$ perl -e 'print "\xff"' | od -x
0000000 00ff
0000001

##</code><code>##

$ perl -e 'print "\xff"' |od -x
0000000 bfc3
0000002

##</code><code>##

$ strace perl -e 'print "\xff"' 2>&1| grep write
write(1, "\303\277", 2ÿ)                 = 2