Bit Spreading Interleave Bits with Zeros

Code

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

uint16_t spread_bits(uint8_t x) {
    uint16_t out = 0;

    for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
        uint8_t bit = (x >> i) & 1;   // take bits LSB → MSB

        out |= (bit << (i * 2));      // put bit at even positions
    }

    return out;
}

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

    uint16_t result = spread_bits(x);
    printf("%u\n", result);

    return 0;
}

Solving Approach