How do I use bitwise operators on a “double” on C++?

Question

I was asked to get the internal binary representation of different types in C. My program currently works fine with \'int\' but I would like to use it with \"double\" and \"

Answer 1

Bitwise operators don't generally work with "binary representation" (also called object representation) of any type. Bitwise operators work with value representation of the type, which is generally different from object representation. That applies to int as well as to double.

If you really want to get to the internal binary representation of an object of any type, as you stated in your question, you need to reinterpret the object of that type as an array of unsigned char objects and then use the bitwise operators on these unsigned chars

For example

double d = 12.34;
const unsigned char *c = reinterpret_cast(&d);

Now by accessing elements c[0] through c[sizeof(double) - 1] you will see the internal representation of type double. You can use bitwise operations on these unsigned char values, if you want to.

Note, again, that in general case in order to access internal representation of type int you have to do the same thing. It generally applies to any type other than char types.