NAME

OutputFilter - Enable post processing of output without fork

SYNOPSIS

use Text::OutputFilter;

my $bucket = "";
tie *STDOUT, "Text::OutputFilter";
tie *HANDLE, "Text::OutputFilter", 4;
tie *HANDLE, "Text::OutputFilter", 4,  *STDOUT;
tie *STDOUT, "Text::OutputFilter", 4, \$bucket;
tie *OUTPUT, "Text::OutputFilter", 4,  *STDOUT, sub { "$_[0]" };

DESCRIPTION

This interface enables some post-processing on output streams, like adding a left margin.

The tied filehandle is opened unbuffered, but the output is line buffered. The tie takes three optional arguments:

Left Margin

The left margin must be a positive integer and defaults to 4 spaces.

Output Stream

The output stream must be an already open stream, with writing enabled. The default is *STDOUT. All input methods on the new stream are disabled. If a reference to a scalar is passed, it will be opened as PerlIO::scalar - in-memory IO, scalar IO. No checks performed to see if your perl supports it. If you want it, and your perl does not, upgrade.

Using binmode () on the new stream is allowed and supported.

OPEN, SEEK, and WRITE are not (yet) implemented.

Line Modifying Function

The output is line buffered, to enable line-modifier functions. The line (without newline) is passed as the only argument to the sub-ref, whose output is printed after the prefix from the first argument. A newline is printed after the sub-ref's output.

To filter a line, as in remove it from the stream, make the sub return undef.

TODO

Tests, tests, tests. Tests with older perls

AUTHOR

H.Merijn Brand <h.m.brand@procura.nl>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2006-2011 H.Merijn Brand for PROCURA B.V.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

perl(1), perlopen(1), 'open STDOUT, "|-"', Text::Filter