A little #define macro in C for selecting a bit range from an integer

This is a simple utility C macro for selecting a bit range from an integer:

#define bits(x, y, z) (((x) >> (z)) & ((((long int) 2) << ((y) - (z))) - 1))

This picks the part that is equivalent to the expression x[y:z] in Verilog.

The cast to long int may need adjustment to the type of the variable that is manipulated.

And yes, it’s possible this could have been done with less parentheses. But with macros, I’m always compelled to avoid any ambiguity that I may not thing about right now.