C++ int to byte array

Another useful way of doing it that I use is unions:

union byteint
{
    byte b[sizeof int];
    int i;
};
byteint bi;
bi.i = 1337;
for(int i = 0; i<4;i++)
    destination[i] = bi.b[i];

This will make it so that the byte array and the integer will "overlap"( share the same memory ). this can be done with all kinds of types, as long as the byte array is the same size as the type( else one of the fields will not be influenced by the other ). And having them as one object is also just convenient when you have to switch between integer manipulation and byte manipulation/copying.

You don't need a whole function for this; a simple cast will suffice:

int x;
static_cast<char*>(static_cast<void*>(&x));

Any object in C++ can be reinterpreted as an array of bytes. If you want to actually make a copy of the bytes into a separate array, you can use std::copy:

int x;
char bytes[sizeof x];
std::copy(static_cast<const char*>(static_cast<const void*>(&x)),
          static_cast<const char*>(static_cast<const void*>(&x)) + sizeof x,
          bytes);

Neither of these methods takes byte ordering into account, but since you can reinterpret the int as an array of bytes, it is trivial to perform any necessary modifications yourself.

You can get individual bytes with anding and shifting operations:

byte1 =  nint & 0x000000ff
byte2 = (nint & 0x0000ff00) >> 8
byte3 = (nint & 0x00ff0000) >> 16
byte4 = (nint & 0xff000000) >> 24

Using std::vector<unsigned char>:

#include <vector>
using namespace std;

vector<unsigned char> intToBytes(int paramInt)
{
     vector<unsigned char> arrayOfByte(4);
     for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
         arrayOfByte[3 - i] = (paramInt >> (i * 8));
     return arrayOfByte;
}