sub htonl {
  my $input = shift;
  my $output = unpack( 'N*', pack( 'L*', $input ) );
  return $output;
}

##</code><code>##

$packed = pack 'l', 17;;

print length $packed;;
4

print ord( substr $packed, $_, 1 ) for 0 .. 3;;
17
0
0
0

##</code><code>##

$unpacked = unpack 'N', $packed;;

print length( $unpacked );;
9

print ord( substr $unpacked, $_, 1 ) for 0 .. 9;;
50
56
53
50
49
50
54
55
50
0