If the input data is in network (big-endian) order, do this:

$number = unpack("n", $string);
[download]

If it's in little-endian order, do this:

$number = unpack("v", $string);
[download]

If it's in the order for the machine your perl is running on, you can do this:

$number = unpack("S", $string);
[download]

Or use a little 's' if you want signed data.