http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=206517


in reply to Re: A format to "print" to variable?
in thread A format to "print" to variable?

There is another manner by which formatted data can be stored in strings through use of the formline function which I described in this post.

The formline function is normally only used internally, allows for formats to be built and returned in the format output accumulator, $^A. Normally, the contents of this variable are outputted to the currently selected filehandle via the write command, but this variable, $^A, can be read and reset directly.

From the previous node referenced:

my @list = (1, 2); # the output format can be stored in a variable prior to # output my $format = '@<<<< @<<<<'; # format the contents of @list as per the format structure # defined in the variable $format, the output to be # stored in the format output accumulator, $^A formline $format, @list; print $^A, "\n"; $^A = "";

Thus in this manner, through use of the formline function, both the output format and the subsequent formatted output can be retrieved and stored - This method is advantageous in that it can be employed with older installations of Perl. For further information see formline and perlform.

 

perl -e 'print+unpack("N",pack("B32","00000000000000000000000111010011")),"\n"'