$ perl -e'print pack "d>", -324978.08' | od -t x1
0000000 c1 13 d5 c8 51 eb 85 1f
0000010
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pack

Without the ">", the output will be platform-dependent.

Without the ">", the output will be platform-dependent.

Of course, with it, it's perl version dependent :-)

$ perl -e'print pack "d>", -324978.08'
Invalid type '>' in pack at -e line 1.
$ perl -v
This is perl, v5.8.8 built for i686-linux
[download]

with it, it's perl version dependent

If the output from pack 'd', ... on a earlier version of Perl, is the wrong endian for the need, it can be 'converted' by by applying reverse to the packed value:

c:\test>perl -E"say pack 'd<', 12345.67689" | od -t x1
0000000 7f de 54 a4 d6 1c c8 40 0d 0a
0000012

c:\test>perl -E"say pack 'd>', 12345.67689" | od -t x1
0000000 40 c8 1c d6 a4 54 de 7f 0d 0a
0000012

c:\test>perl -E"say pack 'd', 12345.67689" | od -t x1
0000000 7f de 54 a4 d6 1c c8 40 0d 0a
0000012

c:\test>perl -E"say scalar reverse pack 'd', 12345.67689" | od -t x1
0000000 40 c8 1c d6 a4 54 de 7f 0d 0a
0000012
[download]

Ikegami, Thanks! I'm trying to create another variable instead of piping to the screen - not sure about the "od -t xl" - how would I create a $var with the same output?

If you want to assign a value to a var instead of printing it, well... do just that.

print $val;
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becomes

my $var = $val;
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Also googling for "perl float to hex" might give you an answer.

Spooky:

I'd use the pack function, as described in:

...roboticus

To be fair, the doco for pack() and unpack() isn't exactly the easiest in the world to understand!

DrHyde:

Too true...

...roboticus