A Python library for creating and parsing binary formats.

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• Efficiently store and manipulate binary data in idiomatic Python using the Bits, MutableBits and Array classes.

• Powerful binary packing and unpacking functions.

• Bit-level slicing, joining, searching, replacing and more.

• A wide array of data types is supported. Want to use a 13-bit integer or a 16-bit float? Fine - there are no special hoops to jump through.

• Several field types are available to build up a Format, which can then be used to pack, unpack or parse data:

  • The simplest is just a Field which contains an optionally named value with a data type.

  • A Format contains a list of other fields. These can be nested to any depth.

  • Field types like Repeat and If can be used to add more logical structure.

• The values of fields can be used in later calculations via an f-string-like expression syntax.

• Data is always stored efficiently as a contiguous array of bits, with the core of the library written in Rust.

It is from the author of the bitstring library.

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Documentation

The introduction covers installation and a few brief examples, but doesn’t go into much depth.

• Getting Started
  • Installation and download

We then explore many of the features of the library via some common use cases.

• Common Use Cases
  • Constructing binary data
  • Manipulating binary data
  • Binary formats

The API reference is more comprehensive and is mostly generated from the docstrings in the library. Some introductory notes are included in each section.

• API Reference
  • The Basics
  • Field Types
  • Miscellaneous

There is also a notebook with a tour of the features of bitformat:

• A Tour of bitformat

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These docs are styled using the Piccolo theme.