[c] Getting each individual digit from a whole integer

Let's say I have an integer called 'score', that looks like this:

int score = 1529587;

Now what I want to do is get each digit 1, 5, 2, 9, 5, 8, 7 from the score using bitwise operators(See below edit note).

I'm pretty sure this can be done since I've once used a similar method to extract the red green and blue values from a hexadecimal colour value.

How would I do this?

Edit
It doesn't necessarily have to be bitwise operators, I just thought it'd be simpler that way.

This question is related to c bitwise-operators

The answer is


This solution gives correct results over the entire range [0,UINT_MAX] without requiring digits to be buffered.

It also works for wider types or signed types (with positive values) with appropriate type changes.

This kind of approach is particularly useful on tiny environments (e.g. Arduino bootloader) because it doesn't end up pulling in all the printf() bloat (when printf() isn't used for demo output) and uses very little RAM. You can get a look at value just by blinking a single led :)

#include <limits.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int
main (void)
{
  unsigned int score = 42;   // Works for score in [0, UINT_MAX]

  printf ("score via printf:     %u\n", score);   // For validation

  printf ("score digit by digit: ");
  unsigned int div = 1;
  unsigned int digit_count = 1;
  while ( div <= score / 10 ) {
    digit_count++;
    div *= 10;
  }
  while ( digit_count > 0 ) {
    printf ("%d", score / div);
    score %= div;
    div /= 10;
    digit_count--;
  }
  printf ("\n");

  return 0;
}

Agree with previous answers.

A little correction: There's a better way to print the decimal digits from left to right, without allocating extra buffer. In addition you may want to display a zero characeter if the score is 0 (the loop suggested in the previous answers won't print anythng).

This demands an additional pass:

int div;
for (div = 1; div <= score; div *= 10)
    ;

do
{
    div /= 10;
    printf("%d\n", score / div);
    score %= div;
} while (score);

#include<stdio.h>

int main() {
int num; //given integer
int reminder;
int rev=0; //To reverse the given integer
int count=1;

printf("Enter the integer:");
scanf("%i",&num);

/*First while loop will reverse the number*/
while(num!=0)
{
    reminder=num%10;
    rev=rev*10+reminder;
    num/=10;
}
/*Second while loop will give the number from left to right*/
while(rev!=0)
{
    reminder=rev%10;
    printf("The %d digit is %d\n",count, reminder);
    rev/=10;
    count++; //to give the number from left to right 
}
return (EXIT_SUCCESS);}

RGB values fall nicely on bit boundaries; decimal digits don't. I don't think there's an easy way to do this using bitwise operators at all. You'd need to use decimal operators like modulo 10 (% 10).


Don't reinvent the wheel. C has sprintf for a reason. Since your variable is called score, I'm guessing this is for a game where you're planning to use the individual digits of the score to display the numeral glyphs as images. In this case, sprintf has convenient format modifiers that will let you zero-pad, space-pad, etc. the score to a fixed width, which you may want to use.


I've made this solution, it-s simple instead read an integer, i read a string (char array in C), then write with a for bucle, the code also write the sum of digits

// #include<string.h>

scanf("%s", n);
int total = 0;

for (int i = 0; i< strlen(n); i++){
    printf("%c", n[i]);
    total += (int)(n[i]) -48;
}

printf("%d", total);

Usually, this problem resolve with using the modulo of a number in a loop or convert a number to a string. For convert a number to a string, you may can use the function itoa, so considering the variant with the modulo of a number in a loop.


Content of a file get_digits.c

$ cat get_digits.c 

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>


// return a length of integer
unsigned long int get_number_count_digits(long int number);

// get digits from an integer number into an array
int number_get_digits(long int number, int **digits, unsigned int *len);

// for demo features
void demo_number_get_digits(long int number);


int
main()
{
    demo_number_get_digits(-9999999999999);
    demo_number_get_digits(-10000000000);
    demo_number_get_digits(-1000);
    demo_number_get_digits(-9);
    demo_number_get_digits(0);
    demo_number_get_digits(9);
    demo_number_get_digits(1000);
    demo_number_get_digits(10000000000);
    demo_number_get_digits(9999999999999);
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}


unsigned long int
get_number_count_digits(long int number)
{
    if (number < 0)
        number = llabs(number);
    else if (number == 0)
        return 1;

    if (number < 999999999999997)
        return floor(log10(number)) + 1;

    unsigned long int count = 0;
    while (number > 0) {
        ++count;
        number /= 10;
    }
    return count;
}


int
number_get_digits(long int number, int **digits, unsigned int *len)
{
    number = labs(number);

    // termination count digits and size of a array as well as
    *len = get_number_count_digits(number);

    *digits = realloc(*digits, *len * sizeof(int));

    // fill up the array
    unsigned int index = 0;
    while (number > 0) {
        (*digits)[index] = (int)(number % 10);
        number /= 10;
        ++index;
    }

    // reverse the array
    unsigned long int i = 0, half_len = (*len / 2);
    int swap;
    while (i < half_len) {
        swap = (*digits)[i];
        (*digits)[i] = (*digits)[*len - i - 1];
        (*digits)[*len - i - 1] = swap;
         ++i;
    }

    return 0;
}


void
demo_number_get_digits(long int number)
{
    int *digits;
    unsigned int len;

    digits = malloc(sizeof(int));

    number_get_digits(number, &digits, &len);

    printf("%ld --> [", number);
    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < len; ++i) {
        if (i == len - 1)
            printf("%d", digits[i]);
        else
            printf("%d, ", digits[i]);
    }
    printf("]\n");

    free(digits);
}

Demo with the GNU GCC

$~/Downloads/temp$ cc -Wall -Wextra -std=c11 -o run get_digits.c -lm
$~/Downloads/temp$ ./run
-9999999999999 --> [9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9]
-10000000000 --> [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
-1000 --> [1, 0, 0, 0]
-9 --> [9]
0 --> [0]
9 --> [9]
1000 --> [1, 0, 0, 0]
10000000000 --> [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
9999999999999 --> [9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9]

Demo with the LLVM/Clang

$~/Downloads/temp$ rm run
$~/Downloads/temp$ clang -std=c11 -Wall -Wextra get_digits.c -o run -lm
setivolkylany$~/Downloads/temp$ ./run
-9999999999999 --> [9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9]
-10000000000 --> [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
-1000 --> [1, 0, 0, 0]
-9 --> [9]
0 --> [0]
9 --> [9]
1000 --> [1, 0, 0, 0]
10000000000 --> [1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
9999999999999 --> [9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9]

Testing environment

$~/Downloads/temp$ cc --version | head -n 1
cc (Debian 4.9.2-10) 4.9.2
$~/Downloads/temp$ clang --version
Debian clang version 3.5.0-10 (tags/RELEASE_350/final) (based on LLVM 3.5.0)
Target: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Thread model: posix

//this can be easily understandable for beginners     
int score=12344534;
int div;
for (div = 1; div <= score; div *= 10)
{

}
/*for (div = 1; div <= score; div *= 10); for loop with semicolon or empty body is same*/
while(score>0)
{
    div /= 10;
    printf("%d\n`enter code here`", score / div);
    score %= div;
}