SPUG: unpack

[Benjamin Franks]

Thanks for all the responses recommending unpack().  Here's an example
I'm trying:

	struct alpha {
	  char   *a;
	  long	 b;
	};

Now let's say the byte-string equivalent is stored in a file.  I snag it
into perl into $alpha;

	$len=length($alpha)-4;
 	($a,$b) = unpack("a$len l",$alpha);

I get the 4-byte long value correctly.  But the string for $a is
garbled or empty.

Any ideas,
--Ben


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