What kind of fields precede and follow the integer field in question? Are you sure you're reading data from the correct position and with the proper length? A quick check with a file seems to indicate that integer field ends up being written as 11 characters (which makes sense, as a signed 32-bit integer would have values from -2,147,483,648..2,147,483,647 -- which would be 11 characters wide when you include the space for the sign).