Keep Only the Highest Set Bit

Code

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

// Complete the function
uint16_t highest_set_bit(uint16_t reg) {

    uint16_t sectionMask = 15;
    sectionMask = sectionMask << 12;
    uint16_t bitMask = 32768;
    uint16_t bit = 0;
    for (int i =0; i < 4 && bit == 0; i++) {
        if ((reg & sectionMask) != 0 ) {
            while (bit == 0) {
                bit = bitMask & reg;
                bitMask = bitMask >> 1;
            }
        }
        else {
            bitMask = bitMask >> 4;
            sectionMask = sectionMask >>4;
        }
    }
    return bit;
}

int main() {
    uint16_t reg;
    scanf("%hu", &reg);

    uint16_t result = highest_set_bit(reg);
    printf("%hu", result);
    return 0;
}

Solving Approach