integer to binary

[Matthias Lang]

chandru writes:

 > I want to convert an integer to a binary without having to
 > guess/figure-out how many bytes are required to fit that integer.
 > There doesn't seem to be a way to do this with the bit syntax.
 > 
 > 11> <<12345678901:40>>.
 > <<2,223,220,28,53>>
 > 
 > 12> <<12345678901:48>>.
 > <<0,2,223,220,28,53>>
 > 
 > In the example above, the integer will fit in 5 bytes but I can't
 > think of a way to specify this without trial and error. Any
 > suggestions? 

If having the binary represent the integer in "the usual way" isn't a
requirement, then you can always do

   1> term_to_binary(1234567890).
   <<131,110,4,0,210,2,150,73>>

and if you don't mind being tripped up by the odd rounding problem,
there's always

   Bits = math:log(My_integer) / math:log(2)

efficiency is probably not that great either.

Matthias