Another approach is to preprocess your string with a regex to remove the troublesome byte(s). 
$str =~ s/^((?:...)+).{0,2}$/$1/;

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UPDATE: Corrected typo noticed by kcott.

Bill

In reply to Re^3: Seeking with 'x' in unpack and out of bounds reads by BillKSmith
in thread Seeking with 'x' in unpack and out of bounds reads by mxb

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