I2BIN()
Convert Harbour numeric into signed short encoded bytes
- Syntax
- I2BIN( <nNumber> ) --> cBuffer
- Arguments
- <nNumber> is a numeric value to convert (decimal digits are ignored).
- Returns
- I2BIN() return two bytes character string that contain 16 bit encoded signed short integer (least significant byte first).
- Description
- I2BIN() is one of the low level binary conversion functions, those functions convert between Harbour numeric and a character representation of numeric value. I2BIN() take a numeric integer value and convert it into two bytes of encoded 16 bit signed short integer.
- You might ask what is the need for such functions, well, first of all it allow you to read/write information from/to a binary file (like extracting information from DBF header), it is also a useful way to share information from source other than Harbour (C for instance).
- I2BIN() is the opposite of BIN2I()
- Examples
- // Update DBF "last update" date
- #include "fileio.ch"
- FUNCTION main()
- LOCAL nHandle, cYear, cMonth, cDay
- use test
- ? "Original update date is:", lupdate()
- close
- nHandle := fopen( "test.dbf", FO_READWRITE )
- IF nHandle > 0
- fseek( nHandle, 1, )
- cYear := I2BIN( 68 )
- cMonth := I2BIN( 8 )
- cDay := I2BIN( 1 )
- fwrite( nHandle, cYear , 1 ) // write only the first byte
- fwrite( nHandle, cMonth, 1 )
- fwrite( nHandle, cDay , 1 )
- fclose( nHandle )
- use test
- ? "New update date is:", lupdate()
- close
- ELSE
- ? "Can not open file"
- ENDIF
- RETURN NIL
- Status
Ready
- Compliance
- I2BIN() works exactly like CA-Clipper's I2BIN()
- Files
- Library is rtl
- See Also