how do I print an unsigned char as hex in c++ using ostream?

Question

I want to work with unsigned 8-bit variables in C++. Either unsigned char or uint8_t do the trick as far as the arithmetic is concerned (which is expected, since AFAIK uint8_t is just an alias for unsigned char, or so the debugger presents it.

The problem is that if I print out the variables using ostream in C++ it treats it as char. If I have:

unsigned char a = 0;
unsigned char b = 0xff;
cout << "a is " << hex << a <<"; b is " << hex << b << endl;

then the output is:

a is ^@; b is 377

instead of

a is 0; b is ff

I tried using uint8_t, but as I mentioned before, that's typedef'ed to unsigned char, so it does the same. How can I print my variables correctly?

Edit: I do this in many places throughout my code. Is there any way I can do this without casting to int each time I want to print?

Answer 1

Use:

cout << "a is " << hex << (int) a <<"; b is " << hex << (int) b << endl;

And if you want padding with leading zeros then:

#include <iomanip>
...
cout << "a is " << setw(2) << setfill('0') << hex << (int) a ;

As we are using C-style casts, why not go the whole hog with terminal C++ badness and use a macro!

#define HEX( x )
   setw(2) << setfill('0') << hex << (int)( x )

you can then say

cout << "a is " << HEX( a );

Edit: Having said that, MartinStettner's solution is much nicer!

Answer 2

This will also work:

std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream& o, unsigned char c)
{
    return o<<(int)c;
}

int main()
{
    unsigned char a = 06;
    unsigned char b = 0xff;
    std::cout << "a is " << std::hex << a <<"; b is " << std::hex << b << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Answer 3

I would suggest using the following technique:

struct HexCharStruct
{
  char c;
  HexCharStruct(char _c) : c(_c) { }
};

inline std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& o, const HexCharStruct& hs)
{
  return (o << std::hex << (int)hs.c);
}

inline HexCharStruct hex(char _c)
{
  return HexCharStruct(_c);
}

int main()
{
  char a = 31;
  std:cout << hex(a) << std::endl;
}

It's short to write, has the same efficiency as the original solution and it lets you choose to use the "original" character output. And it's type-safe (not using "evil" macros :-))

Answer 4

I'd do it like MartinStettner but add an extra parameter for number of digits:

inline HexStruct hex(long n, int w=2)
{
  return HexStruct(n, w);
}
// Rest of implementation is left as an exercise for the reader

So you have two digits by default but can set four, eight, or whatever if you want to.

eg.

int main()
{
  short a = 3142;
  std:cout << hex(a,4) << std::endl;
}

It may seem like overkill but as Bjarne said: "libraries should be easy to use, not easy to write".