FileHandle

NAME

FileHandle - supply object methods for filehandles

SYNOPSIS

use FileHandle; $fh = new FileHandle; if ($fh->open "< file") { print <$fh>; $fh->close; } $fh = new FileHandle "> FOO"; if (defined $fh) { print $fh "bar\n"; $fh->close; } $fh = new FileHandle "file", "r"; if (defined $fh) { print <$fh>; undef $fh; # automatically closes the file } $fh = new FileHandle "file", O_WRONLY|O_APPEND; if (defined $fh) { print $fh "corge\n"; undef $fh; # automatically closes the file } $pos = $fh->getpos; $fh->setpos $pos; $fh->setvbuf($buffer_var, _IOLBF, 1024); ($readfh, $writefh) = FileHandle::pipe; autoflush STDOUT 1;

DESCRIPTION

FileHandle::new creates a FileHandle, which is a reference to a newly created symbol (see the Symbol package). If it receives any parameters, they are passed to FileHandle::open; if the open fails, the FileHandle object is destroyed. Otherwise, it is returned to the caller.

FileHandle::new_from_fd creates a FileHandle like new does. It requires two parameters, which are passed to FileHandle::fdopen; if the fdopen fails, the FileHandle object is destroyed. Otherwise, it is returned to the caller.

FileHandle::open accepts one parameter or two. With one parameter, it is just a front end for the built-in open function. With two parameters, the first parameter is a filename that may include whitespace or other special characters, and the second parameter is the open mode in either Perl form (``>'', ``+<'', etc.) or POSIX form (``w'', ``r+'', etc.).

FileHandle::fdopen is like open except that its first parameter is not a filename but rather a file handle name, a FileHandle object, or a file descriptor number.

If the C functions fgetpos() and fsetpos() are available, then FileHandle::getpos returns an opaque value that represents the current position of the FileHandle, and FileHandle::setpos uses that value to return to a previously visited position.

If the C function setvbuf() is available, then FileHandle::setvbuf sets the buffering policy for the FileHandle. The calling sequence for the Perl function is the same as its C counterpart, including the macros _IOFBF, _IOLBF, and _IONBF, except that the buffer parameter specifies a scalar variable to use as a buffer. WARNING: A variable used as a buffer by FileHandle::setvbuf must not be modified in any way until the FileHandle is closed or until FileHandle::setvbuf is called again, or memory corruption may result!

See the perlfunc manpage for complete descriptions of each of the following supported FileHandle methods, which are just front ends for the corresponding built-in functions: close fileno getc gets eof clearerr seek tell

See the perlvar manpage for complete descriptions of each of the following supported FileHandle methods:

autoflush output_field_separator output_record_separator input_record_separator input_line_number format_page_number format_lines_per_page format_lines_left format_name format_top_name format_line_break_characters format_formfeed

Furthermore, for doing normal I/O you might need these:

$fh->print
See print .

$fh->printf
See printf .

$fh->getline
This works like <$fh> described in ``I/O Operators'' except that it's more readable and can be safely called in an array context but still returns just one line.

$fh->getlines
This works like <$fh> when called in an array context to read all the remaining lines in a file, except that it's more readable. It will also croak() if accidentally called in a scalar context.

SEE ALSO

the perlfunc manpage , ``I/O Operators'', POSIX/``FileHandle''

BUGS

Due to backwards compatibility, all filehandles resemble objects of class FileHandle, or actually classes derived from that class. They actually aren't. Which means you can't derive your own class from FileHandle and inherit those methods.