Binary to octal numbers:  two solutions in Matlab 

Equivalent decimal, binary and octal numbers

To convert a value from binary to octal, you merely translate each 3-bit binary group to its octal equivalent. For example, the binary number 001111101100010 (or, to be clearly seen, 001 111 101 100 010 translates into the octal 17542 equivalent. 

Solution 1.  Using built-in functions

In Matlab, we can go from binary to decimal, and then, from decimal to octal (using dec2base). We can embed one instruction into the other, like this: 

oct_str = dec2base(bin2dec(bin_str), 8)

 
It’s important to remember that both binary numbers and octal ones are treated as strings in Matlab. 

So, we can use this concept, like this:

bin_str = '111101100010'
oct_str = dec2base(bin2dec(bin_str), 8)

 
Matlab’s answer is: 

oct_str = 7542

Solution 2. Separating in groups

We can develop a function to translate the table shown before. Our suggestion uses a switch-case structure.

% Binary to octal conversion
function o = b2o(b)
switch b
    case {'0', '00', '000'}
        h = '0';
    case {'1', '01', '001'}
        h = '1';
    case {'10', '010'}
        h = '2';
    case {'11', '011'}
        h = '3';
    case {'100'}
        h = '4';
    case {'101'}
        h = '5';
    case {'110'}
        h = '6';
    case {'111'}
        h = '7';
end

 
Now, we have to call the function for every 3-bit group of binary numbers. One possible solution to separate the binary number into 3-bit groups is shown here:

 
bin_str = input('Enter binary number: ', 's');
i = length(bin_str);
n = ceil(i/3); 

for g = n : -1 : 1
    if i > 3
        oct_str(g) = b2o(bin_str(i-3 : i));
        i = i - 3;
    else
        oct_str(g) = b2o(bin_str(1 : i));
    end
end
oct_str 

Let’s try it. 

Enter binary number: 101010
oct_str = 2A 

Enter binary number: 110001011110101
oct_str = 62F5