Binary Files on 32bit / 64bit systems?

I am using python struct module to create custom binary files.

The file itself has the following format:

4 bytes (integer) 1 byte (unsigned char) 4 bytes (float)

4 bytes (integer) 1 byte (unsigned char) 4 bytes (float)

.......................... (100000 such lines)

4 bytes (integer) 1 byte (unsigned char) 4 bytes (float)

Currently, I am using a 32bit machine to create these custom binary files. I am soon planning on switching to a 64bit machine.

Will I be able to read开发者_StackOverflow中文版/write the same files using both {32bit / 64bit} machines? or should I expect compatibility issues?

(I will be using Ubuntu Linux for both)

As long as your struct format string uses "standard size and alignment" (< or >) rather than "native size and alignment" (@), your files can be used cross-platform.

See http://docs.python.org/library/struct.html#byte-order-size-and-alignment

By default, C types are represented in the machine’s native format and byte order, and properly aligned by skipping pad bytes if necessary (according to the rules used by the C compiler).

So it depends on your code if it's portable or not.

You have more to worry about than 32-bit vs. 64-bit. The broad category you are talking about is called serialization.

Have a look at the marshal and/or pickle modules.