NAME

Clean::Backspace - removes hidden backspaces and their corresponding deleted characters in strings

SYNOPSIS

  use Clean::Backspace;
  my $clean = Clean::Backspace->new();
  $clean->backspace(\@list_of_string_refs);

DESCRIPTION

This module removes "hidden" backspaces and their corresponding deleted characters from strings. Some terminals generate the backspace control character ^H when backspacing. This is due to how that particular terminal is configured. When terminals are configured to generate ^H instead of ascii del the ^H character as well as the deleted character are retained in the string. If the terminal is configured in this manner and the backspace is used the string may appear to be normal.

An example string on such a terminal could be the string 'test'. Let's say it was typed like this: ted<backspace>st

When you look at the string it appears as 'test'. There are various mechanisms to detect the hidden characters and the string is actually 'ted^Hst'. This can cause problems in various IT infrastructures because all characters in the string will be interpreted. One example could be with an Oracle database. The strings that are typed with backspaces might look normal in your terminal but when you look at Oracle database table fields the unwanted characters might be visible.

METHODS

  There is just one method:  backspace().
  The method requires a list(s) reference(s) of string references.
  Ex: use Clean::Backspace;
      my $clean = Clean::Backspace->new();
      my $str1  = 'string1';
      my $str2  = 'string2';
      my @list  = (\$str1, \$str2);
      $clean->backspace(\@list);

  Since the references are processed there are no return values.

AUTHOR

Bruce Burch <bcb12001@yahoo.com>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2009 by Bruce Burch

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