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<h3 class="section">19.3 Choosing Target Byte Order</h3>

<p><a name="index-choosing-target-byte-order-1328"></a><a name="index-target-byte-order-1329"></a>
Some types of processors, such as the <acronym>MIPS</acronym>, PowerPC, and Renesas SH,
offer the ability to run either big-endian or little-endian byte
orders.  Usually the executable or symbol will include a bit to
designate the endian-ness, and you will not need to worry about
which to use.  However, you may still find it useful to adjust
<span class="sc">gdb</span>'s idea of processor endian-ness manually.

     
<a name="index-set-endian-1330"></a>
<dl><dt><code>set endian big</code><dd>Instruct <span class="sc">gdb</span> to assume the target is big-endian.

     <br><dt><code>set endian little</code><dd>Instruct <span class="sc">gdb</span> to assume the target is little-endian.

     <br><dt><code>set endian auto</code><dd>Instruct <span class="sc">gdb</span> to use the byte order associated with the
executable.

     <br><dt><code>show endian</code><dd>Display <span class="sc">gdb</span>'s current idea of the target byte order.

   </dl>

   <p>If the <code>set endian auto</code> mode is in effect and no executable has
been selected, then the endianness used is the last one chosen either
by one of the <code>set endian big</code> and <code>set endian little</code>
commands or by inferring from the last executable used.  If no
endianness has been previously chosen, then the default for this mode
is inferred from the target <span class="sc">gdb</span> has been built for, and is
<code>little</code> if the name of the target CPU has an <code>el</code> suffix
and <code>big</code> otherwise.

   <p>Note that these commands merely adjust interpretation of symbolic
data on the host, and that they have absolutely no effect on the
target system.

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