Counting bits in large string / bit vector

[bmacinnis at comcast.net]

In Perl I can create a large bit vector as follows:

 

vec($bitmap,10000000,1) = 0;    # this will create a bit string of all zeros

 

To set bits I may using commands like:

 

     vec($bitmap,1000, 1) = 1          # turn on bit 1000

     vec($bitmap,10000, 1) = 1        # turn on bit 10000

     vec($bitmap,1000000, 1) = 1     # turn on bit 10000000

 

which would set three bits in the string $bitmap - Note: in perl I don't
even have to declare $bitmap until I use it in the vec command.

 

Anyway there is a very cool perl command which return the number of bits set
in a large bitmap string instantly. 

The command is:

 

     $setbits = unpack("%32b*", $bitmap);

 

 

Which in this case would store the number 3 in $setbits

 

 

Is there an equivalent command in python that would immediately provide the
number of set bits in a large bit vector/string

 

I know I could loop through but when you have 10,000,000 or 100,000,000
bits, the looping takes quite a while the perl unpack is instant.

 

Thanks for any help you could provide

 

 

 

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