Binary Data

Anonymous Monk has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have a rather strange problem. I would like to open a binary file, save it into a variable, and finally save that data to disk:

open(FH,"file.exe");
binmode(FH);
my $binary;
while(<FH>) {
 $binary .= $_;
}
close(FH);

open(FH,">newfile");
print FH $binary;
close(FH);
[download]

I should then be able to pull the binary data from that file, or execute it if it was an executable. However, the above code segment produces a file that is much larger than the original.

Comment on Binary Data Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Binary Data by JamesNC (Chaplain) on Jun 12, 2003 at 02:30 UTC
Simple Solution: You forgot to use binmode again is all :) `open(FH,"file.exe"); binmode(FH); my $binary; while(<FH>) { $binary .= $_; } close(FH); open(FH,">newfile"); binmode FH; #<---- Add this and it works just fine :) print FH $binary; close(FH);` [download] Cheers, James	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Binary Data by djantzen (Priest) on Jun 12, 2003 at 01:56 UTC
Try File::Copy or even just a system`("cp file.exe newfile.exe");` Update: But you really just need to binmode the filehandle after you open it for the write :^) See also: File Copy, Remember to binmode text files "The dead do not recognize context" -- Kai, Lexx	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Re: Binary Data by Anonymous Monk on Jun 12, 2003 at 02:09 UTC
I'm not looking for copy. In some cases, the $binary variable will be manipulated, but I will not know until it is read in.	[reply]