Supported Types:

• raw byte
  • This is R’s builtin raw byte format.
• chr
  • Ascii/utf8 representation.
• 1 bit:
  • logical - R’s built-in logical type e.g. c(T, T, F)
  • bit - compact bit representation (from the bit package)
  • bitstring - character representaction of bits e.g. 110
• 8 bit
  • uint8 - R’s built-in integer type. Checked to be within range [0 - 255]
  • int8 - R’s built-in integer type. Checked to be within range [-128, 127]
  • hex8 - 2 character hexadecimal representation of a uint8
• 16 bit
  • uint16 - R’s built-in integer type. Checked to be within range [0 - 2^16-1]
  • int16 - R’s built-in integer type. Checked to be within range [-2^15, 2^15-1]
  • hex16 - 4 character hexadecimal representation of a uint16
• 24 bit
  • uint24 - R’s built-in integer type. Checked to be within range [0 - 2^24-1]
  • hex24 - 6 character hexadecimal representation of a uint24
• 32 bit
  • int32 - R’s built-in integer type

Installation

You can install minitypes from github with:

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("coolbutuseless/minitypes")

Examples

r <- as.raw(c(1, 2, 0, 255))

raw_to_uint8(r)
[1]   1   2   0 255

raw_to_uint16(r, endian = 'little')
[1]   513 65280

int32_to_raw(1L, endian = 'big')
[1] 00 00 00 01

raw_to_bitstring(r)
[1] "00000001000000100000000011111111"

logical_to_raw(c(T, F, F), pad = 'left')
logical_to_raw(): padding logical_vec length to a multiple of 8.
[1] 04

convert_type("1111111100010011", src_type='bitstring', dst_type='uint8')
[1] 255  19

convert_type(c(1L, 2L, 3L), src_type = 'int32', dst_type = 'uint8', endian = 'big')
 [1] 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3

bitstring_to_logical("100 011")
[1]  TRUE FALSE FALSE FALSE  TRUE  TRUE

int32_to_bitstring(1L, endian = 'big')
[1] "00000000000000000000000000000001"

int32_to_bitstring(1L, endian = 'little')
[1] "00000001000000000000000000000000"

int32_to_bitstring(1L, endian = 'little', first_bit = 'lsb')
[1] "10000000000000000000000000000000"

Useless tricks - NA_integer_ & NA_character_ bit representation

NA_integer_ and NA_character_ are just specific bit patterns within each of those types.

convert_type(NA_integer_, 'int32', 'bitstring', endian = 'big', first_bit = 'msb')
[1] "10000000000000000000000000000000"

convert_type(NA_character_, 'chr', 'bitstring', endian = 'big', first_bit = 'msb')
[1] "0100111001000001"

Worked Example - Parsing a colour table from a ‘gif’

• Read in a GIF file as raw bytes (GIF data is stored in little endian format)
• Manually parse the GIF header (see e.g. GIF format)
• Parse out the global colour table and plot the palette

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# A scarlet tanager!
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
gif_filename <- "../../static/img/minitypes/bird.gif"
gif          <- readBin(gif_filename, 'raw', n = file.size(gif_filename))

head(gif, 50)
 [1] 47 49 46 38 39 61 e0 01 40 01 f7 00 00 03 02 02 0c 0b 03 0a 06 07 13 0b 05
[26] 14 13 03 1c 1b 04 1d 1b 0b 18 16 07 0b 0a 17 13 0e 19 18 15 19 0e 11 09 38

#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
# Subset out the header components and convert to the correct type
#~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
raw_to_chr(gif[1:6])  # "GIF89a" (text)
[1] "GIF89a"

raw_to_uint16(gif[7:8], endian = 'little')  # width (integer)
[1] 480

raw_to_uint16(gif[9:10], endian = 'little')  # height (integer)
[1] 320

# Is a global colour table present?
colour_table_info <- raw_to_uint8(gif[11])  
if (bitwAnd(colour_table_info, 128L)) { print("GCT present") }
[1] "GCT present"

# read 255 RGB triplets has 6-char-hex (i.e. hex24) starting at position 14
colour_table <- raw_to_hex24(gif[seq_len(255*3) + 13L], endian = 'big')
colour_table <- sort(paste0('#', colour_table))

head(colour_table)
[1] "#030202" "#0a0607" "#0b0a17" "#0c0b03" "#0d1226" "#0e1025"

image(x = 1, y = 1:255, z = matrix(1:255, nrow = 1), col = colour_table, axes = FALSE, ann = FALSE)