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12

3

and vice versa.

I am running a RedHat if relevant.

byte

share|improve this question

asked Oct 29 '15 at 16:22

WillWill

2801210

• 
  
  
  

  
  6
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  What type of binary file?
  
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  Oct 29 '15 at 16:47
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  In any case, for any file format, I'm sure you could write a one-liner to convert its endianness using Perl and pack / unpack. For some formats, it'll just be a longer line than for others. ;-)
  
  – Ilmari Karonen
  Oct 29 '15 at 21:13
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

12

3

and vice versa.

I am running a RedHat if relevant.

byte

share|improve this question

asked Oct 29 '15 at 16:22

WillWill

2801210

• 
  
  
  

  
  6
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  What type of binary file?
  
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  Oct 29 '15 at 16:47
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  In any case, for any file format, I'm sure you could write a one-liner to convert its endianness using Perl and pack / unpack. For some formats, it'll just be a longer line than for others. ;-)
  
  – Ilmari Karonen
  Oct 29 '15 at 21:13
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

and vice versa.

I am running a RedHat if relevant.

byte

share|improve this question

asked Oct 29 '15 at 16:22

WillWill

2801210

share|improve this question

asked Oct 29 '15 at 16:22

WillWill

2801210

share|improve this question

asked Oct 29 '15 at 16:22

WillWill

2801210

asked Oct 29 '15 at 16:22

WillWill

2801210

asked Oct 29 '15 at 16:22

WillWill

2801210

4 Answers
4

active

oldest

votes

33

You cannot do this because for such a conversion, you need to know the meaning of the binary content.

If e.g. there is a string inside a binary file it must not be converted and a 4 byte integer may need different treatment than a two byte integer.

In other words, for a byte order conversion, you need a data type description.

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:33

schilyschily

10.9k31744

• 
  
  
  

  
  7
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I was just to say that. it is not as simple as just swapping every pair of bytes. for example a 4 byte integer 01 02 03 04 in bigendian could look like this in little endian 04 02 03 01 NOT 02 01 04 03 cs.umd.edu/class/sum2003/cmsc311/Notes/Data/endian.html
  
  – Rob
  Oct 29 '15 at 16:36
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Agreed, endianness makes no sense on a raw, typeless byte stream... this should be the accepted answer if OP does not edit his question
  
  – Thomas
  Oct 30 '15 at 11:02
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  [citation needed] - AFAIK, unless an application explicitly preserves some byte order and not others, then it is usual for bytes or words to be consistently ordered throughout.
  
  – Dennis Williamson
  Oct 30 '15 at 15:52
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @DennisWilliamson: A UTF-8 or ASCII string does not have endianness. UTF-8 specifies byte order while ASCII is 7 bit and doesn't have multi-byte tokens. A UTF-16 string does have endianness and may or may not have a BOM to mark that endianness. A Unix binary which is intended to interact with Windows or Java might have both types of string, which means you have to distinguish them when converting.
  
  – Kevin
  Oct 30 '15 at 18:42
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I came here looking for a program where you give it the data description and the data and it converts it. Thus far I have not found such a program but that does not mean it cannot be done.
  
  – Levi Morrison
  Aug 10 '17 at 16:37
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

32

You can byteswap with dd. Is that sufficent? If not, please update your question to give an example of an input file and the expected outfile.

echo hello >infile
dd conv=swab <infile >outfile

hex infile
 0000 68 65 6c 6c 6f 0a hello.
hex outfile
 0000 65 68 6c 6c 0a 6f ehll.o

share|improve this answer

edited Oct 29 '15 at 16:57

mikeserv

46k669162

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:28

roaimaroaima

46k758124

add a comment | 

2

If you don't care about file contents and just want to swap bytes, then try endconv. It is just a wrapper around standard byte conversion functions, so it supports conversion by 2, 4 and 8 byte long integers. It's not one liner though because it is separate program.

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 30 '15 at 4:00

user140866

add a comment | 

0

In order to change file endianess, assuming word (32-bit) size, this 1 liner should work for you:

hexdump -v -e '1/4 "%08x"' -e '"n"' input_file | xxd -r -p > output_file

share|improve this answer

answered Aug 27 '18 at 18:27

hesham_EEhesham_EE

1262

add a comment | 

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33

You cannot do this because for such a conversion, you need to know the meaning of the binary content.

If e.g. there is a string inside a binary file it must not be converted and a 4 byte integer may need different treatment than a two byte integer.

In other words, for a byte order conversion, you need a data type description.

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:33

schilyschily

10.9k31744

• 
  
  
  

  
  7
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I was just to say that. it is not as simple as just swapping every pair of bytes. for example a 4 byte integer 01 02 03 04 in bigendian could look like this in little endian 04 02 03 01 NOT 02 01 04 03 cs.umd.edu/class/sum2003/cmsc311/Notes/Data/endian.html
  
  – Rob
  Oct 29 '15 at 16:36
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Agreed, endianness makes no sense on a raw, typeless byte stream... this should be the accepted answer if OP does not edit his question
  
  – Thomas
  Oct 30 '15 at 11:02
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  [citation needed] - AFAIK, unless an application explicitly preserves some byte order and not others, then it is usual for bytes or words to be consistently ordered throughout.
  
  – Dennis Williamson
  Oct 30 '15 at 15:52
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @DennisWilliamson: A UTF-8 or ASCII string does not have endianness. UTF-8 specifies byte order while ASCII is 7 bit and doesn't have multi-byte tokens. A UTF-16 string does have endianness and may or may not have a BOM to mark that endianness. A Unix binary which is intended to interact with Windows or Java might have both types of string, which means you have to distinguish them when converting.
  
  – Kevin
  Oct 30 '15 at 18:42
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I came here looking for a program where you give it the data description and the data and it converts it. Thus far I have not found such a program but that does not mean it cannot be done.
  
  – Levi Morrison
  Aug 10 '17 at 16:37
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

33

You cannot do this because for such a conversion, you need to know the meaning of the binary content.

If e.g. there is a string inside a binary file it must not be converted and a 4 byte integer may need different treatment than a two byte integer.

In other words, for a byte order conversion, you need a data type description.

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:33

schilyschily

10.9k31744

• 
  
  
  

  
  7
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I was just to say that. it is not as simple as just swapping every pair of bytes. for example a 4 byte integer 01 02 03 04 in bigendian could look like this in little endian 04 02 03 01 NOT 02 01 04 03 cs.umd.edu/class/sum2003/cmsc311/Notes/Data/endian.html
  
  – Rob
  Oct 29 '15 at 16:36
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Agreed, endianness makes no sense on a raw, typeless byte stream... this should be the accepted answer if OP does not edit his question
  
  – Thomas
  Oct 30 '15 at 11:02
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  [citation needed] - AFAIK, unless an application explicitly preserves some byte order and not others, then it is usual for bytes or words to be consistently ordered throughout.
  
  – Dennis Williamson
  Oct 30 '15 at 15:52
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @DennisWilliamson: A UTF-8 or ASCII string does not have endianness. UTF-8 specifies byte order while ASCII is 7 bit and doesn't have multi-byte tokens. A UTF-16 string does have endianness and may or may not have a BOM to mark that endianness. A Unix binary which is intended to interact with Windows or Java might have both types of string, which means you have to distinguish them when converting.
  
  – Kevin
  Oct 30 '15 at 18:42
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I came here looking for a program where you give it the data description and the data and it converts it. Thus far I have not found such a program but that does not mean it cannot be done.
  
  – Levi Morrison
  Aug 10 '17 at 16:37
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

You cannot do this because for such a conversion, you need to know the meaning of the binary content.

If e.g. there is a string inside a binary file it must not be converted and a 4 byte integer may need different treatment than a two byte integer.

In other words, for a byte order conversion, you need a data type description.

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:33

schilyschily

10.9k31744

share|improve this answer

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:33

schilyschily

10.9k31744

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:33

schilyschily

10.9k31744

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:33

schilyschily

10.9k31744

32

You can byteswap with dd. Is that sufficent? If not, please update your question to give an example of an input file and the expected outfile.

echo hello >infile
dd conv=swab <infile >outfile

hex infile
 0000 68 65 6c 6c 6f 0a hello.
hex outfile
 0000 65 68 6c 6c 0a 6f ehll.o

share|improve this answer

edited Oct 29 '15 at 16:57

mikeserv

46k669162

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:28

roaimaroaima

46k758124

add a comment | 

32

You can byteswap with dd. Is that sufficent? If not, please update your question to give an example of an input file and the expected outfile.

echo hello >infile
dd conv=swab <infile >outfile

hex infile
 0000 68 65 6c 6c 6f 0a hello.
hex outfile
 0000 65 68 6c 6c 0a 6f ehll.o

share|improve this answer

edited Oct 29 '15 at 16:57

mikeserv

46k669162

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:28

roaimaroaima

46k758124

add a comment | 

You can byteswap with dd. Is that sufficent? If not, please update your question to give an example of an input file and the expected outfile.

echo hello >infile
dd conv=swab <infile >outfile

hex infile
 0000 68 65 6c 6c 6f 0a hello.
hex outfile
 0000 65 68 6c 6c 0a 6f ehll.o

share|improve this answer

edited Oct 29 '15 at 16:57

mikeserv

46k669162

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:28

roaimaroaima

46k758124

echo hello >infile
dd conv=swab <infile >outfile

hex infile
 0000 68 65 6c 6c 6f 0a hello.
hex outfile
 0000 65 68 6c 6c 0a 6f ehll.o

share|improve this answer

edited Oct 29 '15 at 16:57

mikeserv

46k669162

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:28

roaimaroaima

46k758124

edited Oct 29 '15 at 16:57

mikeserv

46k669162

edited Oct 29 '15 at 16:57

mikeserv

46k669162

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:28

roaimaroaima

46k758124

answered Oct 29 '15 at 16:28

roaimaroaima

46k758124

0

In order to change file endianess, assuming word (32-bit) size, this 1 liner should work for you:

hexdump -v -e '1/4 "%08x"' -e '"n"' input_file | xxd -r -p > output_file

share|improve this answer

answered Aug 27 '18 at 18:27

hesham_EEhesham_EE

1262

add a comment | 

0

In order to change file endianess, assuming word (32-bit) size, this 1 liner should work for you:

hexdump -v -e '1/4 "%08x"' -e '"n"' input_file | xxd -r -p > output_file

share|improve this answer

answered Aug 27 '18 at 18:27

hesham_EEhesham_EE

1262

add a comment | 

In order to change file endianess, assuming word (32-bit) size, this 1 liner should work for you:

hexdump -v -e '1/4 "%08x"' -e '"n"' input_file | xxd -r -p > output_file

share|improve this answer

answered Aug 27 '18 at 18:27

hesham_EEhesham_EE

1262

hexdump -v -e '1/4 "%08x"' -e '"n"' input_file | xxd -r -p > output_file

share|improve this answer

answered Aug 27 '18 at 18:27

hesham_EEhesham_EE

1262

answered Aug 27 '18 at 18:27

hesham_EEhesham_EE

1262

answered Aug 27 '18 at 18:27

hesham_EEhesham_EE

1262