C++: I have a string representing 8 bits. How Do I convert it to a char?

Question

ie. "11111111" should convert to 0b11111111 / 255 (in dec)

Answer 1

Try strtol with a base of 2.

Answer 2

Another possibility would be value = std::bitset<8>("11111111").to_ulong(). This is more specialized for binary than strtol, so it could provide advantages if you might want to manipulate some bits. E.g., if you wanted to read a number, flip bit 5, and then convert.