep) if mapping
    return super(base)
  end
end

I also extended the to_s method so that it works with bases greater than 36. If you want to use a base greater than 36, you have to pass in a mapping object which maps the “digits” to strings. (Well, actually, all that is required is that you provide an object that responds to [] and returns something which responds to to_s. So, a string is perfect, but e.g. an array of integers also works.)

It also accepts an optional separator, which is used to separate the digits.

For example, this allows you to format an IPv4 address by treating it as a base-256 number and using the identity for the mapping and '.' as the separator:

2_078_934_278.to_s(256, Array.new(256) {|i| i }, '.') # => '123.234.5.6'

Here’s an (incomplete) testsuite:

require 'test/unit'
class TestBaseConversion < Test::Unit::TestCase
  def test_that_83992_in_base_85_is_11_53_12
    assert_equal [11, 53, 12], 83992.to_base(85)
  end
  def test_that_83992_in_base_37_is_1_24_13_2
    assert_equal [1, 24, 13, 2], 83992.to_base(37)
  end
  def test_that_84026_in_base_37_is_1_24_13_36
    assert_equal [1, 24, 13, 36], 84026.to_base(37)
  end
  def test_that_0_in_any_base_is_0
    100.times do |base|
      assert_equal [0], 0.to_base(base)
      assert_equal [0], 0.to_base(1 << base)
      assert_equal [0], 0.to_base(base << base)
    end
  end
  def test_that_84026_in_base_37_prints_1od_
    assert_equal '1od_', 84026.to_s(37, '0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz_')
  end
  def test_that_ip_address_formatting_works
    addr = 2_078_934_278
    assert_equal '123.234.5.6', addr.to_s(256, (0..255).to_a, '.')
    assert_equal '123.234.5.6', addr.to_s(256, Array.new(256) {|i| i}, '.')
  end
  def test_that_old_to_s_still_works
    assert_equal '84026', 84026.to_s
    assert_equal '1su2', 84026.to_s(36)
  end
end