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>.