I am referring to an ordered collection of 8 bits.

No you weren't. How can an ordered collection of 8-bits be "just stored differently"? 

$_ = "\x80\x81";    # Value is bytes 80 81
utf8::upgrade($_);  # Value is still bytes 80 81,
                    #    just stored differently.

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In reply to Re^62: Interleaving bytes in a string quickly by Anonymous Monk
in thread Interleaving bytes in a string quickly by BrowserUk

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