Method and apparatus are configured to assign a code of less than N number of bits in length to a pattern of bits of a first polarity value distributed within a block of N binary bits. The method basically comprises (1) determining a number of bits of the first value in the block of N binary bits; (2) selecting a base value based on the determined number of bits of the first value; (3) determining a displacement value representative of a particular distribution of the determined number of bits of the first value in the block of N binary bits; and (4) adding the base value and the displacement value to obtain a sum and using the sum to form an assigned code. The base value is preferably selected by evaluating an Expression Io=.sup.NC.sub.1+.sup.NC.sub.2+.sup.NC.sub.3 . . . +.sup.NC.sub.K-1, wherein K is the determined number of bits of the first value in the block of N binary bits. Determining the displacement value preferably comprises (if bit N is a binary first value bit), recursively determining the displacement value I(N,K) as .sup.N-1C.sub.K+I(N-1,K-1), where I(N-1,K-1) is the encoding of the pattern of K-1 number of remaining first value bits in N-1 bits. On the other hand, if bit N is not a first value bit, determining the displacement value preferably comprises recursively determining the displacement value I(N,K) as I(N-1,K) where K is the encoding of the pattern of K number of first value bits in the remaining N-1 number of bits.