NAME
File::Butler - Handy collection of file manipulation tools
SYNOPSIS
# Functional Interface
use File::Butler;
Butler( "somefile.txt", "read", \@lines );
$single_line = Butler( "somefile.txt", "read" );
Butler( "somefile.txt", "write", \@lines );
Butler( "somefile.txt", "write", \$line );
Butler( "somefile.txt", "append", \@data );
Butler( "somefile.txt", "append", \$data );
Butler( "somefile.txt", "prepend", \@data );
Butler( "somefile.txt", "prepend", \$data );
Butler( "/home/kurt", "dir", \@files );
Butler( "somefile.txt", "srm" [, $passes] );
( $lines, $words, $characters ) = Butler( "somefile.txt", "wc" );
# OO Interface
use File::Butler;
$ref = File::Butler->new();
@lines = $ref->read( $file );
$single_line = $ref->read( $file );
$ref->write( $file, \@lines );
$ref->write( $file, \$line );
$ref->append( $file, \@lines );
$ref->append( $file, \$line );
$ref->prepend( $file, \@lines );
$ref->prepend( $file, \$line );
@files = $ref->dir( $directory );
$ref->srm( $file [, $passes] );
( $lines, $words, $characters ) = $ref->wc( $file );
DESCRIPTION
This module is a handy collection of file manipulation tools, and was really designed as more of a convenience than anything else. All of the various functions are fairly self-explanatory.
Please note that starting with v3.00, an Object Oriented interface was added to File::Butler. For backwards compatability, the previous functional style will always be supported.
EXAMPLES
Butler( $file, "read", \@lines )
Reads the contents of $file and stores the contents in the array passed as a reference.
$single_line = Butler( $file, "read" )
Reads the contents of $file and returns the contents as a scalar.
Butler( $file, "write", \@lines )
No surprises here. Writes the contents of @lines into $file, clobbering the previous contents of $file.
Butler( $file, "append", \@lines )
Again, no surprises. Appends the contents of @lines to $file.
Butler( $file, "prepend", \@lines )
Prepends the contents of @lines to $file.
Butler( $directory, "dir", \@files )
Returns a list of the files in $directory, ignoring files that start with "." (i.e., .htaccess)
Butler( $file, "srm" [, passes])
Writes over the contents of $file with a series of 0's and 1's the specified number of times, and then unlinks the file. If passes is not specified, it writes over the file once before unlinking. A total of 10 different overwrite methods are used. If more than 10 passes are specified, the cycle repeats. The cycle is as follows:
Pass 1: Random 0's and 1's; Pass 2: Same as #1; Pass 3: Same as #1; Pass 4: Same as #1; Pass 5: 010101; Pass 6: 101010; Pass 7: 100100; Pass 8: 010010; Pass 9: 000000; Pass 10: 111111
( $lines, $words, $characters ) = Butler( $file, "wc" )
Returns the number of lines, words, and characters in $file. This may or may not exactly match the Linux tool "wc". The number of words in this case is the number of word items matching the regular expression m/(\w+)/g;
AUTHOR
Kurt Kincaid, sifukurt@yahoo.com