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Asked: 2024-09-25T21:08:40+05:30 In:

Hexagonal Ticks: Format Integers as C14 Hex Strings in Python

I stumbled upon this really interesting problem the other day about generating a C14 hex integer literal with ticks in Python. It got me thinking, how can you create a function that outputs hex numbers formatted in a specific way? The challenge is to take a normal integer and convert it into a hex string that includes tick marks according to certain rules.

The thing is, I’m not super familiar with hexadecimal formatting, especially when it comes to Python’s quirks. I mean, we all know that Python has its own way of dealing with integers and strings, but I couldn’t quite wrap my head around how to get it to format the string with ticks like in the example given.

So, to give a clearer idea of the challenge, let’s say you have an integer, and you want to convert it to a hex string. The catch is that the output hex string should look something like this: `0x’tick’1’0’0`. The key here is that you need to insert a ‘tick’ character (or just a single quote) between every hex digit after the “0x” prefix. For example, if the integer you input is `256`, you should output `0x’1’0’0’`.

I thought this would be a great little puzzle to tackle, as it seems simple at first but could be tricky when trying to manipulate strings and ensure everything stays formatted correctly. And of course, the added bonus is making it as concise as possible, just like in those code-golf competitions.

So, anyone out there who feels like taking up this challenge? I would love to see different approaches or even just get some tips on how to handle the string manipulation part smoothly. What’s the most elegant solution you can come up with? Would definitely appreciate some insight on this and any other interesting variations on the problem you might think of! Let’s see if we can crack this together!

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    2 Answers


    1. def format_hex_with_ticks(n):
    # Convert integer to hexadecimal, strip the '0x' prefix
    hex_str = hex(n)[2:]  
    # Insert tick marks between each digit
    formatted_hex = "'".join(hex_str)  
    # Add the '0x' prefix back to the start
    return f"0x'{formatted_hex}'"  

# Example usage
print(format_hex_with_ticks(256))  # Output should be: 0x'1'0'0'







    2. Hexadecimal Formatter

      To tackle the problem of converting an integer into a hexadecimal string formatted with ticks, we can create a Python function called format_hex. This function will take an integer as input, convert it to hexadecimal, and then format it by inserting single quotes between each hex digit following the “0x” prefix. First, we will use the hex() function to convert the integer to a hexadecimal representation, and then we will leverage string manipulation methods to achieve our desired output. Here’s a concise implementation:

      def format_hex(num):
    return "0x'" + "'".join(hex(num)[2:]) + "'"

      In this function, we start by using the hex(num) method which converts the integer to a hex string prefixed with “0x”. The slicing [2:] removes the prefix, and then "'".join() is employed to insert single quotes between each character of the remaining string. This quickly gives us the desired format. For example, calling format_hex(256) will produce the output 0x'1'0'0', which adheres to your specified formatting rules. Experimenting with different integers will showcase this method’s versatility in generating formatted hexadecimal strings.


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