get_param()
Usage : get_param('name',(-att1=>'ben',-name=>'the_name'))
Function : Fetches a named parameter. Returns : The value of the requested
parameter. Argument : $name : The name of the the
parameter desired
@param : an array of parameters, as an associative
array Exceptions : carps if a non-recognised parameter is sent
Based on rearrange(), which is originally from CGI.pm by Lincoln Stein and BioPerl by Richard Resnick. See rearrange() for details.
remove_duplicates
remove duplicate items from an array
usage: remove_duplicates(\@arr)
affects the array passed in, and returns the modified array
merge_hashes
joins two hashes together
usage: merge_hashes(\%h1, \%h2);
%h1 will now contain the key/val pairs of %h2 as well. if there are key conflicts, %h2 values will take precedence.
get_method_ref
returns a pointer to a particular objects method
e.g. my $length_f = get_method_ref($seq, 'length');
$len = &$length_f();
pset2hash
Usage - my $h = pset2hash([{name=>"id", value=>"56"}, {name=>"name", value=>"jim"}]);
Returns - hashref
Args - arrayref of name/value keyed hashrefs
spell_greek
takes a word as a parameter and spells out any greek symbols encoded within (eg s/&agr;/alpha/g)
check_obj_graph
Usage - Returns - true if cycle detected Args - any object