encrypt() seems to NUL pad the string to the required block size:

  $plaintext .= "\0" x $trail;

That's where your NULs are coming from. If you know that trailing \0s are not ever valid, you can strip them right before your return in decrypt():

$plaintext =~ s/\0+$//;

On the other hand, if trailing NUL are a legitimate possibility, you will have to come up with a different plan, such as encoding the real length within your plaintext in encrypt() so you can trim it in the decrypt() sub.

In reply to Re^3: String differs from printing to STDOUT and printing to file by rjt
in thread String differs from printing to STDOUT and printing to file by cboesch

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