Variable length quantity, unsigned/signed integer, base128, little-endian: C++98/STL parsing library

A variable-length unsigned/signed integer using base128 encoding. 1-byte groups consist of 1-bit flag of continuation and 7-bit value chunk, and are ordered "least significant group first", i.e. in "little-endian" manner.

This particular encoding is specified and used in:

More information on this encoding is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEB128

This particular implementation supports serialized values to up 8 bytes long.

KS implementation details

License: CC0-1.0
Minimal Kaitai Struct required: 0.9

This page hosts a formal specification of Variable length quantity, unsigned/signed integer, base128, little-endian using Kaitai Struct. This specification can be automatically translated into a variety of programming languages to get a parsing library.

Usage

Runtime library

All parsing code for C++98/STL generated by Kaitai Struct depends on the C++/STL runtime library. You have to install it before you can parse data.

For C++, the easiest way is to clone the runtime library sources and build them along with your project.

Code

Using Kaitai Struct in C++/STL usually consists of 3 steps.

  1. We need to create an STL input stream (std::istream). One can open local file for that, or use existing std::string or char* buffer.
    #include <fstream>
    
    std::ifstream is("path/to/local/file.bin", std::ifstream::binary);
    
    #include <sstream>
    
    std::istringstream is(str);
    
    #include <sstream>
    
    const char buf[] = { ... };
    std::string str(buf, sizeof buf);
    std::istringstream is(str);
    
  2. We need to wrap our input stream into Kaitai stream:
    #include "kaitai/kaitaistream.h"
    
    kaitai::kstream ks(&is);
    
  3. And finally, we can invoke the parsing:
    vlq_base128_le_t data(&ks);
    

After that, one can get various attributes from the structure by invoking getter methods like:

data.value() // => Resulting unsigned value as normal integer

C++98/STL source code to parse Variable length quantity, unsigned/signed integer, base128, little-endian

vlq_base128_le.h

#ifndef VLQ_BASE128_LE_H_
#define VLQ_BASE128_LE_H_

// This is a generated file! Please edit source .ksy file and use kaitai-struct-compiler to rebuild

#include "kaitai/kaitaistruct.h"
#include <stdint.h>
#include <vector>

#if KAITAI_STRUCT_VERSION < 9000L
#error "Incompatible Kaitai Struct C++/STL API: version 0.9 or later is required"
#endif

/**
 * A variable-length unsigned/signed integer using base128 encoding. 1-byte groups
 * consist of 1-bit flag of continuation and 7-bit value chunk, and are ordered
 * "least significant group first", i.e. in "little-endian" manner.
 * 
 * This particular encoding is specified and used in:
 * 
 * * DWARF debug file format, where it's dubbed "unsigned LEB128" or "ULEB128".
 *   <https://dwarfstd.org/doc/dwarf-2.0.0.pdf> - page 139
 * * Google Protocol Buffers, where it's called "Base 128 Varints".
 *   <https://protobuf.dev/programming-guides/encoding/#varints>
 * * Apache Lucene, where it's called "VInt"
 *   <https://lucene.apache.org/core/3_5_0/fileformats.html#VInt>
 * * Apache Avro uses this as a basis for integer encoding, adding ZigZag on
 *   top of it for signed ints
 *   <https://avro.apache.org/docs/current/spec.html#binary_encode_primitive>
 * 
 * More information on this encoding is available at <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEB128>
 * 
 * This particular implementation supports serialized values to up 8 bytes long.
 */

class vlq_base128_le_t : public kaitai::kstruct {

public:
    class group_t;

    vlq_base128_le_t(kaitai::kstream* p__io, kaitai::kstruct* p__parent = 0, vlq_base128_le_t* p__root = 0);

private:
    void _read();
    void _clean_up();

public:
    ~vlq_base128_le_t();

    /**
     * One byte group, clearly divided into 7-bit "value" chunk and 1-bit "continuation" flag.
     */

    class group_t : public kaitai::kstruct {

    public:

        group_t(kaitai::kstream* p__io, vlq_base128_le_t* p__parent = 0, vlq_base128_le_t* p__root = 0);

    private:
        void _read();
        void _clean_up();

    public:
        ~group_t();

    private:
        bool m_has_next;
        uint64_t m_value;
        vlq_base128_le_t* m__root;
        vlq_base128_le_t* m__parent;

    public:

        /**
         * If true, then we have more bytes to read
         */
        bool has_next() const { return m_has_next; }

        /**
         * The 7-bit (base128) numeric value chunk of this group
         */
        uint64_t value() const { return m_value; }
        vlq_base128_le_t* _root() const { return m__root; }
        vlq_base128_le_t* _parent() const { return m__parent; }
    };

private:
    bool f_len;
    int32_t m_len;

public:
    int32_t len();

private:
    bool f_value;
    uint64_t m_value;

public:

    /**
     * Resulting unsigned value as normal integer
     */
    uint64_t value();

private:
    bool f_sign_bit;
    uint64_t m_sign_bit;

public:
    uint64_t sign_bit();

private:
    bool f_value_signed;
    int64_t m_value_signed;

public:

    /**
     * \sa https://graphics.stanford.edu/~seander/bithacks.html#VariableSignExtend Source
     */
    int64_t value_signed();

private:
    std::vector<group_t*>* m_groups;
    vlq_base128_le_t* m__root;
    kaitai::kstruct* m__parent;

public:
    std::vector<group_t*>* groups() const { return m_groups; }
    vlq_base128_le_t* _root() const { return m__root; }
    kaitai::kstruct* _parent() const { return m__parent; }
};

#endif  // VLQ_BASE128_LE_H_

vlq_base128_le.cpp

// This is a generated file! Please edit source .ksy file and use kaitai-struct-compiler to rebuild

#include "vlq_base128_le.h"

vlq_base128_le_t::vlq_base128_le_t(kaitai::kstream* p__io, kaitai::kstruct* p__parent, vlq_base128_le_t* p__root) : kaitai::kstruct(p__io) {
    m__parent = p__parent;
    m__root = this;
    m_groups = 0;
    f_len = false;
    f_value = false;
    f_sign_bit = false;
    f_value_signed = false;

    try {
        _read();
    } catch(...) {
        _clean_up();
        throw;
    }
}

void vlq_base128_le_t::_read() {
    m_groups = new std::vector<group_t*>();
    {
        int i = 0;
        group_t* _;
        do {
            _ = new group_t(m__io, this, m__root);
            m_groups->push_back(_);
            i++;
        } while (!(!(_->has_next())));
    }
}

vlq_base128_le_t::~vlq_base128_le_t() {
    _clean_up();
}

void vlq_base128_le_t::_clean_up() {
    if (m_groups) {
        for (std::vector<group_t*>::iterator it = m_groups->begin(); it != m_groups->end(); ++it) {
            delete *it;
        }
        delete m_groups; m_groups = 0;
    }
}

vlq_base128_le_t::group_t::group_t(kaitai::kstream* p__io, vlq_base128_le_t* p__parent, vlq_base128_le_t* p__root) : kaitai::kstruct(p__io) {
    m__parent = p__parent;
    m__root = p__root;

    try {
        _read();
    } catch(...) {
        _clean_up();
        throw;
    }
}

void vlq_base128_le_t::group_t::_read() {
    m_has_next = m__io->read_bits_int_be(1);
    m_value = m__io->read_bits_int_be(7);
}

vlq_base128_le_t::group_t::~group_t() {
    _clean_up();
}

void vlq_base128_le_t::group_t::_clean_up() {
}

int32_t vlq_base128_le_t::len() {
    if (f_len)
        return m_len;
    m_len = groups()->size();
    f_len = true;
    return m_len;
}

uint64_t vlq_base128_le_t::value() {
    if (f_value)
        return m_value;
    m_value = static_cast<uint64_t>((((((((groups()->at(0)->value() + ((len() >= 2) ? ((groups()->at(1)->value() << 7)) : (0))) + ((len() >= 3) ? ((groups()->at(2)->value() << 14)) : (0))) + ((len() >= 4) ? ((groups()->at(3)->value() << 21)) : (0))) + ((len() >= 5) ? ((groups()->at(4)->value() << 28)) : (0))) + ((len() >= 6) ? ((groups()->at(5)->value() << 35)) : (0))) + ((len() >= 7) ? ((groups()->at(6)->value() << 42)) : (0))) + ((len() >= 8) ? ((groups()->at(7)->value() << 49)) : (0))));
    f_value = true;
    return m_value;
}

uint64_t vlq_base128_le_t::sign_bit() {
    if (f_sign_bit)
        return m_sign_bit;
    m_sign_bit = static_cast<uint64_t>((static_cast<uint64_t>(1) << ((7 * len()) - 1)));
    f_sign_bit = true;
    return m_sign_bit;
}

int64_t vlq_base128_le_t::value_signed() {
    if (f_value_signed)
        return m_value_signed;
    m_value_signed = static_cast<int64_t>((static_cast<int64_t>((value() ^ sign_bit())) - static_cast<int64_t>(sign_bit())));
    f_value_signed = true;
    return m_value_signed;
}