ascii_format()

The function ascii_format() receives a string and returns the same string with white space characters being made visible, e.g. “abc<CR><LF>”.

sub ascii_format
{
    my ($argin) = @_; 
    my $argout = ""; 
    foreach my $i ( 0 .. (length($argin) - 1))
    {
        my $let = substr( $argin, $i, 1); 
        my $dec = unpack( "C", $let); 
        if( $dec < 32)
        {
            if( $dec == 10)
            {
                $argout .= "<LF>"; 
            }
            elsif( $dec == 13)
            {
                $argout .= "<CR>"; 
            }
            else
            {
                $argout .= "<$dec>"; 
            }
        }
        else
        {
            $argout .= $let; 
        }
    }
    return $argout; 
}