or download this
$s = (split /./s, $s, 2)[1] err ""; # Needs 'defined-or' patch, or 5.9
+.1
$s = (split /./s, $s, 2)[1]; $s = "" unless defined $s;
...
$s = pack "A*", (unpack "A*", $s)[1 .. length($s)-1];
$s = pack "A*", unpack "xA*", $s if length $s;
$s = pack "A*", unpack "xA@{[length($s)-1]}", $s if length $s;