Float to binary string and vice-versa

Hello,

I would like to have following 2 functions written in Matlab (here the C-code):

void getMemoryFromFloat(float floatNumber,char memory[4])
{ // floatNumber is input, memory is output
    memory[0]=((char*)&floatNumber)[0];
    memory[1]=((char*)&floatNumber)[1];
    memory[2]=((char*)&floatNumber)[2];
    memory[3]=((char*)&floatNumber)[3];
}

float getFloatFromMemory(char memory[4])
{ // memory is input
    return(((float*)memory)[0]);
}

Anyone can give me a hint? To give a quick background, I basically communicate with a C-library that sends me float data that is coded in a string. In a similar way, that library only accepts float data coded in a string.

Thanks!

Answer 1

[Iain]

typecast will convert a 32bit float to a single 32bit integer, or into 4 8 bit integers, or 4 characters. (And vice versa).

32 bit float = single format

Answer 2

[Marc]

Thanks a lot! typecast was the command I was looking for :)

[James Tursa]

If you are working with very large variables and/or doing this many times in a loop, you might consider this FEX submission "typecastx" that returns a shared data copy of the input. It is faster and more efficient than the built-in typecast function which returns a deep data copy.

http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/17476-typecast-and-typecastx-c-mex-functions