NAME

       Dpkg::Index - generic index of control information

DESCRIPTION

       This object represent a set of Dpkg::Control objects.

FUNCTIONS

       my $index = Dpkg::Index->new(%opts)
           Creates a new empty index. See set_options() for more details.

       $index->set_options(%opts)
           The  "type" option is checked first to define default values for other options. Here are the relevant
           options: "get_key_func" is a function returning a key for the item passed in  parameters.  The  index
           can  only contain one item with a given key. The function used depend on the type: for CTRL_INFO_PKG,
           CTRL_INDEX_SRC, CTRL_INDEX_PKG and CTRL_PKG_DEB it's simply the Package field; for  CTRL_PKG_SRC  and
           CTRL_INFO_SRC,  it's  the  Source  field;  for  CTRL_CHANGELOG it's the Source and the Version fields
           (concatenated with  an  intermediary  "_");  for  CTRL_FILE_CHANGES  it's  the  Source,  Version  and
           Architecture  fields  (concatenated  with  "_");  for  CTRL_FILE_VENDOR  it's  the  Vendor field; for
           CTRL_FILE_STATUS it's the Package and Architecture fields (concatenated with "_"). Otherwise it's the
           Package field by default.

       $index->get_type()
           Returns the type of control information stored. See the type parameter set during new().

       $index->add($item, [$key])
           Add a new item in the index. If the $key parameter is omitted, the key will  be  generated  with  the
           get_key_func function (see set_options() for details).

       $index->load($file)
           Reads  the  file and creates all items parsed. Returns the number of items parsed. Handles compressed
           files transparently based on their extensions.

       $index->parse($fh, $desc)
           Reads the filehandle and creates all items parsed. Returns the number of items parsed.

       $index->save($file)
           Writes the content of the index in a file. Auto-compresses files based on their extensions.

       my $item = $index->new_item()
           Creates a new item. Mainly useful for derived objects that would want  to  override  this  method  to
           return something else than a Dpkg::Control object.

       my $item = $index->get_by_key($key)
           Returns the item identified by $key or undef.

       my @keys = $index->get_keys(%criteria)
           Returns  the  keys  of  items that matches all the criteria. The key of the %criteria hash is a field
           name and the value is either a regex that needs to match  the  field  value,  or  a  reference  to  a
           function  that  must  return  true and that receives the field value as single parameter, or a scalar
           that must be equal to the field value.

       my @items = $index->get(%criteria)
           Returns all the items that matches all the criteria.

       $index->remove_by_key($key)
           Remove the item identified by the given key.

       my @items = $index->remove(%criteria)
           Returns and removes all the items that matches all the criteria.

       $index->merge($other_index, %opts)
           Merge the entries of the other index. While merging, the keys of the merged index are used, they  are
           not  re-computed  (unless  you  have set the options "keep_keys" to "0"). It's your responsibility to
           ensure that they have been computed with the same function.

       $index->sort(\&sortfunc)
           Sort the index with the given sort function. If no function is given,  an  alphabetic  sort  is  done
           based on the keys. The sort function receives the items themselves as parameters and not the keys.

       my $str = $index->output()
       "$index"
           Get  a  string  representation  of the index. The Dpkg::Control objects are output in the order which
           they have been read or added except if the order hae been changed with sort().

       $index->output($fh)
           Print the string representation of the index to a filehandle.

AUTHOR

       Raphaël Hertzog <hertzog@debian.org>.

1.17.5                                             2013-12-10                                     Dpkg::Index(3)