Python bin()

number = 15

# convert 15 to its binary equivalent 
print('The binary equivalent of 15 is', bin(number))

# Output: The binary equivalent of 15 is 0b1111

bin() Syntax

The syntax of bin() method is:

bin(number)

bin() Parameter

The bin() method takes in a single parameter:

• number - an integer whose binary equivalent is calculated

bin() Return Value

The bin() method returns:

• the binary string equivalent to the given integer
• TypeError for a non-integer argument

Example 1: Python bin()

number = 5 

# convert 5 to its binary equivalent
print('The binary equivalent of 5 is:', bin(number))

Output

The binary equivalent of 5 is: 0b101

In the above example, we have used the bin() method to convert the argument 5 to its binary representation i.e. 101.

Here, the prefix 0b in the output 0b101 represents that the result is a binary string.

Example 2: Python bin() with a Non-Integer Class

class Quantity:
    apple = 1
    orange = 2
    grapes = 2
    
    def func():
        return apple + orange + grapes
        
print('The binary equivalent of quantity is:', bin(Quantity()))

Output

TypeError: 'Quantity' object cannot be interpreted as an integer

Here, we have passed an object of class Quantity to the bin() method and got a TypeError.

This is because we have used a non-integer class.

Note: We can fix the TypeError above by using the Python __index__() method with a non-integer class.

Example 3: bin() with __index__() for Non-Integer Class

class Quantity:
    apple = 1
    orange = 2
    grapes = 2
    
    def __index__(self):
        return self.apple + self.orange + self.grapes
        
print('The binary equivalent of quantity is:', bin(Quantity()))

Output

The binary equivalent of quantity is: 0b101

Here, we have passed an object of class Quantity to the bin() method.

The bin() method doesn't raise a TypeError even if the object Quantity() is not an integer.

This is because we have used the __index__() method which returns an integer (in this case, sum of the fruits).

Recommended Readings:

• Python bool()
• Python int()