How do I convert Perl's pack 'Nc*' format to struct.pack for Python?

Question

I'm trying to convert a Perl script to python, and it uses quite a few different packs. I've been able to figure out the lettering differences in the "templates" for each one, but I'm having an issue with understanding how to handle Perl's lack of length declaration.

example:

pack('Nc*',$some_integer,$long_array_of_integers);

I don't see an analog for this "*" feature in struct.pack, on Python. Any ideas on how to convert this to Python?

Answer 1

Perl's pack is using the '*' character similar to in regular expressions--meaning a wildcard for more of the same. Here, of course, it means more signed ints.

In Python, you'd just loop through the string and concat the pieces:

result = struct.pack('>L', some_integer)
for c in long_array_of_integers:
    result += struct.pack('b',c)

Answer 2

How about this?

struct.pack('>I', some_integer) + struct.pack('b'*len(long_array), *long_array)