#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
my $msg = '1324^@^@^@';
my $lng = length($msg);
print "The length of the message is: $lng\n";
print "This is the message itself: [$msg]\n";

##</code><code>##

cdruser1@cdr1:~/cdr/scripts> ./test1.pl 
The length of the message is: 7
This is the message itself: [1324]