Repeated division? How come? Here's a simple routine that translates hex numbers into decimal ones. Replace the my $answer = 0; with my $answer = Math::BigInt -> new (0); to extend it bigger numbers.

my $c = 0;
my %X = map {$_ => $c ++} 0 .. 9, 'A' .. 'F';
sub hex2dec {
    local $_ = shift;
    my $answer = 0;

    ($answer <<= 4) += $X {substr $_ => 0, 1, ""} while length;

    $answer;
}
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Abigail