Re: Unpacking variable length bit fields

[Limbic~Region]

puterboy,
Assuming this data is in a string, I would do something like:

my $skip = 0;
while ($skip < length($str)) {
    my ($f1_len, $f2_len, $f3_len) = unpack("x${skip}aaa", $str);
    $skip += 3;
    my $field1 = unpack("x${skip}a$f1_len", $str);
    $skip += $f1_len;
    # etc
}

This is like using seek which is exactly what you were trying to avoid (iteratively calling pack) but if wrapped in the proper abstraction can be very clean.

Update: After reading BrowserUk's response and re-reading your post, I realize I incorrectly assumed you had multiple records in the string - each one with variable length fields. Please ignore me.