perlmeditation patcat88 Doesn't it suck that if you want a string pointer, and its length, in XS, you need to get the SV * and do the SvPV manually each time? Fear no more. Below typemap will give you the char * pointer, and the length. Always. <code> void Foo( str ) char * str PPCODE: Foo(str, strLen); </code> Change the typemap entry to your liking. Also note caching SV * to avoid numerous ST macros in SvPV macro. Who wants to calculate the same thing half a dozen times? Also less noise in your debugger with the now useless SV * being gone. <code> T_STR_AND_LEN ".(unshift(@line, ( 'PREINIT:', ' unsigned long '.$var.'Len;', 'INPUT:')),''). "{ SV * TmpSV = $arg; $var = ($type) SvPV( TmpSV , ${\$var}Len); }; </code> Warning, you must use PREINIT for your XSUBs. Lazy coders shall die. <br><br> edited: spelling