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Mathematica > Binary Data >

Built-in Mathematica Symbol

ByteOrdering

ByteOrdering
is an option for BinaryRead, BinaryWrite and related functions that specifies what ordering of bytes should be assumed for your computer system.

MORE INFORMATION

Possible settings for ByteOrdering are +1 and -1.

+1 corresponds to big endian (appropriate for PowerPC and many other processors); -1 corresponds to little endian (appropriate for x86 processors).

+1 corresponds to having the most significant byte first; -1 to having the least significant byte first.

+1 is the order obtained from IntegerDigits[n, 256].

EXAMPLES

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Basic Examples (2)

$ByteOrdering gives the byte ordering on this machine:

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Create a file with a 32-bit integer:

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Read the data from the file:

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Read the data with reverse byte ordering:

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Recreate the correct interpretation using Mathematica functions: