Access bits in a char in C

Question

I have a hex number 0x37 and its binary representation is 0011 0111. How do I access the first 2 bits of the binary representation which is \"11\"? How do I use bit shifting

Answer 1

This is the easiest function to use, I don't want others to struggle for a long time before getting something similar to this -

char get_bits(char a, char no_of_bits)
{
    return a & ((no_of_bits << 1) - 1);
}
char a = 0x37;
char b = get_bits(a, 2);

Hope it helps someone in future