for (split //, $template) {
    print ord == 0 ? '.' : 'X';
}
print "\n";

##</code><code>##

$template =~ tr/\0/X/c;
$template =~ tr/\0/./;
print "$template\n";

##</code><code>##

print "position $-[0] is not conserved\n" while $template =~ /[^\0]/g;