What is the Buffer.readIntBE() method Node.js?
The Buffer.readIntBE() method in Node.js reads a given number of bytes at a specified offset from a buffer in the
Syntax
The Buffer.readIntBE() method can be declared as shown in the code snippet below:
Buffer.readIntBE(offset, byteCount)
Parameter
-
offset: The offset determines the number of bytes to skip before reading the buffer. In other words, it is the index of the buffer. -
byteCount: The number of bytes to be read.
- The value of
offsetshould be in the range0 to (bufferLength - byteCount).- The default value of
offsetis 0.- The value of
byteCountshould be in the range0 to 6.
Return value
The readIntBE() method returns an integer that is the byteCount number of bytes read from the buffer of the given offset in Big Endian format.
Code
The code snippet below demonstrates the readIntBE() method:
const buff = Buffer.from([0x12, 0x34, 0x56, 0x78]);console.log("buff stored in memory as", buff);console.log("Reading at offset 0:", buff.readIntBE(0, 2).toString(16));console.log("Reading at offset 1:", buff.readIntBE(0, 4).toString(16));
Explanation
-
A buffer
buffis declared in line 1. -
The
readIntBE()method is used in line 5 to get 2 bytes from the index 0 in the big-endian format. As one index of the buffer is 1 byte, we need to read 2 indices.The
readIntBE()method returns two indices ofbuffstarting from index0i.e.index = 0andindex + 1 = 1.As the format is big-endian, index 0 is printed before index 1.
-
The
readIntBE()method is used in line 6 to get 4 bytes from the index 0 in big-endian format.As one index of the buffer is 1 byte, we need to read 4 indices of the buffer. The
readIntBE()method returns four indices ofbuffstarting from index0i.e.index = 0,index + 1 = 1,index + 2 = 2, andindex + 3 = 3.As the format is big-endian, the indices are printed in order (index 0, index 1, index 2, index 3).