This is a packer/unpacker that provides an (incomplete) interface mimicking Ruby's `Array#pack` / `String#unpack`.
npm install binary-packerThis is a packer/unpacker that provides an (incomplete) interface mimicking Ruby's Array#pack / String#unpack.
This project SHOULD NOT BE USED IN PRODUCTION SYSTEMS.
The API is not complete and it may change at any moment.
``typescript
import { Packer } from 'binay-packer'
new Packer('A3A3A3').pack(['a', 'b', 'c'])
// => Buffer.from("a b c ")
new Packer('a3a3a3').pack(['a', 'b', 'c'])
// => Buffer.from("a\000\000b\000\000c\000\000")
`
Directives A, a, and Z may be followed by a count, which gives the width of the resulting field.*
The remaining directives also may take a count, indicating the number of array elements to convert.
If the count is an asterisk (), all remaining array elements will be converted.
| Directive | Data Type | Meaning |
| --------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| n | Integer | 16-bit unsigned, network (big-endian) byte order |
| N | Integer | 32-bit unsigned, network (big-endian) byte order |
| | | |
| A | String | arbitrary binary string (space padded, count is width) |
| a | String | arbitrary binary string (null padded, count is width) |
| Z | String | same as a, except that null is added with * |
| H | String | hex string (high nibble first) |
`typescript
import { Packer } from 'binay-packer'
new Packer('A6Z6').unpack('abc \0\0abc \0\0')
// => ["abc", "abc "]
new Packer('a3a3').unpack('abc \0\0')
// => ["abc", " \000\000"]
new Packer('ZZ').unpack('abc \0abc \0')
// => ["abc ", "abc "]
`
The format string consists of a sequence of single-character directives, summarized in the table at the end of this entry.
Each directive may be followed by a number, indicating the number of times to repeat with this directive.
An asterisk (*`) will use up all remaining elements.
| Directive | Data Type | Meaning |
| --------- | --------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| n | Integer | 16-bit unsigned, network (big-endian) byte order |
| N | Integer | 32-bit unsigned, network (big-endian) byte orderm |
| | | |
| A | String | arbitrary binary string (remove trailing nulls and ASCII spaces) |
| a | String | arbitrary binary string |
| Z | String | null-terminated string |
| H | String | hex string (high nibble first) |