32 Bit Integer Mask

Question

I'm finishing up some CSE homework and I have a quick question about declaring integers of larger bit sizes. My task is to implement a function that returns 1 if any odd bit of x is 1 (assuming size of x is 32 bits) and returns 0 otherwise. Am I allowed to declare an integer with the bit value: 10101010101010101010101010101010 If so, are there any problems that could arise from this? If not, why not?? What alternatives do I have? My function: ``` int any_odd_one(unsigned x) { int mask = 10101010101010101010101010101010 if(x & mask) { return 1; } else { return 0; } } ``` Thanks in advance for any assistance! -Matt

Accepted Answer

You can't use binary literals in C. Instead, use hexadecimal or octal notation.

In your case, you'd use `unsigned mask = 0xaaaaaaaa` since `10101010...` is `0xaaaaaaaa` when expressed in hexadecimal (each `1010` is `a` in hex).

32 Bit Integer Mask

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