# PetscBinaryWrite
Writes to a binary file.
## Synopsis
```
PetscErrorCode PetscBinaryWrite(int fd, const void *p, PetscInt n, PetscDataType type)
```
Not Collective
## Input Parameters
- ***fd -*** the file
- ***p -*** the buffer
- ***n -*** the number of items to write
- ***type -*** the type of items to read (`PETSC_INT`, `PETSC_REAL` or `PETSC_SCALAR`)
## Notes
`PetscBinaryWrite()` uses byte swapping to work on all machines; the files
are written using big-endian ordering to the file. On little-endian machines the numbers
are converted to the big-endian format when they are written to disk.
When PETSc is ./configure with --with-64-bit-indices the integers are written to the
file as 64 bit integers, this means they can only be read back in when the option --with-64-bit-indices
is used.
If running with __float128 precision the output is in __float128 unless one uses the -binary_write_double option
The Buffer p should be read-write buffer, and not static data.
This way, byte-swapping is done in-place, and then the buffer is
written to the file.
This routine restores the original contents of the buffer, after
it is written to the file. This is done by byte-swapping in-place
the second time.
Because byte-swapping may be done on the values in data it cannot be declared const
## See Also
`PetscBinaryRead()`, `PetscBinaryOpen()`, `PetscBinaryClose()`, `PetscViewerBinaryGetDescriptor()`, `PetscBinarySynchronizedWrite()`,
`PetscBinarySynchronizedRead()`, `PetscBinarySynchronizedSeek()`
## Level
advanced
## Location
src/sys/fileio/sysio.c
## Examples
src/vec/vec/tutorials/ex6.c.html
src/vec/vec/tutorials/ex6f.F90.html
---
[Edit on GitLab](https://gitlab.com/petsc/petsc/-/edit/release/src/sys/fileio/sysio.c)
[Index of all Sys routines](index.md)
[Table of Contents for all manual pages](/docs/manualpages/index.md)
[Index of all manual pages](/docs/manualpages/singleindex.md)