Getting the size in bytes of an arbitrary integer

Question

Given an integer, 98749287 say, is there some built-in/libray function, either Erlang or Elixir, for getting the size in bytes?

To clarify, the minimum number of bytes used to represent the number in binary.

Seems simple, and have written a function using the "division by base" method and then counting bits, but after some hrs of searching docs havent found anything for what would seem useful to have.

Answer 1

If you have an unsigned integer, you can use the following snippet:

byte_size(binary:encode_unsigned(Integer))

Example:

1> byte_size(binary:encode_unsigned(3)).
1
2> byte_size(binary:encode_unsigned(256)).
2
3> byte_size(binary:encode_unsigned(98749287)).
4

Answer 2

Try this expression:

Value = (... your input ...),
NumBytes = size(integer_to_binary(Value, 2) + 7) div 8.

Reference: http://www.erlang.org/doc/man/erlang.html#integer_to_binary-2