P:\test>perl print join'|', unpack "C*", # 16 6-bit numeric values pack "B6"x16, # string of 16 bytes, each holding a 6-bit value unpack "a6"x16, # 16 6-character base-2 strings unpack "B*", # 96-character base-2 string "twelve bytes"; # 12-byte packed string ^Z 116|28|116|148|108|28|100|148|32|24|36|228|116|24|84|204