ConstBitStream

class ConstBitStream(auto: BitsType | int | None, /, length: int | None = None, offset: int | None = None, pos: int = 0, **kwargs)

The Bits class is the base class for ConstBitStream and so all of its methods are also available for ConstBitStream objects. The initialiser is the same as for Bits except that an initial bit position pos can be given (defaults to 0).

A ConstBitStream is a Bits with added methods and properties that allow it to be parsed as a stream of bits.

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Reading and parsing

The BitStream and ConstBitStream classes contain number of methods for reading the bitstring as if it were a file or stream. Depending on how it was constructed the bitstream might actually be contained in a file rather than stored in memory, but these methods work for either case.

In order to behave like a file or stream, every bitstream has a property pos which is the current position from which reads occur. pos can range from zero (its default value on construction) to the length of the bitstream, a position from which all reads will fail as it is past the last bit. Note that the pos property isn’t considered a part of the bitstream’s identity; this allows it to vary for immutable ConstBitStream objects and means that it doesn’t affect equality or hash values.

The property bytepos is also available, and is useful if you are only dealing with byte data and don’t want to always have to divide the bit position by eight. Note that if you try to use bytepos and the bitstring isn’t byte aligned (i.e. pos isn’t a multiple of 8) then a ByteAlignError exception will be raised.

Reading using format strings

The read / readlist methods can also take a format string similar to that used in the auto initialiser. Only one token should be provided to read and a single value is returned. To read multiple tokens use readlist, which unsurprisingly returns a list.

The format string consists of comma separated tokens that describe how to interpret the next bits in the bitstring. The tokens are given in Format tokens.

For example we can read and interpret three quantities from a bitstream with:

start_code = s.read('hex32')
width = s.read('uint12')
height = s.read('uint12')

and we also could have combined the three reads as:

start_code, width, height = s.readlist('hex32, 2*uint12')

where here we are also using a multiplier to combine the format of the second and third tokens.

You are allowed to use one ‘stretchy’ token in a readlist. This is a token without a length specified, which will stretch to fill encompass as many bits as possible. This is often useful when you just want to assign something to ‘the rest’ of the bitstring:

a, b, everything_else = s.readlist('intle16, intle24, bits')

In this example the bits token will consist of everything left after the first two tokens are read, and could be empty.

It is an error to use more than one stretchy token, or to use a ue, se, uie or se token after a stretchy token (the reason you can’t use exponential-Golomb codes after a stretchy token is that the codes can only be read forwards; that is you can’t ask “if this code ends here, where did it begin?” as there could be many possible answers).

The pad token is a special case in that it just causes bits to be skipped over without anything being returned. This can be useful for example if parts of a binary format are uninteresting:

a, b = s.readlist('pad12, uint4, pad4, uint8')

Peeking

In addition to the read methods there are matching peek methods. These are identical to the read except that they do not advance the position in the bitstring to after the read elements.

s = ConstBitStream('0x4732aa34')
if s.peek(8) == '0x47':
    t = s.read(16)          # t is first 2 bytes '0x4732'
else:
    s.find('0x47')

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Methods

ConstBitStream.bytealign() → int

Aligns to the start of the next byte (so that pos is a multiple of 8) and returns the number of bits skipped.

If the current position is already byte aligned then it is unchanged.

>>> s = ConstBitStream('0xabcdef')
>>> s.pos += 3
>>> s.bytealign()
5
>>> s.pos
8

ConstBitStream.peek(fmt: str | int) → int | float | str | Bits | bool | bytes | None

Reads from the current bit position pos in the bitstring according to the fmt string or integer and returns the result.

The bit position is unchanged.

For information on the format string see the entry for the read method.

>>> s = ConstBitStream('0x123456')
>>> s.peek(16)
ConstBitStream('0x1234')
>>> s.peek('hex8')
'12'

ConstBitStream.peeklist(fmt: str | list[str | int], **kwargs) → list[int | float | str | Bits | bool | bytes | None]

Reads from current bit position pos in the bitstring according to the fmt string or iterable and returns a list of results.

A dictionary or keyword arguments can also be provided. These will replace length identifiers in the format string. The position is not advanced to after the read items.

See the entries for read and readlist for more information.

ConstBitStream.read(fmt: str | int) → int | float | str | Bits | bool | bytes | None

Reads from current bit position pos in the bitstring according the format string and returns a single result. If not enough bits are available then a ReadError is raised.

fmt is either a token string that describes how to interpret the next bits in the bitstring or an integer. If it’s an integer then that number of bits will be read, and returned as a new bitstring. A full list of the tokens is given in Format tokens.

For example:

>>> s = ConstBitStream('0x23ef55302')
>>> s.read('hex12')
'23e'
>>> s.read('bin4')
'1111'
>>> s.read('u5')
10
>>> s.read('bits4')
ConstBitStream('0xa')

The read method is useful for reading exponential-Golomb codes.

>>> s = ConstBitStream('se=-9, ue=4')
>>> s.read('se')
-9
>>> s.read('ue')
4

The pad token is not very useful when used in read as it just skips a number of bits and returns None. However when used within readlist or unpack it allows unimportant part of the bitstring to be simply ignored.

ConstBitStream.readlist(fmt: str | list[str | int], **kwargs) → list[int | float | str | Bits | bool | bytes | None]

Reads from current bit position pos in the bitstring according to the fmt string or iterable and returns a list of results. If not enough bits are available then a ReadError is raised.

A dictionary or keyword arguments can also be provided. These will replace length identifiers in the format string. The position is advanced to after the read items.

See Format tokens for information on the format strings.

For multiple items you can separate using commas or given multiple parameters:

>>> s = ConstBitStream('0x43fe01ff21')
>>> s.readlist('hex8, uint6')
['43', 63]
>>> s.readlist(['bin3', 'intle16'])
['100', -509]
>>> s.pos = 0
>>> s.readlist('hex:b, uint:d', b=8, d=6)
['43', 63]

ConstBitStream.readto(bs: BitsType, bytealigned: bool | None = None) → ConstBitStream

Reads up to and including the next occurrence of the bitstring bs and returns the results. If bytealigned is True it will look for the bitstring starting only at whole-byte positions.

Raises a ReadError if bs is not found, and ValueError if bs is empty.

>>> s = ConstBitStream('0x47000102034704050647')
>>> s.readto('0x47', bytealigned=True)
ConstBitStream('0x47')
>>> s.readto('0x47', bytealigned=True)
ConstBitStream('0x0001020347')
>>> s.readto('0x47', bytealigned=True)
ConstBitStream('0x04050647')

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Properties

The ConstBitStream and BitStream classes have the concept of a current bit position. This position will be set to zero by default on construction, and will be modified by many of the methods described above as the stream is being read.

Using find or rfind will move pos to the start of the substring if it is found.

Note that the pos property isn’t considered a part of the bitstring’s identity; this allows it to vary for immutable ConstBitStream objects and means that it doesn’t affect equality or hash values. It also will be reset to zero if a bitstring is copied.

ConstBitStream.bytepos: int

Property for setting and getting the current byte position in the bitstring. The value of pos will always be bytepos * 8 as the two values are not independent.

When used as a getter will raise a ByteAlignError if the current position in not byte aligned.

ConstBitStream.pos: int

ConstBitStream.bitpos: int

Read and write property for setting and getting the current bit position in the bitstring. Can be set to any value from 0 to len(s).

The pos and bitpos properties are exactly equivalent - you can use whichever you prefer.

if s.pos < 100:
    s.pos += 10