Character Code Meaning
a Convert to its ASCII character value; pad empty characters with null
A Convert to its ASCII character value; pad empty characters with spaces
b Convert to a bit string from low to high order bit
B Convert to a bit string from high to low order bit
c Convert to a signed character
C Convert to an unsigned character
d Convert to a double-precision (floating-point number in the native platform format)
f Convert to a single-precision (floating-point number in the native platform format)
h Convert a hex string, putting the lower order nibble first
H Convert a hex string to ASCII characters, putting the high order nibble first
i Convert to signed integer format
I Convert to unsigned integer format
l Convert to signed long format
L Convert to unsigned long format
n Convert to short big endian order
N Convert to long big endian order
p Convert a pointer to string format
P Convert a pointer to a fixed-length string
s Convert to signed short format
S Convert to unsigned short format
v Convert to short little endian format
V Convert to long little endian format
u Convert to uu encoded format
x Insert null byte
X Back up one byte
@ Null fill to absolute position
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$packed = pack "a10" , "Test";
print "$packed Null Padded\n\n";
print "pad empty characters with spaces\n\n";
$packed = pack "A10" , "Test";
print "$packed Space Padded\n\n";
$packed = pack "b32" , "01000101010100100100100101000011";
print "$packed The right most bit is the most significant\n\n";
$packed = pack "B32" , "01000101010100100100100101000011";
print "$packed The left most bit is the most significant\n\n";
$packed = pack "c4", 0x45, 0x52, 0x49, 0x43;
print "$packed Numbers (hex) to ASCII, unsigned\n\n";
$packed = pack "C4", , 101, 114, 105, 99;
print "$packed Numbers (decimal) to ASCII, signed\n\n";
$packed = pack "h8", "11111111111";
print "$packed Hex low Nibble first to ASCII\n\n";
$packed = pack "H8", "1111111111";
print "$packed Hex High Nibble first to ASCII\n\n";
$packed = pack "d", , 101.134;
print "$packed Double Precision native format packed for shipment\n\n";
$packed = pack "f", , 101.134;
print "$packed Single Precision native format packed for shipment\n\n";
$packed = pack "i5", , "97","98","99","100","101";
print "$packed Unsigned Packed Integers\n\n";
$packed = pack "I5", , "97","98","99","100","101";