Store an int in a char array?

Question

I want to store a 4-byte int in a char array... such that the first 4 locations of the char array are the 4 bytes of the int.

Then, I want to pull the int back out o

Answer 1

int main() {
    typedef union foo {
        int x;
        char a[4];
    } foo;

    foo p;
    p.x = 0x01010101;
    printf("%x ", p.a[0]);
    printf("%x ", p.a[1]);
    printf("%x ", p.a[2]);
    printf("%x ", p.a[3]);

    return 0;
}

Bear in mind that the a[0] holds the LSB and a[3] holds the MSB, on a little endian machine.