Ok, here's my try at an explanation 
# Assume the message is this
my $message = "me ss age";

# Use unpack to endcode the message one character at a time
my @character_code_send = unpack("C*", $message);

# You now have an array of ASCII values for each 
# character of the message.
# If you want to send the encoded message you
# must join all the element of the array
# together first

# No need to use join because " " does it for you
my $secret = "@character_code_send";

# So what gets sent is this
print "Message encoded = $secret\n";

# To decode the receiver has to split back out to an array
my @character_code_received = split ' ',$secret;

# And then use pack to decode each element back to string 
my $characters_received = pack("C*", @character_code_received);

# To get the answer !!
print "Message decoded = $characters_received";

[download]

I assume this is just a programming exercise and not a real attempt at encryption
HTH poj

In reply to Re: packing/unpacking/split/join confusion by poj
in thread packing/unpacking/split/join confusion by sulfericacid

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