Number of bits to change from one number to other

Problem solving with programming: Number of bits to change from one number to other

Given two numbers, calculate the number of bits required to change from one number to the other.

We can find out the difference bits as follows. We first find out the XOR of two numbers. This gives us a bit pattern in which there is a set bit, if two bits differ. Then we can calculate the number of set bits in the XOR which gives the required answer.

int getBitDiff(int num1, int num2)


{


 int diff = num1 ^ num2;


 


 //find number of set bits in XOR value


 int count = 0;


 while ( diff > 0 )


 {


  count++;


  diff = diff & (diff-1);


 }


 return count;


}

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