swab() -- General Function (libc)

Swap a pair of bytes
void swab(src, dest, nb) char *src, *dest; unsigned nb;

The ordering of bytes within a  word differs from machine to machine.  This
may  cause  problems  when moving  binary  data  between machines.   swab()
interchanges each pair of bytes in  the array src that is n bytes long, and
places the  result into  the array  dest. The length  nb should be  an even
number, or the last byte will not be touched.  src and dest may be the same
place.

Example

This example prompts for an integer; it then prints the integer both as you
entered it, and as it appears with its bytes swapped.

#include <stdio.h>

main()
{
    int word;

    printf("Enter an integer: \n");
    scanf("%d", &word);
    printf("The word is 0x%x\n", word);
    swab(&word, &word, 2);
    printf("The word with bytes swapped is 0x%x\n", word);
}

See Also

byte ordering,
dd,
canon.h,
libc

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness