Convert double to Pascal 6-byte (48 bits) real format - php

Question

I need to do some work on data contained in legacy files. For this purpose, I need to read and write Turbo Pascal's 6-byte (48 bit) floating point numbers, from PHP. The Turbo Pascal data type is commonly known as real48 (specs).
I have the following php code to read the format:
/**
* Convert Turbo Pascal 48-bit (6 byte) real to a PHP float
* #param binary 48-bit real (in binary) to convert
* #return float number
*/
function real48ToDouble($real48) {
$byteArray = array_values( unpack('C*', $real48) );
if ($byteArray[0] == 0) {
return 0; // Zero exponent = 0
}
$exponent = $byteArray[0] - 129;
$mantissa = 0;
for ($b = 1; $b <= 4; $b++) {
$mantissa += $byteArray[$b];
$mantissa /= 256;
}
$mantissa += ($byteArray[5] & 127);
$mantissa /= 128;
$mantissa += 1;
if ($byteArray[5] & 128) { // Sign bit check
$mantissa = -$mantissa;
}
return $mantissa * pow(2, $exponent);
}
(adapted from)
Now I need to do the reverse: write the data type.
Note:
I'm aware of the answer to the question Convert C# double to Delphi Real48, but it seems awfully hacky and I would think a much cleaner solution is possible. AND my machine does not natively support 64-bits.

Answer 1

On a second look, the method posted in the answer to Convert C# double to Delphi Real48 cleaned up pretty nicely.
For future reference:
/**
* Convert a PHP number [Int|Float] to a Turbo Pascal 48-bit (6 byte) real byte representation
* #param float number to convert
* #return binary 48-bit real
*/
function doubleToReal48($double) {
$byteArray = array_values( unpack('C*', pack('d', $double)) ); // 64 bit double as array of integers
$real48 = array(0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0);
// Copy the negative flag
$real48[5] |= ($byteArray[7] & 128);
// Get the exponent
$n = ($byteArray[7] & 127) << 4;
$n |= ($byteArray[6] & 240) >> 4;
if ($n == 0) { // Zero exponent = 0
return pack('c6', $real48[0], $real48[1], $real48[2], $real48[3], $real48[4], $real48[5]);
}
$real48[0] = $n - 1023 + 129;
// Copy the Mantissa
$real48[5] |= (($byteArray[6] & 15) << 3); // Get the last 4 bits
$real48[5] |= (($byteArray[5] & 224) >> 5); // Get the first 3 bits
for ($b = 4; $b >= 1; $b--) {
$real48[$b] = (($byteArray[$b+1] & 31) << 3); // Get the last 5 bits
$real48[$b] |= (($byteArray[$b] & 224) >> 5); // Get the first 3 bits
}
return pack('c6', $real48[0], $real48[1], $real48[2], $real48[3], $real48[4], $real48[5]);
}