NAME

Number::Nary - encode and decode numbers as n-ary strings

VERSION

version 0.02

$Id$

SYNOPSIS

This module lets you convert numbers into strings that encode the number using the digit set of your choice.

my ($encode_sub, $decode_sub) = n_codec('01234'); # base five

my $number = $encode_sub('8675309'); # jenny's number for one-handed folk

FUNCTIONS

n_codec($digits)

This routine returns a reference to a subroutine which will encode numbers into the given set of digits and a reference which will do the reverse operation.

This routine will croak if the digit string contains repeated digits.

The encode sub will croak if it is given input other than a non-negative integer.

The decode sub will croak if given a string that contains characters not in the digit string.

n_encode($value, $digits)

This encodes the given value into a string using the given digit string. It is written in terms of n_codec, above, so it's not efficient at all for multiple uses in one process.

This routine is not exported by default.

n_decode($value, $digits)

This is the decoding equivalent to n_encode, above.

This routine is not exported by default.

AUTHOR

Ricardo Signes, <rjbs at cpan.org>

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests to bug-number-nary@rt.cpan.org, or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Number-Nary. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes.

SECRET ORIGINS

I originally used this system to produce unique worksheet names in Excel. I had a large report generating system that used Win32::OLE, and to keep track of what was where I'd Storable-digest the options used to produce each worksheet and then n-ary encode them into the set of characters that were valid in worksheet names. Working out that set of characters was by far the hardest part.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks, Jesse Vincent. When I remarked, on IRC, that this would be trivial to do, he said, "Great. Would you mind doing it?" (Well, more or less.) It was a fun little distraction.

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE

Copyright 2005 Ricardo Signes, all rights reserved.

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