in reply to Extracting Image/File Metadata

Take a look at perlfunc:unpack. Eg. 

my $record = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";
my @bits = unpack 'A12 A3', $record;
print $bits[0]; # Gives 'abcdefghijkl'
print $bits[1]; # Gives 'mno'

[download]

Examine what is said, not who speaks.

The 7th Rule of perl club is -- pearl clubs are easily damaged. Use a diamond club instead.

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom