5 $bytes::hint_bits = 0x00000008;
8 $^H |= $bytes::hint_bits;
12 $^H &= ~$bytes::hint_bits;
16 require "bytes_heavy.pl";
32 bytes - Perl pragma to force byte semantics rather than character semantics
37 ... chr(...); # or bytes::chr
38 ... index(...); # or bytes::index
39 ... length(...); # or bytes::length
40 ... ord(...); # or bytes::ord
41 ... rindex(...); # or bytes::rindex
42 ... substr(...); # or bytes::substr
48 The C<use bytes> pragma disables character semantics for the rest of the
49 lexical scope in which it appears. C<no bytes> can be used to reverse
50 the effect of C<use bytes> within the current lexical scope.
52 Perl normally assumes character semantics in the presence of character
53 data (i.e. data that has come from a source that has been marked as
54 being of a particular character encoding). When C<use bytes> is in
55 effect, the encoding is temporarily ignored, and each string is treated
58 As an example, when Perl sees C<$x = chr(400)>, it encodes the character
59 in UTF-8 and stores it in $x. Then it is marked as character data, so,
60 for instance, C<length $x> returns C<1>. However, in the scope of the
61 C<bytes> pragma, $x is treated as a series of bytes - the bytes that make
62 up the UTF8 encoding - and C<length $x> returns C<2>:
65 print "Length is ", length $x, "\n"; # "Length is 1"
66 printf "Contents are %vd\n", $x; # "Contents are 400"
68 use bytes; # or "require bytes; bytes::length()"
69 print "Length is ", length $x, "\n"; # "Length is 2"
70 printf "Contents are %vd\n", $x; # "Contents are 198.144"
73 chr(), ord(), substr(), index() and rindex() behave similarly.
75 For more on the implications and differences between character
76 semantics and byte semantics, see L<perluniintro> and L<perlunicode>.
80 bytes::substr() does not work as an lvalue().
84 L<perluniintro>, L<perlunicode>, L<utf8>