Quickest way to convert a base 10 number to any base in .NET?
I recently blogged about this. My implementation does not use any string operations during the calculations, which makes it very fast. Conversion to any numeral system with base from 2 to 36 is supported:
/// <summary>
/// Converts the given decimal number to the numeral system with the
/// specified radix (in the range [2, 36]).
/// </summary>
/// <param name="decimalNumber">The number to convert.</param>
/// <param name="radix">The radix of the destination numeral system (in the range [2, 36]).</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static string DecimalToArbitrarySystem(long decimalNumber, int radix)
{
const int BitsInLong = 64;
const string Digits = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ";
if (radix < 2 || radix > Digits.Length)
throw new ArgumentException("The radix must be >= 2 and <= " + Digits.Length.ToString());
if (decimalNumber == 0)
return "0";
int index = BitsInLong - 1;
long currentNumber = Math.Abs(decimalNumber);
char[] charArray = new char[BitsInLong];
while (currentNumber != 0)
{
int remainder = (int)(currentNumber % radix);
charArray[index--] = Digits[remainder];
currentNumber = currentNumber / radix;
}
string result = new String(charArray, index + 1, BitsInLong - index - 1);
if (decimalNumber < 0)
{
result = "-" + result;
}
return result;
}
I've also implemented a fast inverse function in case anyone needs it too: Arbitrary to Decimal Numeral System.
Convert.ToString can be used to convert a number to its equivalent string representation in a specified base.
Example:
string binary = Convert.ToString(5, 2); // convert 5 to its binary representation
Console.WriteLine(binary); // prints 101
However, as pointed out by the comments, Convert.ToString only supports the following limited - but typically sufficient - set of bases: 2, 8, 10, or 16.
Update (to meet the requirement to convert to any base):
I'm not aware of any method in the BCL which is capable to convert numbers to any base so you would have to write your own small utility function. A simple sample would look like that (note that this surely can be made faster by replacing the string concatenation):
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// convert to binary
string binary = IntToString(42, new char[] { '0', '1' });
// convert to hexadecimal
string hex = IntToString(42,
new char[] { '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9',
'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F'});
// convert to hexavigesimal (base 26, A-Z)
string hexavigesimal = IntToString(42,
Enumerable.Range('A', 26).Select(x => (char)x).ToArray());
// convert to sexagesimal
string xx = IntToString(42,
new char[] { '0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9',
'A','B','C','D','E','F','G','H','I','J','K','L','M','N','O','P','Q','R','S','T','U','V','W','X','Y','Z',
'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x'});
}
public static string IntToString(int value, char[] baseChars)
{
string result = string.Empty;
int targetBase = baseChars.Length;
do
{
result = baseChars[value % targetBase] + result;
value = value / targetBase;
}
while (value > 0);
return result;
}
/// <summary>
/// An optimized method using an array as buffer instead of
/// string concatenation. This is faster for return values having
/// a length > 1.
/// </summary>
public static string IntToStringFast(int value, char[] baseChars)
{
// 32 is the worst cast buffer size for base 2 and int.MaxValue
int i = 32;
char[] buffer = new char[i];
int targetBase= baseChars.Length;
do
{
buffer[--i] = baseChars[value % targetBase];
value = value / targetBase;
}
while (value > 0);
char[] result = new char[32 - i];
Array.Copy(buffer, i, result, 0, 32 - i);
return new string(result);
}
}
Update 2 (Performance Improvement)
Using an array buffer instead of string concatenation to build the result string gives a performance improvement especially on large number (see method IntToStringFast). In the best case (i.e. the longest possible input) this method is roughly three times faster. However, for 1-digit numbers (i.e. 1-digit in the target base), IntToString will be faster.
FAST "FROM" AND "TO" METHODS
I am late to the party, but I compounded previous answers and improved over them. I think these two methods are faster than any others posted so far. I was able to convert 1,000,000 numbers from and to base 36 in under 400ms in a single core machine.
Example below is for base 62. Change the BaseChars array to convert from and to any other base.
private static readonly char[] BaseChars =
"0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz".ToCharArray();
private static readonly Dictionary<char, int> CharValues = BaseChars
.Select((c,i)=>new {Char=c, Index=i})
.ToDictionary(c=>c.Char,c=>c.Index);
public static string LongToBase(long value)
{
long targetBase = BaseChars.Length;
// Determine exact number of characters to use.
char[] buffer = new char[Math.Max(
(int) Math.Ceiling(Math.Log(value + 1, targetBase)), 1)];
var i = buffer.Length;
do
{
buffer[--i] = BaseChars[value % targetBase];
value = value / targetBase;
}
while (value > 0);
return new string(buffer, i, buffer.Length - i);
}
public static long BaseToLong(string number)
{
char[] chrs = number.ToCharArray();
int m = chrs.Length - 1;
int n = BaseChars.Length, x;
long result = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < chrs.Length; i++)
{
x = CharValues[ chrs[i] ];
result += x * (long)Math.Pow(n, m--);
}
return result;
}
EDIT (2018-07-12)
Fixed to address the corner case found by @AdrianBotor (see comments) converting 46655 to base 36. This is caused by a small floating-point error calculating Math.Log(46656, 36) which is exactly 3, but .NET returns 3 + 4.44e-16, which causes an extra character in the output buffer.
One can also use slightly modified version of the accepted one and adjust base characters string to it's needs:
public static string Int32ToString(int value, int toBase)
{
string result = string.Empty;
do
{
result = "0123456789ABCDEF"[value % toBase] + result;
value /= toBase;
}
while (value > 0);
return result;
}