Provided by: libio-stringy-perl_2.111-3_all 
NAME
IO-stringy - I/O on in-core objects like strings and arrays
SYNOPSIS
IO::
::AtomicFile adpO Write a file which is updated atomically ERYQ
::Lines bdpO I/O handle to read/write to array of lines ERYQ
::Scalar RdpO I/O handle to read/write to a string ERYQ
::ScalarArray RdpO I/O handle to read/write to array of scalars ERYQ
::Wrap RdpO Wrap old-style FHs in standard OO interface ERYQ
::WrapTie adpO Tie your handles & retain full OO interface ERYQ
DESCRIPTION
This toolkit primarily provides modules for performing both traditional and object-
oriented i/o) on things other than normal filehandles; in particular, IO::Scalar,
IO::ScalarArray, and IO::Lines.
In the more-traditional IO::Handle front, we have IO::AtomicFile which may be used to
painlessly create files which are updated atomically.
And in the "this-may-prove-useful" corner, we have IO::Wrap, whose exported wraphandle()
function will clothe anything that's not a blessed object in an IO::Handle-like wrapper...
so you can just use OO syntax and stop worrying about whether your function's caller
handed you a string, a globref, or a FileHandle.
WARNINGS
Perl's TIEHANDLE spec was incomplete prior to 5.005_57; it was missing support for
"seek()", "tell()", and "eof()". Attempting to use these functions with an IO::Scalar,
IO::ScalarArray, IO::Lines, etc. will not work prior to 5.005_57. None of the relevant
methods will be invoked by Perl; and even worse, this kind of bug can lie dormant for a
while. If you turn warnings on (via $^W or "perl -w"), and you see something like this...
seek() on unopened file
...then you are probably trying to use one of these functions on one of our IO:: classes
with an old Perl. The remedy is to simply use the OO version; e.g.:
$SH->seek(0,0); ### GOOD: will work on any 5.005
seek($SH,0,0); ### WARNING: will only work on 5.005_57 and beyond
INSTALLATION
Requirements
As of version 2.x, this toolkit requires Perl 5.005 for the IO::Handle subclasses, and
5.005_57 or better is strongly recommended. See "WARNINGS" for details.
Directions
Most of you already know the drill...
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
For everyone else out there... if you've never installed Perl code before, or you're
trying to use this in an environment where your sysadmin or ISP won't let you do
interesting things, relax: since this module contains no binary extensions, you can cheat.
That means copying the directory tree under my "./lib" directory into someplace where your
script can "see" it. For example, under Linux:
cp -r IO-stringy-1.234/lib/* /path/to/my/perl/
Now, in your Perl code, do this:
use lib "/path/to/my/perl";
use IO::Scalar; ### or whatever
Ok, now you've been told. At this point, anyone who whines about not being given enough
information gets an unflattering haiku written about them in the next change log. I'll do
it. Don't think I won't.
VERSION
$Id: Stringy.pm,v 1.3 2005/02/10 21:24:05 dfs Exp $
TO DO
(2000/08/02) Finalize $/ support
Graham Barr submitted this patch half a year ago; Like a moron, I lost his message
under a ton of others, and only now have the experimental implementation done.
Will the sudden sensitivity to $/ hose anyone out there? I'm worried, so you have to
enable it explicitly in 1.x. It will be on by default in 2.x, though only IO::Scalar
has been implemented.
(2001/08/08) Remove IO::WrapTie from new IO:: classes
It's not needed. Backwards compatibility could be maintained by having new_tie() be
identical to new(). Heck, I'll bet that IO::WrapTie should be reimplemented so the
returned object is just like an IO::Scalar in its use of globrefs.
CHANGE LOG
Version 2.110 (2005/02/10)
Maintainership taken over by DSKOLL <dfs@roaringpenguin.com>
Closed the following bugs at https://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=IO-stringy:
2208 IO::ScalarArray->getline does not return undef for EOF if undef($/)
7132 IO-stringy/Makefile.PL bug - name should be module name
11249 IO::Scalar flush shouldn't return undef
2172 $\ (output record separator) not respected
8605 IO::InnerFile::seek() should return 1 on success
4798 *.html in lib/
4369 Improvement: handling of fixed-size reads in IO::Scalar
(Actually, bug 4369 was closed in Version 2.109)
Version 2.109 (2003/12/21)
IO::Scalar::getline now works with ref to int. Thanks to Dominique Quatravaux for
this patch.
Version 2.108 (2001/08/20)
The terms-of-use have been placed in the distribution file "COPYING". Also, small
documentation tweaks were made.
Version 2.105 (2001/08/09)
Added support for various seek() whences to IO::ScalarArray.
Added support for consulting $/ in IO::Scalar and IO::ScalarArray. The old "use_RS()"
is not even an option. Unsupported record separators will cause a croak().
Added a lot of regression tests to supoprt the above.
Better on-line docs (hyperlinks to individual functions).
Version 2.103 (2001/08/08)
After sober consideration I have reimplemented IO::Scalar::print() so that it once
again always seeks to the end of the string. Benchmarks show the new implementation
to be just as fast as Juergen's contributed patch; until someone can convince me
otherwise, the current, safer implementation stays.
I thought more about giving IO::Scalar two separate handles, one for reading and one
for writing, as suggested by Binkley. His points about what tell() and eof() return
are, I think, show-stoppers for this feature. Even the manpages for stdio's fseek()
seem to imply a single file position indicator, not two. So I think I will take this
off the TO DO list. Remedy: you can always have two handles open on the same scalar,
one which you only write to, and one which you only read from. That should give the
same effect.
Version 2.101 (2001/08/07)
Alpha release. This is the initial release of the "IO::Scalar and friends are now
subclasses of IO::Handle". I'm flinging it against the wall. Please tell me if the
banana sticks. When it does, the banana will be called 2.2x.
First off, many many thanks to Doug Wilson, who has provided an invaluable service by
patching IO::Scalar and friends so that they (1) inherit from IO::Handle, (2)
automatically tie themselves so that the "new()" objects can be used in native i/o
constructs, and (3) doing it so that the whole damn thing passes its regression tests.
As Doug knows, my globref Kung-Fu was not up to the task; he graciously provided the
patches. This has earned him a seat at the Co-Authors table, and the right to have me
address him as sensei.
Performance of IO::Scalar::print() has been improved by as much as 2x for lots of
little prints, with the cost of forcing those who print-then-seek-then-print to
explicitly seek to end-of-string before printing again. Thanks to Juergen Zeller for
this patch.
Added the COPYING file, which had been missing from prior versions. Thanks to Albert
Chin-A-Young for pointing this out.
IO::Scalar consults $/ by default (1.x ignored it by default). Yes, I still need to
support IO::ScalarArray.
Version 1.221 (2001/08/07)
I threatened in "INSTALLATION" to write an unflattering haiku about anyone who whined
that I gave them insufficient information... but it turns out that I left out a
crucial direction. D'OH! Thanks to David Beroff for the "patch" and the haiku...
Enough info there?
Here's unflattering haiku:
Forgot the line, "make"! ;-)
Version 1.220 (2001/04/03)
Added untested SEEK, TELL, and EOF methods to IO::Scalar and IO::ScalarArray to
support corresponding functions for tied filehandles: untested, because I'm still
running 5.00556 and Perl is complaining about "tell() on unopened file". Thanks to
Graham Barr for the suggestion.
Removed not-fully-blank lines from modules; these were causing lots of POD-related
warnings. Thanks to Nicolas Joly for the suggestion.
Version 1.219 (2001/02/23)
IO::Scalar objects can now be made sensitive to $/ . Pains were taken to keep the
fast code fast while adding this feature. Cheers to Graham Barr for submitting his
patch; jeers to me for losing his email for 6 months.
Version 1.218 (2001/02/23)
IO::Scalar has a new sysseek() method. Thanks again to Richard Jones.
New "TO DO" section, because people who submit patches/ideas should at least know that
they're in the system... and that I won't lose their stuff. Please read it.
New entries in "AUTHOR". Please read those too.
Version 1.216 (2000/09/28)
IO::Scalar and IO::ScalarArray now inherit from IO::Handle. I thought I'd remembered
a problem with this ages ago, related to the fact that these IO:: modules don't have
"real" filehandles, but the problem apparently isn't surfacing now. If you suddenly
encounter Perl warnings during global destruction (especially if you're using tied
filehandles), then please let me know! Thanks to B. K. Oxley (binkley) for this.
Nasty bug fixed in IO::Scalar::write(). Apparently, the offset and the number-of-
bytes arguments were, for all practical purposes, reversed. You were okay if you did
all your writing with print(), but boy was this a stupid bug! Thanks to Richard Jones
for finding this one. For you, Rich, a double-length haiku:
Newspaper headline
typeset by dyslexic man
loses urgency
BABY EATS FISH is
simply not equivalent
to FISH EATS BABY
New sysread and syswrite methods for IO::Scalar. Thanks again to Richard Jones for
this.
Version 1.215 (2000/09/05)
Added 'bool' overload to '""' overload, so object always evaluates to true. (Whew.
Glad I caught this before it went to CPAN.)
Version 1.214 (2000/09/03)
Evaluating an IO::Scalar in a string context now yields the underlying string. Thanks
to B. K. Oxley (binkley) for this.
Version 1.213 (2000/08/16)
Minor documentation fixes.
Version 1.212 (2000/06/02)
Fixed IO::InnerFile incompatibility with Perl5.004. Thanks to many folks for
reporting this.
Version 1.210 (2000/04/17)
Added flush() and other no-op methods. Thanks to Doru Petrescu for suggesting this.
Version 1.209 (2000/03/17)
Small bug fixes.
Version 1.208 (2000/03/14)
Incorporated a number of contributed patches and extensions, mostly related to speed
hacks, support for "offset", and WRITE/CLOSE methods. Thanks to Richard Jones, Doru
Petrescu, and many others.
Version 1.206 (1999/04/18)
Added creation of ./testout when Makefile.PL is run.
Version 1.205 (1999/01/15)
Verified for Perl5.005.
Version 1.202 (1998/04/18)
New IO::WrapTie and IO::AtomicFile added.
Version 1.110
Added IO::WrapTie.
Version 1.107
Added IO::Lines, and made some bug fixes to IO::ScalarArray. Also, added getc().
Version 1.105
No real changes; just upgraded IO::Wrap to have a $VERSION string.
AUTHOR
Primary Maintainer
Dianne Skoll (dfs@roaringpenguin.com).
Original Author
Eryq (eryq@zeegee.com). President, ZeeGee Software Inc (http://www.zeegee.com).
Co-Authors
For all their bug reports and patch submissions, the following are officially
recognized:
Richard Jones
B. K. Oxley (binkley)
Doru Petrescu
Doug Wilson (for picking up the ball I dropped, and doing tie() right)
Go to http://www.zeegee.com for the latest downloads and on-line documentation for this
module.
Enjoy. Yell if it breaks.