How to read bits from a file?

Question

I know how to read bytes — x.read(number_of_bytes), but how can I read bits in Python?

I have to read only 5 bits (not 8 bits [1 byte]) from a binary fi

Answer 1

This appears at the top of a Google search for reading bits using python.

I found bitstring to be a good package for reading bits and also an improvement over the native capability (which isn't bad for Python 3.6) e.g.

# import module
from bitstring import ConstBitStream

# read file
b = ConstBitStream(filename='file.bin')

# read 5 bits
output = b.read(5)

# convert to unsigned int
integer_value = output.uint

More documentation and details here: https://pythonhosted.org/bitstring/index.html