From: Lyle Johnson <lyle@...>
Date: 2002-09-10T00:51:42+09:00
Subject: Re: Reading in Hex numbers.

Khurram wrote:

> I want to read in a file that has hex numbers, which are stored with
> the "0x" hex prefix (i.e. 0x12345678).  Is there a built in function
> that will do the conversion, similiar to "to_i", for hex numbers?

Yes, String#hex does this with or without the "0x" prefix; e.g.

	"0x123".hex -> yields 291
	"123".hex -> ditto

> Also... is there something also for binary?  Octal?

For octal numbers, it's String#oct:

	"123".oct -> yields 83

I don't think there is a built-in for converting from binary numbers, 
but there is a sample implementation in Hal Fulton's excellent book, 
"The Ruby Way".

Hope this helps,

Lyle