Re: pack/unpack 6 bit fields.

[etcshadow]

There's also vec (perldoc -f vec). For example:

# to turn your $str into an array
@array = map { vec($str, $_*6, 6) } 0..15;

# to turn an array of 6-bit items into a packed string
vec($str, $_*6, 6) = $array[$_] for 0..$#array;

# or simply to access the $i-th item in the $str, directly:
$read_item = vec($str, $i*6, 6) = $write_item;  # vec is an lvalue!

Enjoy.

[tye]

My first guess is that you didn't try this code. For me, vec only allows field sizes that are powers of 2 (and this restriction is still in 5.8's vec docs -- the latest PM currently links to).

Illegal number of bits in vec at ...