Is there an easy way to convert from 32bit integer to 16bit integer?

Question

I have a 32 bit int and I want to address only the lower half of this variable. I know I can convert to bit array and to int16, but is there any more straight forward way to do that?

Answer 1

It you want only the lower half, you can just cast it: (Int16)my32BitInt

In general, if you're extending/truncating bit patterns like this, then you do need to be careful about signed types - unsigned types may cause fewer surprises.

As mentioned in the comments - if you've enclosed your code in a 'checked' context, or changed your compiler options so that the default is 'checked', then you can't truncate a number like this without an exception being thrown if there are any non-zero bits being discarded - in that situation you'd need to do:

(UInt16)(my32BitInt & 0xffff)

(The option of using signed types is gone in this case, because you'd have to use & 0x7fff which then preserves only 15 bits)