be16toh(3)
NAME
htobe16, htole16, be16toh, le16toh, htobe32, htole32, be32toh, le32toh, htobe64, htole64, be64toh, le64toh - convert values between host and big-/little-endian byte order
SYNOPSIS
#include <endian.h>
uint16_t htobe16(uint16_t host_16bits);
uint16_t htole16(uint16_t host_16bits);
uint16_t be16toh(uint16_t big_endian_16bits);
uint16_t le16toh(uint16_t little_endian_16bits);
uint32_t htobe32(uint32_t host_32bits);
uint32_t htole32(uint32_t host_32bits);
uint32_t be32toh(uint32_t big_endian_32bits);
uint32_t le32toh(uint32_t little_endian_32bits);
uint64_t htobe64(uint64_t host_64bits);
uint64_t htole64(uint64_t host_64bits);
uint64_t be64toh(uint64_t big_endian_64bits);
uint64_t le64toh(uint64_t little_endian_64bits);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
htobe16(), htole16(), be16toh(), le16toh(), htobe32(), htole32(),
be32toh(), le32toh(), htobe64(), htole64(), be64toh(), le64toh():
Since glibc 2.19:
_DEFAULT_SOURCE
In glibc up to and including 2.19:
_BSD_SOURCE
DESCRIPTION
These functions convert the byte encoding of integer values from the byte order that the current CPU (the "host") uses, to and from little- endian and big-endian byte order. The number, nn, in the name of each function indicates the size of integer handled by the function, either 16, 32, or 64 bits. The functions with names of the form "htobenn" convert from host byte order to big-endian order. The functions with names of the form "htolenn" convert from host byte order to little-endian order. The functions with names of the form "benntoh" convert from big-endian order to host byte order. The functions with names of the form "lenntoh" convert from little- endian order to host byte order.
VERSIONS
These functions were added to glibc in version 2.9.
CONFORMING TO
These functions are nonstandard. Similar functions are present on the BSDs, where the required header file is <sys/endian.h> instead of <endian.h>. Unfortunately, NetBSD, FreeBSD, and glibc haven't followed the original OpenBSD naming convention for these functions, whereby the nn component always appears at the end of the function name (thus, for example, in NetBSD, FreeBSD, and glibc, the equivalent of OpenBSDs "betoh32" is "be32toh").
NOTES
These functions are similar to the older byteorder(3) family of functions. For example, be32toh() is identical to ntohl(). The advantage of the byteorder(3) functions is that they are standard functions available on all UNIX systems. On the other hand, the fact that they were designed for use in the context of TCP/IP means that they lack the 64-bit and little-endian variants described in this page.
EXAMPLE
The program below display the results of converting an integer from
host byte order to both little-endian and big-endian byte order. Since
host byte order is either little-endian or big-endian, only one of
these conversions will have an effect. When we run this program on a
little-endian system such as x86-32, we see the following:
$ ./a.out
x.u32 = 0x44332211
htole32(x.u32) = 0x44332211
htobe32(x.u32) = 0x11223344
Program source
#include <endian.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
union {
uint32_t u32;
uint8_t arr[4];
} x;
x.arr[0] = 0x11; /* Lowest-address byte */
x.arr[1] = 0x22;
x.arr[2] = 0x33;
x.arr[3] = 0x44; /* Highest-address byte */
printf("x.u32 = 0x%x\n", x.u32);
printf("htole32(x.u32) = 0x%x\n", htole32(x.u32));
printf("htobe32(x.u32) = 0x%x\n", htobe32(x.u32));
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
SEE ALSO
bswap(3), byteorder(3)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 4.09 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Opportunity
Personal Opportunity - Free software gives you access to billions of dollars of software at no cost. Use this software for your business, personal use or to develop a profitable skill. Access to source code provides access to a level of capabilities/information that companies protect though copyrights. Open source is a core component of the Internet and it is available to you. Leverage the billions of dollars in resources and capabilities to build a career, establish a business or change the world. The potential is endless for those who understand the opportunity.
Business Opportunity - Goldman Sachs, IBM and countless large corporations are leveraging open source to reduce costs, develop products and increase their bottom lines. Learn what these companies know about open source and how open source can give you the advantage.
Free Software
Free Software provides computer programs and capabilities at no cost but more importantly, it provides the freedom to run, edit, contribute to, and share the software. The importance of free software is a matter of access, not price. Software at no cost is a benefit but ownership rights to the software and source code is far more significant.
Free Office Software - The Libre Office suite provides top desktop productivity tools for free. This includes, a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation engine, drawing and flowcharting, database and math applications. Libre Office is available for Linux or Windows.
Free Books
The Free Books Library is a collection of thousands of the most popular public domain books in an online readable format. The collection includes great classical literature and more recent works where the U.S. copyright has expired. These books are yours to read and use without restrictions.
Source Code - Want to change a program or know how it works? Open Source provides the source code for its programs so that anyone can use, modify or learn how to write those programs themselves. Visit the GNU source code repositories to download the source.
Education
Study at Harvard, Stanford or MIT - Open edX provides free online courses from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley and other top Universities. Hundreds of courses for almost all major subjects and course levels. Open edx also offers some paid courses and selected certifications.
Linux Manual Pages - A man or manual page is a form of software documentation found on Linux/Unix operating systems. Topics covered include computer programs (including library and system calls), formal standards and conventions, and even abstract concepts.
