python - How to convert an integer to a string in any base?

Question

Python allows easy creation of an integer from a string of a given base via

int(str, base). 

I want to perform the inverse: creation of a string from an integer, i.e. I want some function int2base(num, base), such that:

int(int2base(x, b), b) == x

The function name/argument order is unimportant.

For any number x and base b that int() will accept.

This is an easy function to write: in fact it's easier than describing it in this question. However, I feel like I must be missing something.

I know about the functions bin, oct, hex, but I cannot use them for a few reasons:

• Those functions are not available on older versions of Python, with which I need compatibility with (2.2)

• I want a general solution that can be called the same way for different bases

• I want to allow bases other than 2, 8, 16

Related

• Python elegant inverse function of int(string, base)
• Integer to base-x system using recursion in python
• Base 62 conversion in Python
• How to convert an integer to the shortest url-safe string in Python?

Answer 1

If you need compatibility with ancient versions of Python, you can either use gmpy (which does include a fast, completely general int-to-string conversion function, and can be built for such ancient versions – you may need to try older releases since the recent ones have not been tested for venerable Python and GMP releases, only somewhat recent ones), or, for less speed but more convenience, use Python code – e.g., most simply:

import string
digs = string.digits + string.ascii_letters


def int2base(x, base):
    if x < 0:
        sign = -1
    elif x == 0:
        return digs[0]
    else:
        sign = 1

    x *= sign
    digits = []

    while x:
        digits.append(digs[int(x % base)])
        x = int(x / base)

    if sign < 0:
        digits.append('-')

    digits.reverse()

    return ''.join(digits)

Answer 2

Surprisingly, people were giving only solutions that convert to small bases (smaller than the length of the English alphabet). There was no attempt to give a solution which converts to any arbitrary base from 2 to infinity.

So here is a super simple solution:

def numberToBase(n, b):
    if n == 0:
        return [0]
    digits = []
    while n:
        digits.append(int(n % b))
        n //= b
    return digits[::-1]

so if you need to convert some super huge number to the base 577,

numberToBase(67854 ** 15 - 102, 577), will give you a correct solution: [4, 473, 131, 96, 431, 285, 524, 486, 28, 23, 16, 82, 292, 538, 149, 25, 41, 483, 100, 517, 131, 28, 0, 435, 197, 264, 455],

Which you can later convert to any base you want

Answer 3

"{0:b}".format(100) # bin: 1100100
"{0:x}".format(100) # hex: 64
"{0:o}".format(100) # oct: 144

Answer 4

def baseN(num,b,numerals="0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"):
    return ((num == 0) and numerals[0]) or (baseN(num // b, b, numerals).lstrip(numerals[0]) + numerals[num % b])

ref: http://code.activestate.com/recipes/65212/

Please be aware that this may lead to

RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in cmp

for very big integers.

Answer 5

>>> numpy.base_repr(10, base=3)
'101'

Note that numpy.base_repr() has a limit of 36 as its base. Otherwise it throws a ValueError

Answer 6

Recursive

I would simplify the most voted answer to:

BS="0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
def to_base(n, b): 
    return "0" if not n else to_base(n//b, b).lstrip("0") + BS[n%b]

With the same advice for RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in cmp on very large integers and negative numbers. (You could usesys.setrecursionlimit(new_limit))

Iterative

To avoid recursion problems:

BS="0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
def to_base(s, b):
    res = ""
    while s:
        res+=BS[s%b]
        s//= b
    return res[::-1] or "0"

Answer 7

Great answers! I guess the answer to my question was "no" I was not missing some obvious solution. Here is the function I will use that condenses the good ideas expressed in the answers.

• allow caller-supplied mapping of characters (allows base64 encode)
• checks for negative and zero
• maps complex numbers into tuples of strings

def int2base(x,b,alphabet='0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'):
    'convert an integer to its string representation in a given base'
    if b<2 or b>len(alphabet):
        if b==64: # assume base64 rather than raise error
            alphabet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/"
        else:
            raise AssertionError("int2base base out of range")
    if isinstance(x,complex): # return a tuple
        return ( int2base(x.real,b,alphabet) , int2base(x.imag,b,alphabet) )
    if x<=0:
        if x==0:
            return alphabet[0]
        else:
            return  '-' + int2base(-x,b,alphabet)
    # else x is non-negative real
    rets=''
    while x>0:
        x,idx = divmod(x,b)
        rets = alphabet[idx] + rets
    return rets

Answer 8

You could use baseconv.py from my project: https://github.com/semente/python-baseconv

Sample usage:

>>> from baseconv import BaseConverter
>>> base20 = BaseConverter('0123456789abcdefghij')
>>> base20.encode(1234)
'31e'
>>> base20.decode('31e')
'1234'
>>> base20.encode(-1234)
'-31e'
>>> base20.decode('-31e')
'-1234'
>>> base11 = BaseConverter('0123456789-', sign='$')
>>> base11.encode('$1234')
'$-22'
>>> base11.decode('$-22')
'$1234'

There is some bultin converters as for example baseconv.base2, baseconv.base16 and baseconv.base64.

Answer 9

def base(decimal ,base) :
    list = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
    other_base = ""
    while decimal != 0 :
        other_base = list[decimal % base] + other_base
        decimal    = decimal / base
    if other_base == "":
        other_base = "0"
    return other_base

print base(31 ,16)

output:

"1F"

Answer 10

http://code.activestate.com/recipes/65212/

def base10toN(num,n):
    """Change a  to a base-n number.
    Up to base-36 is supported without special notation."""
    num_rep={10:'a',
         11:'b',
         12:'c',
         13:'d',
         14:'e',
         15:'f',
         16:'g',
         17:'h',
         18:'i',
         19:'j',
         20:'k',
         21:'l',
         22:'m',
         23:'n',
         24:'o',
         25:'p',
         26:'q',
         27:'r',
         28:'s',
         29:'t',
         30:'u',
         31:'v',
         32:'w',
         33:'x',
         34:'y',
         35:'z'}
    new_num_string=''
    current=num
    while current!=0:
        remainder=current%n
        if 36>remainder>9:
            remainder_string=num_rep[remainder]
        elif remainder>=36:
            remainder_string='('+str(remainder)+')'
        else:
            remainder_string=str(remainder)
        new_num_string=remainder_string+new_num_string
        current=current/n
    return new_num_string

Here's another one from the same link

def baseconvert(n, base):
    """convert positive decimal integer n to equivalent in another base (2-36)"""

    digits = "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"

    try:
        n = int(n)
        base = int(base)
    except:
        return ""

    if n < 0 or base < 2 or base > 36:
        return ""

    s = ""
    while 1:
        r = n % base
        s = digits[r] + s
        n = n / base
        if n == 0:
            break

    return s

Answer 11

I made a pip package for this.

I recommend you use my bases.py https://github.com/kamijoutouma/bases.py which was inspired by bases.js

from bases import Bases
bases = Bases()

bases.toBase16(200)                // => 'c8'
bases.toBase(200, 16)              // => 'c8'
bases.toBase62(99999)              // => 'q0T'
bases.toBase(200, 62)              // => 'q0T'
bases.toAlphabet(300, 'aAbBcC')    // => 'Abba'

bases.fromBase16('c8')               // => 200
bases.fromBase('c8', 16)             // => 200
bases.fromBase62('q0T')              // => 99999
bases.fromBase('q0T', 62)            // => 99999
bases.fromAlphabet('Abba', 'aAbBcC') // => 300

refer to https://github.com/kamijoutouma/bases.py#known-basesalphabets for what bases are usable

EDIT: pip link https://pypi.python.org/pypi/bases.py/0.2.2

Answer 12

>>> import string
>>> def int2base(integer, base):
        if not integer: return '0'
        sign = 1 if integer > 0 else -1
        alphanum = string.digits + string.ascii_lowercase
        nums = alphanum[:base]
        res = ''
        integer *= sign
        while integer:
                integer, mod = divmod(integer, base)
                res += nums[mod]
        return ('' if sign == 1 else '-') + res[::-1]


>>> int2base(-15645, 23)
'-16d5'
>>> int2base(213, 21)
'a3'

Answer 13

A recursive solution for those interested. Of course, this will not work with negative binary values. You would need to implement Two's Complement.

def generateBase36Alphabet():
    return ''.join([str(i) for i in range(10)]+[chr(i+65) for i in range(26)])

def generateAlphabet(base):
    return generateBase36Alphabet()[:base]

def intToStr(n, base, alphabet):
    def toStr(n, base, alphabet):
        return alphabet[n] if n < base else toStr(n//base,base,alphabet) + alphabet[n%base]
    return ('-' if n < 0 else '') + toStr(abs(n), base, alphabet)

print('{} -> {}'.format(-31, intToStr(-31, 16, generateAlphabet(16)))) # -31 -> -1F

Answer 14

def int2base(a, base, numerals="0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"):
    baseit = lambda a=a, b=base: (not a) and numerals[0]  or baseit(a-a%b,b*base)+numerals[a%b%(base-1) or (a%b) and (base-1)]
    return baseit()

---

explanation

In any base every number is equal to a1+a2*base**2+a3*base**3... The "mission" is to find all a 's.

For everyN=1,2,3... the code is isolating the aN*base**N by "mouduling" by b for b=base**(N+1) which slice all a 's bigger than N, and slicing all the a 's that their serial is smaller than N by decreasing a everytime the func is called by the current aN*base**N .

Base%(base-1)==1 therefor base**p%(base-1)==1 and therefor q*base^p%(base-1)==q with only one exception when q=base-1 which returns 0. To fix that in case it returns 0 the func is checking is it 0 from the beggining.

---

advantages

in this sample theres only one multiplications (instead of division) and some moudulueses which relatively takes small amounts of time.

Answer 15

def base_changer(number,base):
    buff=97+abs(base-10)
    dic={};buff2='';buff3=10
    for i in range(97,buff+1):
        dic[buff3]=chr(i)
        buff3+=1   
    while(number>=base):
        mod=int(number%base)
        number=int(number//base)
        if (mod) in dic.keys():
            buff2+=dic[mod]
            continue
        buff2+=str(mod)
    if (number) in dic.keys():
        buff2+=dic[number]
    else:
        buff2+=str(number)

    return buff2[::-1]   

Answer 16

Here is an example of how to convert a number of any base to another base.

from collections import namedtuple

Test = namedtuple("Test", ["n", "from_base", "to_base", "expected"])


def convert(n: int, from_base: int, to_base: int) -> int:
    digits = []
    while n:
        (n, r) = divmod(n, to_base)
        digits.append(r)    
    return sum(from_base ** i * v for i, v in enumerate(digits))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    tests = [
        Test(32, 16, 10, 50),
        Test(32, 20, 10, 62),
        Test(1010, 2, 10, 10),
        Test(8, 10, 8, 10),
        Test(150, 100, 1000, 150),
        Test(1500, 100, 10, 1050000),
    ]

    for test in tests:
        result = convert(*test[:-1])
        assert result == test.expected, f"{test=}, {result=}"
    print("PASSED!!!")

Answer 17

def base_conversion(num, base):
    digits = []
    while num > 0:
        num, remainder = divmod(num, base)
        digits.append(remainder)
    return digits[::-1]

Answer 18

Say we want to convert 14 to base 2. We repeatedly apply the division algorithm until the quotient is 0:

14 = 2 x 7

7 = 2 x 3 + 1

3 = 2 x 1 + 1

1 = 2 x 0 + 1

The binary representation is just the remainder read from bottom to top. This can be proved by expanding

14 = 2 x 7 = 2 x (2 x 3 + 1) = 2 x (2 x (2 x 1 + 1) + 1) = 2 x (2 x (2 x (2 x 0 + 1) + 1) + 1) = 2^3 + 2^2 + 2

The code is the implementation of the above algorithm.

def toBaseX(n, X):
strbin = ""
while n != 0:
    strbin += str(n % X)
    n = n // X
return strbin[::-1]

Answer 19

This is my approach. At first converting the number then casting it to string.

    def to_base(n, base):
        if base == 10:
            return n
        
        result = 0
        counter = 0
        
        while n:
            r = n % base
            n //= base
            result += r * 10**counter
            counter+=1
        return str(result)

Answer 20

def dec_to_radix(input, to_radix=2, power=None):
    if not isinstance(input, int):
        raise TypeError('Not an integer!')
    elif power is None:
        power = 1

    if input == 0:
        return 0
    else:
        remainder = input % to_radix**power
        digit = str(int(remainder/to_radix**(power-1)))
        return int(str(dec_to_radix(input-remainder, to_radix, power+1)) + digit)

def radix_to_dec(input, from_radix):
    if not isinstance(input, int):
        raise TypeError('Not an integer!')
    return sum(int(digit)*(from_radix**power) for power, digit in enumerate(str(input)[::-1]))

def radix_to_radix(input, from_radix=10, to_radix=2, power=None):
    dec = radix_to_dec(input, from_radix)
    return dec_to_radix(dec, to_radix, power)

Answer 21

Another short one (and easier to understand imo):

def int_to_str(n, b, symbols='0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'):
    return (int_to_str(n/b, b, symbols) if n >= b else "") + symbols[n%b]

And with proper exception handling:

def int_to_str(n, b, symbols='0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz'):
    try:
        return (int_to_str(n/b, b) if n >= b else "") + symbols[n%b]
    except IndexError:
        raise ValueError(
            "The symbols provided are not enough to represent this number in "
            "this base")

Answer 22

Here is a recursive version that handles signed integers and custom digits.

import string

def base_convert(x, base, digits=None):
    """Convert integer `x` from base 10 to base `base` using `digits` characters as digits.
    If `digits` is omitted, it will use decimal digits + lowercase letters + uppercase letters.
    """
    digits = digits or (string.digits + string.ascii_letters)
    assert 2 <= base <= len(digits), "Unsupported base: {}".format(base)
    if x == 0:
        return digits[0]
    sign = '-' if x < 0 else ''
    x = abs(x)
    first_digits = base_convert(x // base, base, digits).lstrip(digits[0])
    return sign + first_digits + digits[x % base]

Answer 23

Strings aren't the only choice for representing numbers: you can use a list of integers to represent the order of each digit. Those can easily be converted to a string.

None of the answers reject base < 2; and most will run very slowly or crash with stack overflows for very large numbers (such as 56789 ** 43210). To avoid such failures, reduce quickly like this:

def n_to_base(n, b):
    if b < 2: raise # invalid base
    if abs(n) < b: return [n]
    ret = [y for d in n_to_base(n, b*b) for y in divmod(d, b)]
    return ret[1:] if ret[0] == 0 else ret # remove leading zeros

def base_to_n(v, b):
    h = len(v) // 2
    if h == 0: return v[0]
    return base_to_n(v[:-h], b) * (b**h) + base_to_n(v[-h:], b)

assert ''.join(['0123456789'[x] for x in n_to_base(56789**43210,10)])==str(56789**43210)

Speedwise, n_to_base is comparable with str for large numbers (about 0.3s on my machine), but if you compare against hex you may be surprised (about 0.3ms on my machine, or 1000x faster). The reason is because the large integer is stored in memory in base 256 (bytes). Each byte can simply be converted to a two-character hex string. This alignment only happens for bases that are powers of two, which is why there are special cases for 2,8, and 16 (and base64, ascii, utf16, utf32).

Consider the last digit of a decimal string. How does it relate to the sequence of bytes that forms its integer? Let's label the bytes s[i] with s[0] being the least significant (little endian). Then the last digit is sum([s[i]*(256**i) % 10 for i in range(n)]). Well, it happens that 256**i ends with a 6 for i > 0 (6*6=36) so that last digit is (s[0]*5 + sum(s)*6)%10. From this, you can see that the last digit depends on the sum of all the bytes. This nonlocal property is what makes converting to decimal harder.

Answer 24

def baseConverter(x, b):
    s = ""
    d = string.printable.upper()
    while x > 0:
        s += d[x%b]
        x = x / b
    return s[::-1]

Answer 25

num = input("number")
power = 0
num = int(num)
while num > 10:
    num = num / 10
    power += 1

print(str(round(num, 2)) + "^" + str(power))

Answer 26

Well I personally use this function, written by me

import string

def to_base(value, base, digits=string.digits+string.ascii_letters):    # converts decimal to base n

    digits_slice = digits[0:base]

    temporary_var = value
    data = [temporary_var]

    while True:
        temporary_var = temporary_var // base
        data.append(temporary_var)
        if temporary_var < base:
            break

    result = ''
    for each_data in data:
        result += digits_slice[each_data % base]
    result = result[::-1]

    return result

This is how you can use it

print(to_base(7, base=2))

Output: "111"

print(to_base(23, base=3))

Output: "212"

Please feel free to suggest improvements in my code.

Answer 27

This is an old question but I thought i'd share my take on it as I feel it is somewhat simpler that other answers (good for bases from 2 to 36):

def intStr(n,base=10):
    if n < 0   : return "-" + intStr(-n,base)         # handle negatives
    if n < base: return chr([48,55][n>9] + n)         # 48 => "0"..., 65 => "A"...
    return intStr(n//base,base) + intStr(n%base,base) # recurse for multiple digits

Answer 28

I know this is an old post, but I'm just leaving my solution here just in case.

def decimal_to_given_base(integer_to_convert, base):
     remainder = integer_to_convert // base
     digit = integer_to_convert % base
     if integer_to_convert == 0:
         return '0'
     elif remainder == 0:
         return str(digit)
     else:
         return decimal_to_given_base(remainder, base) + str(digit)

Answer 29

I made my function to do this. Run well on windows 10, python 3.7.3.

def number_to_base(number, base, precision = 10):
    if number == 0:
        return [0]
    
    positive = number >= 0
    number = abs(number)
    
    ints = []  # store the integer bases
    floats = []  # store the floating bases

    float_point = number % 1
    number = int(number)
    while number:
        ints.append(int(number%base))
        number //= base
    ints.reverse()
    
    while float_point and precision:
        precision -= 1
        float_point *= base
        floats.append(int(float_point))
        float_point = float_point - int(float_point)

    return ints, floats, positive


def base_to_str(bases, string="0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"):
    """bases is a two dimension list, where bases[0] contains a list of the integers,
    and bases[1] contains a list of the floating numbers, bases[2] is a boolean, that's
    true when it's a positive number
    """
    ints = []
    floats = []

    for i in bases[0]:
        ints.append(string[i])

    for i in bases[1]:
        floats.append(string[i])

    if len(bases[1]) > 0:
        return (["-", ""][bases[2]] + "".join(ints)) + "." + ("".join(floats))
    else:
        return (["-", ""][bases[2]] + "".join(ints))
    

    

Example:

>>> base_to_str(number_to_base(-6.252, 2))
'-110.0100000010'