I created a function that does some heavy string manipulation, so I needed to use pl/perl rather than pl/pgsql. I'm not experienced in perl, but the function works well when used as an independent perl subroutine - it depends only on its arguments. I use the Encode package (in postgresql configuration). But my use of the "pack" function causes a Safe error. Apparently "pack" and "unpack" are in the operator mask. Is there any way to remove them from that mask? I don't want to use pl/perlu - it's too unsafe, I think, and its running environment is different. I just want these two operators. This is what I'm using "pack" for: I convert a string in the format '43414C4C5F494445' into a binary string, and then, given a matching text encoding, use "decode" to convert it to proper unicode. TIA, Herouth -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general