"Character" just means "string element". In C, they are usually 8 (but 9 bits and other widths are possible). In Perl, they are far bigger. In both languages, they are numbers devoid of intrinsic meaning. They can be all of the things you specified, or something completely different.

In reply to Re^5: Character in 'b' format wrapped in unpack by ikegami
in thread Character in 'b' format wrapped in unpack by BrowserUk

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