htobe16, htole16, be16toh, le16toh, htobe32, htole32, be32toh, le32toh, htobe64, htole64, be64toh,
Contents
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.
Examples
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
Programsource
#include <endian.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
int
main(void)
{
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 = %#x\n", x.u32);
printf("htole32(x.u32) = %#x\n", htole32(x.u32));
printf("htobe32(x.u32) = %#x\n", htobe32(x.u32));
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
History
glibc 2.9.
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.
Library
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
Name
htobe16, htole16, be16toh, le16toh, htobe32, htole32, be32toh, le32toh, htobe64, htole64, be64toh,
le64toh - convert values between host and big-/little-endian byte order
See Also
bswap(3), byteorder(3) Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-06-15 endian(3)
Standards
None.
Synopsis
#include<endian.h>uint16_thtobe16(uint16_thost_16bits);uint16_thtole16(uint16_thost_16bits);uint16_tbe16toh(uint16_tbig_endian_16bits);uint16_tle16toh(uint16_tlittle_endian_16bits);uint32_thtobe32(uint32_thost_32bits);uint32_thtole32(uint32_thost_32bits);uint32_tbe32toh(uint32_tbig_endian_32bits);uint32_tle32toh(uint32_tlittle_endian_32bits);uint64_thtobe64(uint64_thost_64bits);uint64_thtole64(uint64_thost_64bits);uint64_tbe64toh(uint64_tbig_endian_64bits);uint64_tle64toh(uint64_tlittle_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
Versions
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").
