how to read floating point number from a file

[xavoton]

hi, im trying to read a database file from a specific non comercial software. I already decoded the parts I need. There are some double precision float numbers that I want to read. I used:

read(FILE,$number,8);

since I supposed the perl doubles are 64bit long.
The point is that when I print the variable $number, perl treats it like a string instead of as a number. Does any body knows a trick to do this? or I should use C++ or another more powerful language in low level operations.

Thank you for your help

Xavier Maurer

 

[mbaranski]

Check out perl's

prompt> perldoc -f unpack

to see how to read a file that is a binary file, this may help you. Otherwise, I think you're reading 8 ascii characters, which is not what you want to do. You want to read the bytes as a nubmer, whcih unpack lets you specify.

As always, I hope that helped!

Disclaimer:
Beware: Studies have shown that research causes cancer in lab rats.

 

[tanderso]

I would argue that Perl is more powerful than C++. Also, if you prefer to use C code, then you can do so directly in your Perl script... it passes it to your compiler. Check the perldocs.
Sincerely,

Tom Anderson
CEO, Order amid Chaos, Inc.

http://www.oac-design.com