Python: convert a byte to binary and shift its bits?

Question

I want to convert an encoding to another encoding in Python for a school project. However, the encoding I am translating from will add a padding to its encoding on the first bit.

How do I shift an binary number sequence to the left by one, so that it goes from:

00000001 11001100 01010101 and so on

to

00000011 10011000 10101010 and so on

so the end result's lowest bit will be the former's highest bit number?

Answer 1

You can use the << operator to left shift, and conversely >> will right shift

>>> x = 7485254
>>> bin(x)
'0b11100100011011101000110'
>>> bin(x << 1)
'0b111001000110111010001100'

Answer 2

You could use the bitstring library which allows for bitwise operations on arbitrarily long bitstrings e.g. to import and shift your binary number:

>>> import bitstring
>>> bitstring.BitArray(bin='0b11100100011011101000110') << 1
BitArray('0b11001000110111010001100')