$bytes::hint_bits
= 0x00000008;
$^H
|= $bytes::hint_bits
;
$^H
&= ~$bytes::hint_bits
;
require "bytes_heavy.pl";
bytes - Perl pragma to force byte semantics rather than character semantics
The C<use bytes> pragma disables character semantics for the rest of the
lexical scope in which it appears. C<no bytes> can be used to reverse
the effect of C<use bytes> within the current lexical scope.
Perl normally assumes character semantics in the presence of character
data (i.e. data that has come from a source that has been marked as
being of a particular character encoding). When C<use bytes> is in
effect, the encoding is temporarily ignored, and each string is treated
As an example, when Perl sees C<$x = chr(400)>, it encodes the character
in UTF-8 and stores it in $x. Then it is marked as character data, so,
for instance, C<length $x> returns C<1>. However, in the scope of the
C<bytes> pragma, $x is treated as a series of bytes - the bytes that make
up the UTF8 encoding - and C<length $x> returns C<2>:
print "Length is ", length $x, "\n"; # "Length is 1"
printf "Contents are %vd\n", $x; # "Contents are 400"
print "Length is ", length $x, "\n"; # "Length is 2"
printf "Contents are %vd\n", $x; # "Contents are 198.144"
For more on the implications and differences between character
semantics and byte semantics, see L<perlunicode>.