NAME

App::PickRandomLines - Pick one or more random lines from input

VERSION

This document describes version 0.021 of App::PickRandomLines (from Perl distribution App-PickRandomLines), released on 2023-11-20.

SYNOPSIS

See pick-random-lines.

FUNCTIONS

pick_random_lines

Usage:

pick_random_lines(%args) -> [$status_code, $reason, $payload, \%result_meta]

Pick one or more random lines from input.

TODO: * option to allow or disallow duplicates

This function is not exported.

Arguments ('*' denotes required arguments):

  • algorithm => str (default: "scan")

    scan is the algorithm described in the perlfaq manual (`perldoc -q "random line"). This algorithm scans the whole input once and picks one or more lines randomly from it.

    seek is the algorithm employed by the Perl module File::RandomLine. It works by seeking a file randomly and finding the next line (repeated n number of times). This algorithm is faster when the input is very large as it avoids having to scan the whole input. But it requires that the input is seekable (a single file, stdin is not supported and currently multiple files are not supported as well). Might produce duplicate lines.

  • files => array[filename]

    If none is specified, will get input from stdin.

  • num_lines => int (default: 1)

    If input contains less lines than the requested number of lines, then will only return as many lines as the input contains.

Returns an enveloped result (an array).

First element ($status_code) is an integer containing HTTP-like status code (200 means OK, 4xx caller error, 5xx function error). Second element ($reason) is a string containing error message, or something like "OK" if status is 200. Third element ($payload) is the actual result, but usually not present when enveloped result is an error response ($status_code is not 2xx). Fourth element (%result_meta) is called result metadata and is optional, a hash that contains extra information, much like how HTTP response headers provide additional metadata.

Return value: (any)

HOMEPAGE

Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/App-PickRandomLines.

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-App-PickRandomLines.

SEE ALSO

Data::Unixish::pick.

AUTHOR

perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>

CONTRIBUTING

To contribute, you can send patches by email/via RT, or send pull requests on GitHub.

Most of the time, you don't need to build the distribution yourself. You can simply modify the code, then test via:

% prove -l

If you want to build the distribution (e.g. to try to install it locally on your system), you can install Dist::Zilla, Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, Pod::Weaver::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, and sometimes one or two other Dist::Zilla- and/or Pod::Weaver plugins. Any additional steps required beyond that are considered a bug and can be reported to me.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2023, 2020 by perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=App-PickRandomLines

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.