if ($self->datatype->[$_] =~ 
    /^(?:TINYINT|MEDIUMINT|SMALLINT|INT|INTEGER|BIGINT|FLOAT|DOUBLE)$/) {
    $hr_returnvalue->{$CurrentColumnName} *= 1;
                      # Multiply by 1 to create a numeric value.
}

##</code><code>##

C:\test>perl -MDevel::Peek -E"my $x = '12345'; Dump $x; $x *=1; Dump $x"
SV = PV(0x6cf50) at 0xc74e8
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,POK,pPOK)
  PV = 0x67758 "12345"\0
  CUR = 5
  LEN = 8

SV = PVIV(0xaf018) at 0xc74e8
  REFCNT = 1
  FLAGS = (PADMY,IOK,pIOK)
  IV = 12345
  PV = 0x67758 "12345"\0
  CUR = 5
  LEN = 8

##</code><code>##

for( 0 .. $#{$self->columns} ) {
	$CurrentColumnName = $self->columns->[$_];
    if( !(defined $self->flatfield_start->[$_] 
    and defined $self->flatfield_length->[$_] ) 
    ) {
	# Field is missing interface_start, interface_length or both, skip it.
	next;
    }
    if ($self->datatype->[$_] =~
         /^(?:TINYINT|MEDIUMINT|SMALLINT|INT|INTEGER|BIGINT|FLOAT|DOUBLE)$/
    ) {
        $hr_returnvalue->{$CurrentColumnName} = 0 + 
            substr( $textinput, 
               $self->flatfield_start->[$_], $self->flatfield_length->[$_] );
    }else {
        $hr_returnvalue->{$CurrentColumnName} = 
             substr( $textinput, 
                 $self->flatfield_start->[$_], $self->flatfield_length->[$_] );
            $hr_returnvalue->{ $CurrentColumnName } =~ 
                 s/^\s*(.*?)\s*$/$1/;    # Trim whitespace
    }
        
 # Fill empty fields with that field's default value, if such a value is defined