That is close to a test I've used: 

my $o= pack( 'I', 0x04030201 );
if(  substr($o,-4) eq "\04\03\02\01"  ) {
    return "big";
} elsif(  substr($o,0,4) eq "\01\02\03\04"  ) {
    return "little";
} else {
    die "Strange endian";
}

[download]
Note that the "I" format can result in more than 4 bytes on some platforms.

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")

In reply to (tye)Re: Detecting machine Endian-ness by tye
in thread Detecting machine Endian-ness by LunaticLeo

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