From: Pixel Date: 2000-07-17T13:37:13+02:00 Subject: [ruby-talk:04075] unpack and "bn" with n>16 There must be a good reason for the following (tested on 1.4.5, 1.4.3, ix86/axp): p "\0\0\0\0".unpack("b16b1b2") # -> ["0000000000000000", "0", "00"] p "\0\0\0\0".unpack("b17b1b1") # -> ["00000000000000000", "0", ""] I can't find it though :( thanks, cu Pixel. PS: it also happens in Perl, i may misunderstood something? print join ",", unpack("b16b1b2", "\0\0\0\0"), "\n"; print join ",", unpack("b17b1b1", "\0\0\0\0"), "\n";