I was just wondering why.....

Is there a particular reason why /proc/$$/om/stay is expressed as text alpha strings ?
Text, yes, but alpha strings make interfacing with /proc harder than it need be.

Or put it another way:

Why is not /proc/$$/om/stay expressed as a (32bit) text hexadecimal value
which could be processed with something as simple as:

  fscanf(fdstay,"%08X",flag_stay)
  if( flag_stay & DSTAY_MONKEY) {
    ......

This would also simplify the kernel code that produces the reading of /proc/$$/om/stay.
I was just wondering why I was having to work to code something that should be so simple........