How to Read 64-bit Integer from an ArrayBuffer / DataView in JavaScript

Question

Given a 64-bit (8-byte) little-endian ArrayBuffer of bytes, how can we read 64-bit integer values in JavaScript?

I experimented and came up with this, b

Answer 1

Based on the original experiment and Sebastian Speitel's suggestion/fix, this function returns a 64-bit value until precision is lost after Number.MAX_SAFE_INTEGER

DataView.prototype.getUint64 = function(byteOffset, littleEndian) {
  // split 64-bit number into two 32-bit parts
  const left =  this.getUint32(byteOffset, littleEndian);
  const right = this.getUint32(byteOffset+4, littleEndian);

  // combine the two 32-bit values
  const combined = littleEndian? left + 2**32*right : 2**32*left + right;

  if (!Number.isSafeInteger(combined))
    console.warn(combined, 'exceeds MAX_SAFE_INTEGER. Precision may be lost');

  return combined;
}

Tested below:

// [byteArray, littleEndian, expectedValue]
const testValues = [
  // big-endian
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xff]),  false, 255], 
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  0x00, 0x00, 0xff, 0xff]),  false, 65535],
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff]),  false, 4294967295],
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01,  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00]),  false, 4294967296],
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x1f, 0xff, 0xff,  0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff]),  false, 9007199254740991], // maximum precision
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x20, 0x00, 0x00,  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00]),  false, 9007199254740992], // precision lost
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x20, 0x00, 0x00,  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01]),  false, 9007199254740992], // precision lost

  // little-endian
  [new Uint8Array([0xff, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00]),  true, 255], 
  [new Uint8Array([0xff, 0xff, 0x00, 0x00,  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00]),  true, 65535],
  [new Uint8Array([0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff,  0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00]),  true, 4294967295],
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00]),  true, 4294967296],
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  0x00, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00]),  true, 1099511627776],
  [new Uint8Array([0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,  0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0x00]),  true, 281474976710656],
  [new Uint8Array([0xff, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff,  0xff, 0xff, 0x1f, 0x00]),  true, 9007199254740991], // maximum precision
];

testValues.forEach(testGetUint64);

function testGetUint64([bytes, littleEndian, expectedValue]) {
  const val = new DataView(bytes.buffer).getUint64(0, littleEndian);
  console.log(val === expectedValue? 'pass' : 'FAIL. expected '+expectedValue+', received '+val);
}