How to Generate Binary Numbers in Python

Welcome to this tutorial where you will learn how to generate binary numbers in Python. Binary numbers are base 2 numbers, which only consist of the digits 0 and 1.

Understanding how to work with binary numbers is fundamental in fields such as computer science and digital electronics. Python is a powerful language that makes binary number generation quite easy. Let’s break it down step-by-step.

Step 1: Define the Function to Convert Decimal to Binary

One way to generate binary numbers is to take a decimal number as input and then convert that number into a binary number. For that, we’ll use a str.format() function.

This method formats the specified value(s) and inserts them inside the string’s placeholder. The placeholder is defined using curly brackets: {}.

1
2
def decimal_to_binary(n):
    return "{0:b}".format(int(n))

Step 2: Invoke the Function

Now we have our conversion function ready, all we need to do is invoke the function and provide an integer input into the function.

1
print(decimal_to_binary(10))

When the code is executed, it converts the decimal number 10 into binary and the output is:

1010

Step 3: Generating a List of Binary Numbers

In case we want to generate a series of binary numbers, we can do so by putting the function inside a for loop. The for loop will invoke the function for each decimal number in the range we specify.

1
2
for i in range(11):
    print(decimal_to_binary(i))

After invoking the function with a range from 0 to 10, we get the following binary numbers list:

0
1
10
11
100
101
110
111
1000
1001
1010

The Full Code

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
def decimal_to_binary(n):
    return "{0:b}".format(int(n))
 
print(decimal_to_binary(10))
 
for i in range(11):
    print(decimal_to_binary(i))

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can easily generate binary numbers in Python. The same concept can be extended to include octal and hexadecimal number generation just by replacing ‘b’ in the format function with ‘o’ for octal and ‘x’ for hexadecimal.