You can use pack("n") for 16-bit values and pack("N") for 32-bit values. You are evidently trying to use "\0" as a separator, but this won't work because the index numbers themselves can have zero bytes in them. If you want a variable-length encoding, use pack("w"). This would be especially good if you have your most common words with the lowest index numbers, since they will come out shorter.

In reply to Re: help needed on encoding a text file by Thelonius
in thread help needed on encoding a text file by bfdi533

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