my @data = (0x61, 0xAE, 0x6B, 0x7D, 0x72, 0x2E, 0x17, 0x8A); printf "%08b\n", $_ for @data; print "---\n"; printf "%08b\n", $_ for map ord, split //, "ack"; __END__ 01100001 10101110 01101011 01111101 01110010 00101110 00010111 10001010 --- 01100001 01100011 01101011