NAME
Parse::DebControl - Easy OO parsing of debian control-like files
SYNOPSIS
use Parse::DebControl
$parser = new Parse::DebControl;
$data = $parser->parse_mem($control_data, $options);
$data = $parser->parse_file('./debian/control', $options);
$data = $parser->parse_web($url, $options);
$writer = new Parse::DebControl;
$string = $writer->write_mem($singlestanza);
$string = $writer->write_mem([$stanza1, $stanza2]);
$writer->write_file($filename, $singlestanza, $options);
$writer->write_file($filename, [$stanza1, $stanza2], $options);
$writer->write_file($handle, $singlestanza, $options);
$writer->write_file($handle, [$stanza1, $stanza2], $options);
$parser->DEBUG();DESCRIPTION
Parse::DebControl is an easy OO way to parse debian control files and
other colon separated key-value pairs. It's specifically designed
to handle the format used in Debian control files, template files, and
the cache files used by dpkg.
For basic format information see:
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-controlfields.html#s-controlsyntax
This module does not actually do any intelligence with the file content
(because there are a lot of files in this format), but merely handles
the format. It can handle simple control files, or files hundreds of lines
long efficiently and easily.Class Methods
new()new($debug)Returns a new Parse::DebControl object. If a true parameter $debug is passed in, it turns on debugging, similar to a call to
DEBUG()(see below);
parse_file($control_filename,$options)Takes a filename as a scalar and an optional hashref of options (see below). Will parse as much as it can, warning (if
DEBUGing is turned on) on parsing errors.Returns an array of hashrefs, containing the data in the control file, split up by stanza. Stanzas are deliniated by newlines, and multi-line fields are expressed as such post-parsing. Single periods are treated as special extra newline deliniators, per convention. Whitespace is also stripped off of lines as to make it less-easy to make mistakes with hand-written conf files).
The options hashref can take parameters as follows. Setting the string to true enables the option.
useTieIxHash - Instead of an array of regular hashrefs, uses Tie::IxHash- based hashrefs discardCase - Remove all case items from keys (not values) stripComments - Remove all commented lines in standard #comment format. Literal #'s are represented by ##. For instance Hello there #this is a comment Hello there, I like ##CCCCCC as a grey. The first is a comment, the second is a literal "#". verbMultiLine - Keep the description AS IS, and no not collapse leading spaces or dots as newlines. This also keeps whitespace from being stripped off the end of lines. tryGzip - Attempt to expand the data chunk with gzip first. If the text is already expanded (ie: plain text), parsing will continue normally. This could optionally be turned on for all items in the future, but it is off by default so we don't have to scrub over all the text for performance reasons.
parse_mem($control_data, $options)Similar to
parse_file, except takes data as a scalar. Returns the same array of hashrefs asparse_file. The options hashref is the same asparse_fileas well; see above.
parse_web($url, $options)Similar to the other parse_* functions, this pulls down a control file from the web and attempts to parse it. For options and return values, see
parse_file, above
write_file($filename, $data, $options)write_file($handle, $data)write_file($filename, [$data1, $data2, $data3], $options)write_file($handle, [$data, $data2, $data3])This function takes a filename or a handle and writes the data out. The data can be given as a single hashref or as an arrayref of hashrefs. It will then write it out in a format that it can parse. The order is dependant on your hash sorting order. If you care, use Tie::IxHash. Remember for reading back in, the module doesn't care.
The $options hashref can contain one of the following two items:
appendFile - (default) Write to the end of the file clobberFile - Overwrite the file given. gzip - Compress the data with gzip before writingSince you determine the mode of your filehandle, passing it along with an options hashref obviously won't do anything; rather, it is ignored.
This function returns the number of bytes written to the file, undef otherwise.
write_mem($data)write_mem([$data1,$data2,$data3]);This function works similarly to the
write_filemethod, except it returns the control structure as a scalar, instead of writing it to a file. There is no %options for this file (yet);
DEBUG()Turns on debugging. Calling it with no paramater or a true parameter turns on verbose
warn()ings. Calling it with a false parameter turns it off. It is useful for nailing down any format or internal problems.
CHANGES
Version 2.001 - September 11th, 2003
Cleaned up more POD errors
Added tests for file writing
Fixed bug where write_file ignored the gzip parameter
Version 2.0 - September 5th, 2003
Version increase.
Added gzip support (with the tryGzip option), so that compresses control files can be parsed on the fly
Added gzip support for writing of control files
Added parse_web to snag files right off the web. Useful for things such as apt's Sources.gz and Packages.gz
Version 1.10b - September 2nd, 2003
Documentation fix for ## vs # in stripComments
Version 1.10 - September 2nd, 2003
Documentation fixes, as pointed out by pudge
Adds a feature to stripComments where ## will get interpolated as a literal pound sign, as suggested by pudge.
Version 1.9 - July 24th, 2003
Fix for warning for edge case (uninitialized value in chomp)
Tests for CRLF
Version 1.8 - July 11th, 2003
By default, we now strip off whitespace unless verbMultiLine is in place. This makes sense for things like conf files where trailing whitespace has no meaning. Thanks to pudge for reporting this.
Version 1.7 - June 25th, 2003
POD documentation error noticed again by Frank Lichtenheld
Also by Frank, applied a patch to add a "verbMultiLine" option so that we can hand multiline fields back unparsed.
Slightly expanded test suite to cover new features
Version 1.6.1 - June 9th, 2003
POD cleanups noticed by Frank Lichtenheld. Thank you, Frank.
Version 1.6 - June 2nd, 2003
Cleaned up some warnings when you pass in empty hashrefs or arrayrefs
Added stripComments setting
Cleaned up POD errors
Version 1.5 - May 8th, 2003
Added a line to quash errors with undef hashkeys and writing
Fixed the Makefile.PL to straighten up DebControl.pm being in the wrong dir
Version 1.4 - April 30th, 2003
Removed exports as they were unnecessary. Many thanks to pudge, who pointed this out.
Version 1.3 - April 28th, 2003
Fixed a bug where writing blank stanzas would throw a warning. Fix found and supplied by Nate Oostendorp.
Version 1.2b - April 25th, 2003
Fixed:
A bug in the test suite where IxHash was not disabled in 40write.t. Thanks to Jeroen Latour from cpan-testers for the report.
Version 1.2 - April 24th, 2003
Fixed:
A bug in IxHash support where multiple stanzas might be out of order
Version 1.1 - April 23rd, 2003
Added:
Writing support
Tie::IxHash support
Case insensitive reading support
* Version 1.0 - April 23rd, 2003
This is the initial public release for CPAN, so everything is new.
BUGS
The module will let you parse otherwise illegal key-value pairs and pairs with spaces. Badly formed stanzas will do things like overwrite duplicate keys, etc. This is your problem.
As of 1.10, the module uses advanced regexp's to figure out about comments. If the tests fail, then stripComments won't work on your earlier perl version (should be fine on 5.6.0+)
TODO
Change the name over to the Debian:: namespace, probably as Debian::ControlFormat. This will happen as soon as the project that uses this module reaches stability, and we can do some minor tweaks.
COPYRIGHT
Parse::DebControl is copyright 2003 Jay Bonci <jaybonci@cpan.org>. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.