[bit.endian]

# 22 General utilities library [[utilities]](./#utilities)

## 22.11 Bit manipulation [[bit]](bit#endian)

### 22.11.8 Endian [bit.endian]

[1](#1)

[#](http://github.com/Eelis/draft/tree/9adde4bc1c62ec234483e63ea3b70a59724c745a/source/utilities.tex#L16022)

Two common methods of byte ordering in multibyte scalar types are big-endian
and little-endian in the execution environment[.](#1.sentence-1)

Big-endian is a format for
storage of binary data in which the most significant byte is placed first,
with the rest in descending order[.](#1.sentence-2)

Little-endian is a format for storage of
binary data in which the least significant byte is placed first, with the rest
in ascending order[.](#1.sentence-3)

This subclause describes the endianness of the scalar types
of the execution environment[.](#1.sentence-4)

[🔗](#lib:endian)

`enum class endian {
  little = see below,
  big    = see below,
  native = see below
};
`

[2](#2)

[#](http://github.com/Eelis/draft/tree/9adde4bc1c62ec234483e63ea3b70a59724c745a/source/utilities.tex#L16044)

If all scalar types have size 1 byte, then all of endian​::​little,endian​::​big, and endian​::​native have the same value[.](#2.sentence-1)

Otherwise, endian​::​little is not equal to endian​::​big[.](#2.sentence-2)

If all scalar types are big-endian, endian​::​native is
equal to endian​::​big[.](#2.sentence-3)

If all scalar types are little-endian, endian​::​native is
equal to endian​::​little[.](#2.sentence-4)

Otherwise, endian​::​native is not equal
to either endian​::​big or endian​::​little[.](#2.sentence-5)