PERL Newbie. Also, binary newbie. I need to access a binary data file (stdf, standard test data format, http://etidweb.tamu.edu/cdrom0/image/stdf/spec.pdf). How do I even begin? Can someone explain to me how to access such a file, then extract the data to a form that is readable?

I've seen the article with the following code: 

$gifname = "picture.gif";
open(GIF, $gifname)         or die "can't open $gifname: $!";

binmode(GIF);               # now DOS won't mangle binary input from G
+IF
binmode(STDOUT);            # now DOS won't mangle binary output to ST
+DOUT

while (read(GIF, $buff, 8 * 2**10)) {
    print STDOUT $buff;
}

[download]

What is the "8 * 2**10" doing?

I am working with SunOS 5.8 if that matters.

Thanks.

mnj200g

Edit: g0n - code tags

In reply to Need Help: PERL and Binary Data by mnj200g

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