Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t val) 
{
    uint16_t inp = val;
    uint16_t curr, ans;

    for(int i=0; i<8; i++)
    {
        curr = (inp >> i) & 0x01;
        ans |= (curr << 2*i);
    }   
    return ans;
}

int main() {
    uint8_t val;
    scanf("%hhu", &val);

    uint16_t result = spread_bits(val);
    printf("%u", result);
    return 0;
}

Solving Approach