in reply to inconsistency in whitespace handling

Just naming the variable "unicode" doesn't make it unicode. What you are actually creating is:

$notunicode = "\x20" . "22" . "\xa0";

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And \x20 is definitely whitespace. Try:

$unicode = "\x{2022}\xa0";

[download]

perluniintro may have additional help

Updated:(updated: etiquette complaint removed by author)

The intelligent reader will judge for himself. Without examining the facts fully and fairly, there is no way of knowing whether vox populi is really vox dei, or merely vox asinorum. -- Cyrus H. Gordon

In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom