sub ge_16bit {
  use bytes;
  return length($_[0])>=2 ? 1 : 0;
}

my $buffer = "Z";

say $buffer, ' >=16bit: ', ge_16bit($buffer);

$buffer = "Fo";
say $buffer, ' >=16bit: ', ge_16bit($buffer);

$buffer = "FooBar";
say $buffer, ' >=16bit: ', ge_16bit($buffer);