Detecting the byte order (endian) of a system.

[Dreamland Fantasy]

Hi there,

I've seen some code in the forums that utilises 'CompilerIf #PB_Compiler_OS = ...' statements to let a program know what endian format a system is using. I decided however that I wanted to write this little function that tests what endian format is being used. Maybe someone will find it useful.

Code: Select all

Enumeration
  #LITTLE_ENDIAN
  #BIG_ENDIAN
EndEnumeration

Procedure ByteOrder()
  Protected test.w = 1
  If PeekB(@test)
    ProcedureReturn #LITTLE_ENDIAN
  Else
    ProcedureReturn #BIG_ENDIAN
  EndIf
EndProcedure

CompilerIf #PB_Compiler_IsMainFile
  Select ByteOrder()
    Case #LITTLE_ENDIAN
      MessageRequester("ByteOrder()", "Little-endian (Intel) byte order detected.")
    Case #BIG_ENDIAN
      MessageRequester("ByteOrder()", "Big-endian (Motorola) byte order detected.")
  EndSelect
CompilerEndIf

Kind regards,

Francis

[wilbert]

As far as I know all operating systems PureBasic currently supports are little endian.

[Dreamland Fantasy]

As far as I know all operating systems PureBasic currently supports are little endian.

True for the latest versions of PureBasic, but I do on occasion get asked to program stuff for PowerPC-based Macs.

Kind regards,

Francis