I have this simple union:

```
union {
    char c[4];
    float f;
} u;
u.c[3] = 0x42;
u.c[2] = 0xc9;
u.c[1] = 0x00;
u.c[0] = 0x00;

cout << u.f << endl;

```

I got a file filled with hexa values like this one. I need to convert them to ieee 754 float and this union does it just fine.
The problem is I also need the binary version of these numbers. The question is what is the shorter/more efficient way to do this: read this union like binary or convert the hexa value to binary?

Can I read it as binary? Or should I just convert the hexa value (0x0000c942) to binary?