this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
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The C Programming Language

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Inside <arpa/inet.h>, there are two functions to convert host byte order to network byte order. Why are there two options? I understand that htons() is used for port address related to IPv4 and IPv6, but what use does htonl() serve?

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[–] Cofeiini@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 hours ago

I don't usually use networking in C or C++, so I can't say for sure. But I did I find this quote that might explain it:

The reasons for having both 16 and 32 bit functions is that IP and TCP headers use a mix of 16-bit fields like port numbers along with 32-bit IPv4 addresses.