5 $bytes::hint_bits = 0x00000008;
8 $^H |= $bytes::hint_bits;
12 $^H &= ~$bytes::hint_bits;
16 require "bytes_heavy.pl";
27 bytes - Perl pragma to force byte semantics rather than character semantics
36 WARNING: The implementation of Unicode support in Perl is incomplete.
37 See L<perlunicode> for the exact details.
39 The C<use bytes> pragma disables character semantics for the rest of the
40 lexical scope in which it appears. C<no bytes> can be used to reverse
41 the effect of C<use bytes> within the current lexical scope.
43 Perl normally assumes character semantics in the presence of character
44 data (i.e. data that has come from a source that has been marked as
45 being of a particular character encoding). When C<use bytes> is in
46 effect, the encoding is temporarily ignored, and each string is treated
49 As an example, when Perl sees C<$x = chr(400)>, it encodes the character
50 in UTF8 and stores it in $x. Then it is marked as character data, so,
51 for instance, C<length $x> returns C<1>. However, in the scope of the
52 C<bytes> pragma, $x is treated as a series of bytes - the bytes that make
53 up the UTF8 encoding - and C<length $x> returns C<2>:
56 print "Length is ", length $x, "\n"; # "Length is 1"
57 printf "Contents are %vd\n", $x; # "Contents are 400"
60 print "Length is ", length $x, "\n"; # "Length is 2"
61 printf "Contents are %vd\n", $x; # "Contents are 198.144"
64 For more on the implications and differences between character
65 semantics and byte semantics, see L<perlunicode>.
69 L<perlunicode>, L<utf8>