BIN2HEX

Converts a binary number to hexadecimal.

Syntax:

BIN2HEX(binarynumber, numdigits)

returns text representing a hexadecimal number, given binarynumber, which may be text, or a number containing only digits 1 and 0 (thus the number appears to be binary although it is not).

binarynumber may have up to ten bits in two's complement representation; positive numbers are 0 to 111111111 (nine bits representing 0 to 511 decimal) and negative numbers 1111111111 to 1000000000 (ten bits representing -1 to -512 decimal)

numdigits is an optional number specifying the number of digits to return.

If binarynumber is negative, BIN2HEX returns ten hexadecimal digits, representing the hexadecimal number in twos complement form.

Example:

BIN2HEX("11101")

returns 1D as text.

BIN2HEX(11101)

returns 1D as text. The number 11101 has only 1 and 0 digits, and may be read as binary.

BIN2HEX("110100110", 4)

returns 01A6 as text. BIN2HEX adds a leading zero to make 4 digits.

BIN2HEX("1111111110")

returns FFFFFFFFFE as text (twos complement representation of decimal -2).

Application:

An application of using BIN2HEX is in a scenario where you are working with a data packet or a register value from a microcontroller. These values are often represented in binary, but for easier human readability and debugging, they are converted to hexadecimal.

Let's imagine you are an embedded systems engineer debugging a communication protocol. You have a series of binary data packets that represent commands and data being sent to a peripheral device. The raw data you receive from a logic analyzer or a debug terminal is in binary. To analyze this data more efficiently, you can convert it to hexadecimal.

Scenario: Debugging a sensor data packet

A sensor is sending a 16-bit binary value that represents a temperature reading. The first 8 bits are a command header, and the last 8 bits are the temperature data.

Let's say a particular packet arrives as the following 16-bit binary number: 0101100111000110.

This binary number is hard to read and remember. To make it more manageable, you can convert it to hexadecimal using a tool that employs the BIN2HEX logic.

Steps:

Separate the binary number into 4-bit groups (nibbles). This is a standard practice for converting binary to hexadecimal, as each hexadecimal digit represents exactly four binary digits. 0101 1001 1100 0110
Convert each 4-bit group to its hexadecimal equivalent.

Here is a table showing the conversion of each 4-bit group:

	Binary (4-bit group)	Hexadecimal
	A	B
1	0000	0
2	0001	1
3	0010	2
4	0011	3
5	0100	4
6	0101	5
7	0110	6
8	0111	7
9	1000	8
10	1001	9
11	1010	A
12	1011	B
13	1100	C
14	1101	D
15	1110	E
16	1111	F

Applying this to our example:

	Binary Group	BIN2HEX Conversion
	A	B
1	0101	5
2	1001	9
3	1100	c
4	0110	6

Result:

By combining the hexadecimal digits, the 16-bit binary number 0101100111000110 becomes 59C6 in hexadecimal.

This hexadecimal representation is much easier for the engineer to read and compare against a data sheet or a known-good value. The 59 might correspond to a specific command for "read temperature," and the C6 might be the actual temperature value, which can then be converted back to decimal if needed. The BIN2HEX function (or the logic it represents) is a fundamental tool for making raw, machine-level data understandable to humans.