# Bit-struct gem

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bit-struct-gem/172165>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [July 16, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bit-struct-gem/172165 "2009-07-16T02:00:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joel\_VanderWerf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Joel\_VanderWerf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Joel_VanderWerf)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bit-struct-gem/172165/1 "2009-07-16T02:00:33Z")

</div>

Bit-struct is now a gem. It’s for accessing binary data in strings.

Thanks to several folks on this list, particularly Markus F., for  
suggesting features.

Examples and docs at: [http://bit-struct.rubyforge.org/](http://bit-struct.rubyforge.org/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joel\_VanderWerf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Joel\_VanderWerf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Joel_VanderWerf)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bit-struct-gem/172165/2 "2009-07-16T02:06:24Z")

</div>

Hi –

On Thu, 16 Jul 2009, Joel VanderWerf wrote:

> Bit-struct is now a gem. It’s for accessing binary data in strings.
> 
> Thanks to several folks on this list, particularly Markus F., for  
> suggesting features.
> 
> Examples and docs at: [http://bit-struct.rubyforge.org/](http://bit-struct.rubyforge.org/)

Cool. I have a lambda in my (slightly languishing) DVI-file parsing  
library with the comment:

# Most of this proc is by Joel VanderWerf.

above it – a slightly mutated version of something from Bit-struct  
🙂 I can’t remember why I didn’t just use the Bit-struct version  
directly, but there was something I needed to tweak. If I ever get  
back to that project I’ll try to integrate more gracefully or at least  
mention the gem.

David

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joel\_VanderWerf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Joel\_VanderWerf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Joel_VanderWerf)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bit-struct-gem/172165/3 "2009-07-16T03:45:43Z")

</div>

David A. Black wrote:

> > Examples and docs at: [http://bit-struct.rubyforge.org/](http://bit-struct.rubyforge.org/)  
> > mention the gem.  
> > Thanks! Drop me an email if the tweak looks like something that should  
> > go in the library.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joel\_VanderWerf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Joel\_VanderWerf](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Joel_VanderWerf)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 8:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/bit-struct-gem/172165/4 "2009-07-16T08:25:31Z")

</div>

On Jul 15, 2009, at 4:59 PM, Joel VanderWerf wrote:

> Bit-struct is now a gem. It’s for accessing binary data in strings.
> 
> Thanks to several folks on this list, particularly Markus F.,  
> for suggesting features.

Thank you so much for this library – I use the hell out of it, and  
now that it’s a gem it’s one less special-case in my install\_deps rake  
task!