diff --git a/src/format.rs b/src/format.rs
index 60e64c6..c0fdf77 100644
--- a/src/format.rs
+++ b/src/format.rs
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ impl Format {
             // apperently used nowhere, sometimes 0 is used as a prefix but I
             // think this makes it more clear that this is decimal
             Format::Dec => b"0d".to_vec(),
-            Format::Raw => [].to_vec(), // TODO: find a better way to deal with this
+            Format::Raw => [0x00].to_vec(), // TODO: find a better way to deal with this
             // very common
             Format::Hex => b"0x".to_vec(),
             // very common
@@ -300,6 +300,7 @@ impl Format {
         let mut buf: Vec<u8> = Vec::new();
         if options.prefix() {
             buf.append(&mut self.prefix());
+            debug!("prefix the buffer: {buf:X?}");
         }
         match self {
             Format::Hex => {
@@ -335,10 +336,7 @@ impl Format {
                     .to_owned(),
             ),
             // Format::Raw => buf.append(&mut split::unsigned_to_vec(num)),
-            Format::Raw => {
-                debug!("do the raw thing");
-                buf.append(&mut split::unsigned_to_vec(num))
-            }
+            Format::Raw => buf.append(&mut split::unsigned_to_vec(num)),
         }
         buf
     }
@@ -460,7 +458,7 @@ where
             Some(sr) => sr,
             None => s,
         };
-        todo!("reading raw not implemented")
+        Ok(join::array_to_unsigned(s.as_bytes())?)
     } else {
         let e = "could not determine the format of the value".to_string();
         Err(anyhow!(e))