How to find the position of the only-set-bit in a 64-bit value using bit manipulation efficiently?

Question

Just say I have a value of type uint64_t seen as sequence of octets (1 octet = 8-bit). The uint64_t value is known containing only one set bit<

Answer 1

If you want an algorithm for the job rather than a built-in, this will do it. It yields the bit number of the most significant 1 bit, even if more than one bit is set. It narrows down the position by iteratively dividing the bit range under consideration into halves, testing whether there are any bits set in the upper half, taking that half as the new bit range if so, and otherwise taking the lower half as the new bit range.

#define TRY_WINDOW(bits, n, msb) do { \
    uint64_t t = n >> bits;           \
    if (t) {                          \
        msb += bits;                  \
        n = t;                        \
    }                                 \
} while (0)

int msb(uint64_t n) {
    int msb = 0;

    TRY_WINDOW(32, n, msb);
    TRY_WINDOW(16, n, msb);
    TRY_WINDOW( 8, n, msb);
    TRY_WINDOW( 4, n, msb);
    TRY_WINDOW( 2, n, msb);
    TRY_WINDOW( 1, n, msb);

    return msb;
}