/ 
Convert-ASCII-String-0.36
/ Convert::ASCII::String

NAME

Convert::ASCII::String - Convert character strings to ASCII

SYNOPSIS

use Convert::ASCII::String qw(str2asc asc2str);

$transform = 'Qui vult dare parva non debet magna rogare.';

str2asc( $transform, '.' );

  81.117.105.32.118.117.108.116.32.100.
  97.114.101.32.112.97.114.118.97.32.110.
  111.110.32.100.101.98.101.116.32.109.97.
  103.110.97.32.114.111.103.97.114.101.46

asc2str( $transform, '.' );

  Qui vult dare parva non debet magna rogare.

DESCRIPTION

Convert::ASCII::String basically converts strings to ASCII. It applies the internal functions pack & unpack. Most time these functions prove to be sufficient if data has to be converted and remains within memory.

pack & unpack rely upon arrays to convert data and not without reason though. Preserving multiple ASCII values in a single string conveys some difficulty since its hard to distinguish where from and where to each ASCII value ranges.

This module solves this problem by allowing to insert an item separator between each ASCII value (preferably a non-numeric value).

Appropriate usage

In most cases, the usage of this module will prove to be inappropriate. If data will remain within memory, then array ASCII conversion using pack & unpack is appropriate and presumably faster than using Convert::ASCII::String.

So, when to use then?

Whenever data has to be converted to ASCII and has to be stored in files or kept in strings. pack & unpack will not be able to convert an array to character if not each single ASCII value takes up its own index within the array; thus string transformation with an item separator.

FUNCTIONS

str2asc

Converts a character string to ASCII (inserting a separator between each ASCII value).

The separator is optional.

str2asc( $str, '.' );

or

str2asc( $str );

Beware, second option will not allow back converting from ASCII.

asc2str

And vice versa.

asc2str( $asc, '.' );

OPTIONS

$Convert::ASCII::String::Sep may contain a global separator.

Function delivery of a separator becomes then superfluous.

EXPORT

str2asc(), asc2str() are exportable.