Issue 5749: Allow bin() to have an optional "Total Bits" argument. (original) (raw)

As it stands right now, bin() only shows the minimum number of bits to display the number, however I think having a "Total Bits" argument would be very, very useful for bin().

bin(value, [Total bits to display])

"Total bits to display" is an integer.

Here's how it should work:

bin(0x7F) '0b1111111' #Note, there are seven 1's there to represent the value 127 bin(0x7F, 8) '0b01111111' #Now there are eight bits displayed. bin(0xFF, 16) '0b0000000011111111' #This makes it a lot easier to read and compare binary numbers!