On 11/6/07, yermej <yermej / gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 6, 6:42 pm, Collin VanDyck <gluedtomys... / gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello -- I'm trying to write out specific byte sequences over the
> > wire / to a file / etc.  Let's say for example that I wanted to write
> > out
> >
> > 99 111 108 108 105 110
> >
> > as a simple, six byte sequence to a file.  In Java, I might use the
> > byte primitive, but it seems that in Ruby you have Fixnum and then a
> > Float for fractions.  If I simply create a Fixnum using the 99
> > literal, I think that that will create more than an 8-bit sequence
> > when I write out to the file.
> >
> > Any ideas on how to do this?
>
> I *think* you'll want to use Array#pack. E.g., to write them out in
> big-endian order:
>
> > a = [99, 111, 108, 108, 105, 110].pack 'n*'
> => "\000c\000o\000l\000l\000i\000n"
> > file.write a
>
> If you want little-endian, use 's*' (or 'S*' for unsigned) instead of
> 'n*'. See http://ruby-doc.org/core/ and check Array#pack for more
> details on the directives.

Hmm, I was thinking about #pack, but your example creates 12 bytes.