FUNCTION get_bits, input, bit_n, order_flag

IF (bit_n EQ 32) THEN x = ULONG(input, 0, 1) ELSE $
                 IF (bit_n EQ 16) THEN x = UINT(input, 0, 1) ELSE STOP


bit = LONARR(bit_n)

FOR j = 0, bit_n-1 DO $
BEGIN
   bit[bit_n-j-1] = x MOD 2L
   x = x / 2L
ENDFOR

IF (order_flag EQ 0) THEN RETURN, bit $
                     ELSE RETURN, REVERSE(bit)


END