std::bit_width

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Memory management library

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

General utilities library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Strings library

Text processing library

Numerics library

Date and time library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution control library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Utilities library

Language support Type support (basic types, RTTI) Library feature-test macros (C++20) Program utilities Variadic functions initializer_list (C++11) is_constant_evaluated (C++20) is_within_lifetime (C++26) source_location (C++20) Coroutine support (C++20) Contract support (C++26) Three-way comparison three_way_comparablethree_way_comparable_with (C++20)(C++20) strong_ordering (C++20) weak_ordering (C++20) partial_ordering (C++20) common_comparison_category (C++20) compare_three_way_result (C++20) compare_three_way (C++20) strong_order (C++20) weak_order (C++20) partial_order (C++20) compare_strong_order_fallback (C++20) compare_weak_order_fallback (C++20) compare_partial_order_fallback (C++20)   is_eqis_ltis_lteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)   is_neqis_gtis_gteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)

General utilities Function objects Bit manipulation (C++20) bitset hash (C++11) Relational operators (deprecated in C++20) rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator>    rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>= Integer comparison functions cmp_equalcmp_lesscmp_less_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)   cmp_not_equalcmp_greatercmp_greater_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20) in_range (C++20) Swap and type operations swap ranges::swap (C++20) exchange (C++14) declval (C++11) to_underlying (C++23) forward (C++11) forward_like (C++23) move (C++11) move_if_noexcept (C++11) as_const (C++17) Common vocabulary types pair tuple (C++11) optional (C++17) any (C++17) variant (C++17) tuple_size (C++11) tuple_element (C++11) apply (C++17) make_from_tuple (C++17) expected (C++23)

 

Bit manipulation

bit_cast (C++20)

byteswap (C++23)

Integral powers of 2

has_single_bit (C++20)

bit_ceil (C++20)

bit_floor (C++20)

bit_width (C++20)

Rotating

rotl (C++20)

rotr (C++20)

Counting

countl_zero (C++20)

countl_one (C++20)

countr_zero (C++20)

countr_one (C++20)

popcount (C++20)

Endian

endian (C++20)

 

Defined in header <bit>
template< class T > constexpr int bit_width( T x ) noexcept;		(since C++20)

If x is not zero, calculates the number of bits needed to store the value x, that is, \(1 + \lfloor \log_2(x) \rfloor\)1 + floor(log2(x)). If x is zero, returns zero.

This overload participates in overload resolution only if T is an unsigned integer type (that is, unsigned char, unsigned short, unsigned int, unsigned long, unsigned long long, or an extended unsigned integer type).

Parameters

x

-

unsigned integer value

Return value

Zero if x is zero; otherwise, one plus the base-2 logarithm of x, with any fractional part discarded.

Notes

This function is equivalent to return std::numeric_limits<T>::digits - std::countl_zero(x);.

Feature-test macro	Value	Std	Feature
__cpp_lib_int_pow2	202002L	(C++20)	Integral power-of-2 operations

Example

Run this code

#include <bit>
#include <bitset>
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    for (unsigned x{}; x != 010; ++x)
        std::cout << "bit_width( "
                  << std::bitset<4>{x} << " ) = "
                  << std::bit_width(x) << '\n';
}

Output:

bit_width( 0000 ) = 0
bit_width( 0001 ) = 1
bit_width( 0010 ) = 2
bit_width( 0011 ) = 2
bit_width( 0100 ) = 3
bit_width( 0101 ) = 3
bit_width( 0110 ) = 3
bit_width( 0111 ) = 3

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 3656	C++20	the return type of bit_width is the same as the type of its function argument	made it int

See also

countl_zero (C++20)

counts the number of consecutive 0 bits, starting from the most significant bit (function template)