Write one single bit to binary file using BinaryWriter

Question

I want to write one single bit to a binary file.

using (FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(@"myfile.bin", FileMode.Create))
using (BinaryWriter binaryWriter = new BinaryWriter(fileStream))
{
    binaryWriter.Write((bool)10);
}

Something like binaryWriter.Write((bit)1);
When I use binaryWriter.Write((bool)1) the file has one byte, but I want to write one single bit. Is this possible?

Resulting file will at least 1 byte in length and allocate many Ks on the disk(depending on the file system) — L.B
– L.B, Commented Apr 7, 2012 at 19:44

BrokenGlass · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-07 19:44:48Z

8

No it's not possible to write a single bit. You have to write at least a full byte. If you are in a situation that you want to write single bits, you can wait until you have 8 bits ready for writing (i.e. queue them up in memory) and then write out a full byte (i.e. using bit shifts etc. to combine those bits to a byte).

Also from Wikipedia:

Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer architectures.

answered Apr 7, 2012 at 19:44

BrokenGlass

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Kendall Frey · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-07 19:46:05Z

3

You cannot store only 1 bit in a file. Almost all modern filesystems and hardware store data in segments of 8 bits, aka bytes or octets.

If you want store a bit value in a file, store either 1 or 0 as a byte (00000001 or 00000000).

answered Apr 7, 2012 at 19:46

Kendall Frey

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2 Comments

Paul Turner Over a year ago

Do we know why file systems think in bytes and not bits?

Kendall Frey Over a year ago

I think it is because it is easier to group several bits together to mean one value than it is to deal with them separately. For example, 01000001 can mean the letter 'A'. Not only filesystems, but almost everything inside the computer works on bytes. It is simply easier than working with single bits.

sergiogarciadev · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-07 19:47:49Z

0

If you are writing only bits, you can mix 8 bits into a single byte. But it is not possible to write a single bit.

answered Apr 7, 2012 at 19:47

sergiogarciadev

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Martin James · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-07 19:49:26Z

0

You could probably do it by read/modify/write. Why do you want to do such a thing? Whatever it is, find another way, pack bits into bytes, read/write boolean bytes and convert them back into bits, use ASCII '0' and '1' - amost anything except reading and writing one bit at a time.

answered Apr 7, 2012 at 19:49

Martin James

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1 Comment

Hlavson Over a year ago

I'm creating binary file with some data, and because there are some 32bit data and 64bit data I would like to write before each record only 1 or 0. Because when you want to read the file, 0 or 1 will indicate, that you should read 64 or 32bit value. Hope i explained this well... EDIT: I need the smallest possible data to do this. This is why I asked for writing single bit.

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