Question

I have a very simple question: In C++, is there an in-built or straightforward way to group a large (~1000) number of bits (or bools) in a single label such that the inbuilt bit operators function as they do for fundamentals?

e.g. for a long you might write:

unsigned long maximum = ~0;

or one might use:

somenum>>;

Is there an analogous way to do this for a block of memory of arbitrary size?

If not, what are some good alternatives ? I have thought of bit <vectors>, a C union, etc., but these all seem to require handwritten routines for the various bit operations.

Answer 1

Yep! It’s called std::bitset and does just that.

Hope this helps!