Is it possible to parse a String into a Binary value?

Question

Hi and thanks in advance for any answers.

I wanted to know if there is a way to convert a string (for example str = "B10010"), to the same binary value (eg. int = B10010).

I wanna clarify that I wanna do this because it would be way easier to go back and forth between a charArray and string to change the one digit in the binary value, so if there is a better to do that (and I feel like there should be) I would love to know :)

Answer 1

To convert a string to a binary:

byte getByteFromString(char* str){
    // Don't accept strings less than 8 long
    if(strlen(str) < 8) return;
    byte retval;
    for (int i=0; i<8; i++){
       // shift over what's there
       retval = retval << 1;
       if(str[i] == 1){
          retval |= 1;
       }
    }
    return retval;
}
  

That answers your question, but I also saw this: I wanna clarify that I wanna do this because it would be way easier to go back and forth between a charArray and string to change the one digit in the binary value, so if there is a better to do that (and I feel like there should be) I would love to know :)

and I have to say no, this is a crazy way to do it. It is WAY easier to just work with binary values.

To set a bit in a binary value, OR with a byte with only that bit.

if bit is 0-7 marking the bit you want to set

value = value | (1 << bit);

To clear a bit, AND with a byte with only that bit cleared

value = value & ~(1<<bit);

Here is some more to read: https://docs.arduino.cc/learn/programming/bit-math