Question:
I want to convert a signed integer into a 16-bit binary as part of a SELECT statement. For example:
select myint, howeveritsdone as Binaryfrom mytablemyint Binary---- -----------------137 1111111101110111-100 1111111110011100
How can I do this?
Answer:
The kernel of the solution is that 16 is 2 to the fourth power. Each position in the hex string can be translated into four binary digits to create the final result. To do this, create a lookup table of the following structure and data:
cHex cBin 0 0000 1 0001 2 0010 3 0011 4 0100 5 0101 6 0110 7 0111 8 1000 9 1001 A 1010 B 1011 C 1100 D 1101 E 1110 F 1111
Take the hex result that comes from the binary keyword and decode it using the lookup table, stacking your result with the least-significant bit on the right (backwards).
(Thanks to David Cressey for help with this problem.)
