7/16/2017 Combining UNION and STRUCT for Easy Nybbling of Arduino Data in C/C++ | Utopia Mechanicus

Combining UNION and STRUCT for

Easy Nybbling of Arduino Data in
C/C++
Posted on July 13, 2011 by David Pankhurst

This was a question I encountered recently how to take a stream of bytes and break them
into parts not just individual bytes, but bits of bytes.

In this case, the code was 2 nybbles in a byte (yes, really, nybbles, where a nybble is 4 bits).

A simple solution is to use bit operators to split out the code:

1 unsigned int a = (data>>4) & 0xF; // top 4 bits

2 unsigned int b = data & 0xF; // bottom 4 bits

Why & 0xF in the first line? Because if your data is more than 8 bits, you want to remove the
higher ones from the result (called masking), leaving only the single nybble of 4 bits.

The alternative is to use a union and a struct to combine the two:

1 union convertor
2 {
3 struct
4 {
5 byte type: 4;
6 byte number: 4;
7 } pieces;
8 byte whole;
9 };

Here, the union is between pieces and whole. whole is a byte (unsigned char, or 8 bits) and
pieces is a structure of 4 bits (type) then 4 bits (number).

Because the values in a union share the same physical space, you just pop data in one end,
and get it out the other:

1 union convertor data;

2 data.whole=215;
3 unsigned int a=data.pieces.type; // the type of each entry
4 unsigned int b=data.pieces.number; // the number of each entry

It works the other way, too:

1 union convertor data;

2 data.pieces.type=1;
3 data.pieces.number=15;
4 unsigned int result=data.whole; // type/number now one byte

Where unions and structs work well together is with complicated bitfield layouts. For example,
say you have a 32 bit value that needs to swap nybbles in each byte (perhaps reading from an
unusual data format). Then you could create a union for the whole thing, and swap very easily.
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One option is this:

01 union convertor2
02 {
03 struct
04 {
05 byte a1: 4;
06 byte a2: 4;
07 byte b1: 4;
08 byte b2: 4;
09 byte c1: 4;
10 byte c2: 4;
11 byte d1: 4;
12 byte d2: 4;
13 } nybble;
14 unsigned long whole;
15 };
16
17 union convertor2 temp, data;
18 temp.whole=91303134;
19 data.nybble.a1 = temp.nybble.a2;
20 data.nybble.a2 = temp.nybble.a1;
21 data.nybble.b1 = temp.nybble.b2;
22 data.nybble.b2 = temp.nybble.b1;
23 data.nybble.c1 = temp.nybble.c2;
24 data.nybble.c2 = temp.nybble.c1;
25 data.nybble.d1 = temp.nybble.d2;
26 data.nybble.d2 = temp.nybble.d1;

data now contains the swapped values.

The result? unions provide a simple way to translate from one data entry to another so give
them a try.

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2 THOUGHTS ON COMBINING UNION AND STRUCT FOR EASY NYBBLING OF ARDUINO DATA IN C/C++

Gerard
on December 27, 2015 at 5:54 am said:

Hi. Please tell me which IDE you are using for Arduino.

admin
on December 29, 2015 at 7:31 am said:

The IDE from arduino: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software

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