Provided by: libdata-walk-perl_1.00-2_all 
NAME
Data::Walk - Traverse Perl data structures
SYNOPSIS
use Data::Walk;
walk \&wanted, @items_to_walk;
use Data::Walk;
walkdepth \&wanted, @items_to_walk;
use Data::Walk;
walk { wanted => \&process, follow => 1 }, $self;
DESCRIPTION
The above synopsis bears an amazing similarity to File::Find(3pm) and this is not coincidental.
Data::Walk(3pm) is for data what File::Find(3pm) is for files. You can use it for rolling your own
serialization class, for displaying Perl data structures, for deep copying or comparing, for recursive
deletion of data, or ...
If you are impatient and already familiar with File::Find(3pm), you can skip the following documentation
and proceed with "DIFFERENCES TO FILE::FIND".
FUNCTIONS
The module exports two functions by default:
walk
walk \&wanted, @items;
walk \%options, @items;
As the name suggests, the function traverses the items in the order they are given. For every object
visited, it calls the &wanted subroutine. See "THE WANTED FUNCTION" for details.
walkdepth
walkdepth \&wanted, @items;
walkdepth \%options, @items;
Works exactly like "walk()" but it first descends deeper into the structure, before visiting the
nodes on the current level. If you want to delete visited nodes, then "walkdepth()" is probably your
friend.
OPTIONS
The first argument to "walk()" and "walkdepth()" is either a code reference to your &wanted function, or
a hash reference describing the operations to be performed for each visited node.
Here are the possible keys for the hash.
wanted
The value should be a code reference. This code reference is described in "THE WANTED FUNCTION"
below.
bydepth
Visits nodes on the current level of recursion only after descending into subnotes. The entry point
"walkdepth()" is a shortcut for specifying "{ bydepth => 1 }".
preprocess
The value should be a code reference. This code reference is used to preprocess the current node
$Data::Walk::container. Your preprocessing function is called before the loop that calls the
"wanted()" function. It is called with a list of member nodes and is expected to return such a list.
The list will contain all sub-nodes, regardless of the value of the option follow! The list is
normally a shallow copy of the data contained in the original structure. You can therefore safely
delete items in it, without affecting the original data. You can use the option copy, if you want to
change that behavior.
The behavior is identical for regular arrays and hashes, so you probably want to coerce the list
passed as an argument into a hash then. The variable $Data::Walk::type will contain the string
"HASH" if the currently inspected node is a hash.
You can use the preprocessing function to sort the items contained or to filter out unwanted items.
The order is also preserved for hashes!
preprocess_hash
The value should be a code reference. The code is executed right after an eventual preprocess_hash
handler, but only if the current container is a hash. It is skipped for regular arrays.
You will usually prefer a preprocess_hash handler over a preprocess handler if you only want to sort
hash keys.
postprocess
The value should be a code reference. It is invoked just before leaving the currently visited node.
It is called in void context with no arguments. The variable $Data::Walk::container points to the
currently visited node.
follow
Causes cyclic references to be followed. Normally, the traversal will not descend into nodes that
have already been visited. If you set the option follow to a truth value, you can change this
behavior. Unless you take additional measures, this will always imply an infinite loop!
Please note that the &wanted function is also called for nodes that have already been visited! The
effect of follow is to suppress descending into subnodes.
copy
Normally, the &preprocess function is called with a shallow copy of the data. If you set the option
copy to a false value, the &preprocess function is called with one single argument, a reference to
the original data structure. In that case, you also have to return a suitable reference.
Using this option will result in a slight performance win, and can make it sometimes easier to
manipulate the original data.
What is a shallow copy? Think of a list containing references to hashes:
my @list = ({ foo => 'bar' }, { foo => 'baz' });
my @shallow = @list;
After this, @shallow will contain a new list, but the items stored in it are exactly identical to the
ones stored in the original. In other words, @shallow occupies new memory, whereas both lists
contain references to the same memory for the list members.
All other options are silently ignored.
THE WANTED FUNCTION
The &wanted function does whatever verifications you want on each item in the data structure. Note that
despite its name, the &wanted function is a generic callback and does not tell Data::Walk(3pm) if an item
is "wanted" or not. In fact, its return value is ignored.
The wanted function takes no arguments but rather does its work through a collection of variables:
$_ The currently visited node. Think "file" in terms of File::Find(3pm)!
$Data::Walk::container
The node containing the currently visited node, either a reference to a hash or an array. Think
"directory" in terms of File::Find(3pm)!
$Data::Walk::type
The base type of the object that $Data::Walk::container references. This is either "ARRAY" or
"HASH".
$Data::Walk::seen
For references, this will hold the number of times the currently visited node has been visited
before. The value is consequently set to 0 not 1 on the first visit. For non-references, the value
is undefined.
$Data::Walk::address
For references, this will hold the memory address it points to. It can be used as a unique
identifier for the current node. For non- references, the value is undefined.
$Data::Walk::depth
The depth of the current recursion.
These variables should not be modified.
DIFFERENCES TO FILE::FIND
The API of Data::Walk(3pm) tries to mimic the API of File::Find(3pm) to a certain extent. If you are
already familiar with File::Find(3pm) you will find it very easy to use Data::Walk(3pm). Even the
documentation for Data::Walk(3pm) is in parts similar or identcal to that of File::Find(3pm).
Analogies
The equivalent of directories in File::Find(3pm) are the container data types in Data::Walk(3pm).
Container data types are arrays (aka lists) and associative arrays (aka hashes). Files are equivalent to
scalars. Wherever File::Find(3pm) passes lists of strings to functions, Data::Walk(3pm) passes lists of
variables.
Function Names
Instead of "find()" and "finddepth()", Data::Walk(3pm) uses "walk()" and "walkdepth()", like the smart
reader has already guessed after reading the "SYNOPSIS".
Variables
The variable $Data::Walk::container is vaguely equivalent to $File::Find::dir. All other variables are
specific to the corresponding module.
Wanted Function
Like its archetype from File::Find(3pm), the wanted function of Data::Walk(3pm) is called with $_ set to
the currently inspected item.
Options
The option follow has the effect that Data::Walk(3pm) also descends into nodes it has already visited.
Unless you take extra measures, this will lead to an infinite loop!
A number of options are not applicable to data traversion and are ignored by Data::Walk(3pm). Examples
are follow_fast, follow_skip, no_chdir, untaint, untaint_pattern, and untaint_skip. To give truth the
honor, all unrecognized options are skipped.
You may argue, that the options untaint and friends would be useful, too, allowing you to recursively
untaint data structures. But, hey, that is what Data::Walk(3pm) is all about. It makes it very easy for
you to write that yourself.
EXAMPLES
Following are some recipies for common tasks.
Recursive Untainting
sub untaint {
s/(.*)/$1/s unless ref $_;
};
walk \&untaint, $data;
See perlsec(1), if you don't understand why the untaint() function untaints your data here.
Recurse To Maximum Depth
If you want to stop the recursion at a certain level, do it as follows:
my $max_depth = 20;
sub not_too_deep {
if ($Data::Walk::depth > $max_depth) {
return ();
} else {
return @_;
}
}
sub do_something1 {
# Your code goes here.
}
walk { wanted => \&do_something, preprocess => \¬_too_deep };
BUGS
If you think you have spotted a bug, you can share it with others in the bug tracking system at
http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Data-Walk.
COPYING
Copyright (C) 2005-2006, Guido Flohr <guido@imperia.net>, all rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
Library General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at
your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General
Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License along with this program; if
not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307,
USA.
SEE ALSO
Data::Dumper(3pm), Storable(3pm), File::Find(3pm), perl(1)
perl v5.18.1 2013-12-26 Data::Walk(3pm)