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66 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
66 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
# constexpr-to-string
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**Features:**
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* Convert any integral type to a string at compile-time
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* Supports converting to any base between 2 and 36 inclusive
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* No external dependencies, only includes `type_traits` for template parameter checking
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* Supports custom character types, e.g. `to_string<123, 10, wchar_t>`
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**How to use:**
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This single header file provides a `to_string` utility, which may be used as below:
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```cpp
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const char *number = to_string<2147483648999954564, 16>; // produces "1DCD65003B9A1884"
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puts(number);
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puts(to_string<-42>); // produces "-42"
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puts(to_string<30, 2>); // produces "11110"
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```
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With `to_string`, all that will be found in program disassembly are the resulting string literals, as if you wrote the strings yourself.
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Try it [on Compiler Explorer](https://godbolt.org/z/T-MFoh).
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# How it works
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The basic structure of `to_string` is shown below:
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```cpp
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template<auto N, unsigned int base, /* N type-check and base bounds-check */>
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struct to_string_t {
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char buf[]; // Size selection explained later.
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constexpr to_string_t() {} // Converts the integer to a string stored in buf.
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constexpr operator char *() {} // These allow for the object to be implicitly converted
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constexpr operator const char *() {} // to a character pointer.
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};
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template<auto N, unsigned int base = 10>
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to_string_t<N, base> to_string; // Simplifies usage: to_string_t<N, base>() becomes to_string<N, base>.
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```
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Since the number and base are template parameters, each differing `to_string` use will get its own character buffer.
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The integer/string conversion is done using a simple method I learned over the years, where the string is built in reverse using `n % base` to calculate the value of the lowest digit:
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```cpp
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constexpr to_string_t() {
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auto ptr = buf + sizeof(buf) / sizeof(buf[0]);
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*--ptr = '\0';
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for (auto n = N < 0 ? -N : N; n; n /= base)
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*--ptr = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"[n % base];
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if (N < 0)
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*--ptr = '-';
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}
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```
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As you may have noticed, `buf` needs to be given a size for all this to work; in fact, the above code relies on the buffer having a size equal to the generated string (or else `buf[0]` would still be uninitialized). This is actually the case: a lambda is used within `buf`'s declaration to count how many characters long the string will ultimately be. This counting is done in a manner similar to conversion loop shown above:
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```cpp
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char buf[([] {
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unsigned int len = N >= 0 ? 1 : 2; // Need one byte for '\0', two if there'll be a minus
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for (auto n = N < 0 ? -N : N; n; len++, n /= base);
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return len;
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}())];
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```
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