*** First record
(4 byte integer) - byte size of record (4*N) (f77 header)
(4 byte float) .. value 1
(4 byte float) .. value 2
...
(4 byte float) .. value N N = number of grid points in the field
(4 byte integer) .. byte size of record (4*N) (f77 trailer)

**** Second record
(4 byte integer) - byte size of record (4*N) (f77 header)
(4 byte float) .. value 1
(4 byte float) .. value 2
...
(4 byte float) .. value N N = number of grid points in the field
(4 byte integer) .. byte size of record (4*N) (f77 trailer)

##</code><code>##

my $out_file = "/dicast2-papp/DICAST/smg_data/" . $gfn . ".bin"; #path to binary file
my $template = "if262792i"; #binary layout (integer 262792 floats   integer) as described in the format documentation above (not sure if this is correct)
my $record_length = 4; #not sure what record_length is supposed to represent (number of values in 1st record, or should it be length of variable [4 bytes]) 
my (@fields,$record);
open (FH, $out_files ) || die  "couldn't open $out_files\n";
until (eof(FH))
{
    my $val_of_read = read (FH, $record, $record_length) ==   $record_length
			or die "short read\n";
   @fields = unpack ($template, $record);
   print "field = $fields[0]\n";
}