What is readUInt16BE() in the Node.js Buffer Module?

Buffer Module in Node.js provides access to Buffer objects that represent fixed-length sequences of bytes. readUInt16BE() is a method defined in the Buffer Class that reads a 16-bit, big-endian unsigned integer from the Buffer object starting from the specified offset. The prototype of readUInt16BE() is as follows:

buf.readUInt32BE([offset])

Parameters

offset: Number of bytes to skip before reading. offset must be an integer and lie in the range 0<=offset<=buf.length20<= offset <= buf.length -2. The default value is 00.

Return value

16-bit, big-endian unsigned integer from buf starting from the specified offset.

NOTE: Buffer Class is accessible within the global scope. Therefore, you do not need to use the require('buffer').Buffer method to import the Buffer Module.

Example

const buf = Buffer.from([1, 62, -83]);
console.log(buf.readUInt16BE(1));

Explanation

In the first line, we create the buffer object buf using Buffer.from(). Then, we display the 16-bit, big-endian unsigned integer from buf after skipping 1 byte by passing offset 1 to the buf.readUInt16BE() method.

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