[erlang-questions] Efficiency of splitting binaries

[Richard Andrews]

I'm looking for advice on efficiently splitting a binary into smaller chunks.

I currently use iolist_size() to check the size of the input binary then
recursively break off a chunk from the front with something like, eg.

    << ChunkData:30/binary-unit:8, RestData/binary >> = Data

... then use RestData as input to the next cycle.

Is this sensible? Are there more efficient approaches?
What effect does the binary-unit specifier have on performance? eg.

    ChunkData:1/binary-unit:240
versus
    ChunkData:240/binary



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