instance method
Integer#bit_length
() -> ::Integer
bit_length → integer
numeric.rb
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# File tmp/rubies/ruby-4.0.0/numeric.rb, line 184
def bit_length
Primitive.attr! :leaf
Primitive.cexpr! 'rb_int_bit_length(self)'
end
Returns the number of bits of the value of self, which is the bit position of the highest-order bit that is different from the sign bit (where the least significant bit has bit position 1). If there is no such bit (zero or minus one), returns zero.
This method returns ceil(log2(self < 0 ? -self : self + 1))>.
Example
(-2**1000-1).bit_length # => 1001 (-2**1000).bit_length # => 1000 (-2**1000+1).bit_length # => 1000 (-2**12-1).bit_length # => 13 (-2**12).bit_length # => 12 (-2**12+1).bit_length # => 12 -0x101.bit_length # => 9 -0x100.bit_length # => 8 -0xff.bit_length # => 8 -2.bit_length # => 1 -1.bit_length # => 0 0.bit_length # => 0 1.bit_length # => 1 0xff.bit_length # => 8 0x100.bit_length # => 9 (2**12-1).bit_length # => 12 (2**12).bit_length # => 13 (2**12+1).bit_length # => 13 (2**1000-1).bit_length # => 1000 (2**1000).bit_length # => 1001 (2**1000+1).bit_length # => 1001
For Integer n, this method can be used to detect overflow in Array#pack:
Example
if n.bit_length < 32 [n].pack('l') # No overflow. else raise 'Overflow' end