reading variable and fixed length records

From: bof (nothingread_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 05/31/04 

Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 17:33:21 +0100

I'm trying to read a file with records of the form:

[byteA][byteB]...[byteN][0][byte1][byte2][byte3]

i.e. an initial variable length part; a zero marker; then a fixed number
of bytes; with no delimiter between the records.

Any pointers for a Perl noob on how to achieve this ?

MTIA 

-- 
bof at bof dot me dot uk