The Perl Toolchain Summit needs more sponsors. If your company depends on Perl, please support this very important event.

NAME

MCE::Shared::Handle - Handle helper class

VERSION

This document describes MCE::Shared::Handle version 1.826

DESCRIPTION

A handle helper class for use as a standalone or managed by MCE::Shared.

SYNOPSIS

   # non-shared or local construction for use by a single process

   use MCE::Shared::Handle;

   MCE::Shared::Handle->open( my $fh, "<", "bio.fasta" );
   MCE::Shared::Handle::open  my $fh, "<", "bio.fasta";

   mce_open my $fh, "<", "bio.fasta" or die "open error: $!";

   # construction for sharing with other threads and processes

   use MCE::Shared;

   MCE::Shared->open( my $fh, "<", "bio.fasta" );
   MCE::Shared::open  my $fh, "<", "bio.fasta";

   mce_open my $fh, "<", "bio.fasta" or die "open error: $!";

   # example, output is serialized, not garbled

   use MCE::Hobo;
   use MCE::Shared;

   mce_open my $ofh, ">>", \*STDOUT  or die "open error: $!";
   mce_open my $ifh, "<", "file.log" or die "open error: $!";

   sub parallel {
      $/ = "\n"; # can set the input record separator
      while (my $line = <$ifh>) {
         printf {$ofh} "[%5d] %s", $., $line;
      }
   }

   MCE::Hobo->create( \&parallel ) for 1 .. 4;

   $_->join() for MCE::Hobo->list();

   # handle functions

   my $bool = eof($ifh);
   my $off  = tell($ifh);
   my $fd   = fileno($ifh);
   my $char = getc($ifh);
   my $line = readline($ifh);

   binmode $ifh;
   seek $ifh, 10, 0;
   read $ifh, my($buf), 80;

   print  {$ofh} "foo\n";
   printf {$ofh} "%s\n", "bar";

   open $ofh, ">>", \*STDERR;
   syswrite $ofh, "shared handle to STDERR\n";

   close $ifh;
   close $ofh;

API DOCUMENTATION

open ( filehandle, expr )
open ( filehandle, mode, expr )
open ( filehandle, mode, reference )

In version 1.007 and later, constructs a new object by opening the file whose filename is given by expr, and associates it with filehandle. When omitting error checking at the application level, MCE::Shared emits a message and stop if open fails.

   # non-shared or local construction for use by a single process

   use MCE::Shared::Handle;

   MCE::Shared::Handle->open( my $fh, "<", "file.log" ) or die "$!";
   MCE::Shared::Handle::open  my $fh, "<", "file.log"   or die "$!";

   mce_open my $fh, "<", "file.log" or die "$!"; # ditto

   # construction for sharing with other threads and processes

   use MCE::Shared;

   MCE::Shared->open( my $fh, "<", "file.log" ) or die "$!";
   MCE::Shared::open  my $fh, "<", "file.log"   or die "$!";

   mce_open my $fh, "<", "file.log" or die "$!"; # ditto

Simple examples to open a file for reading:

   # mce_open is exported by MCE::Shared or MCE::Shared::Handle.
   # It creates a shared file handle with MCE::Shared present
   # or a non-shared handle otherwise.

   mce_open my $fh, "< input.txt"     or die "open error: $!";
   mce_open my $fh, "<", "input.txt"  or die "open error: $!";
   mce_open my $fh, "<", \*STDIN      or die "open error: $!";

and for writing:

   mce_open my $fh, "> output.txt"    or die "open error: $!";
   mce_open my $fh, ">", "output.txt" or die "open error: $!";
   mce_open my $fh, ">", \*STDOUT     or die "open error: $!";

CHUNK IO

Starting with MCE::Shared v1.007, chunk IO is possible for both non-shared and shared handles. Chunk IO is enabled by the trailing 'k' or 'm' for read size. Also, chunk IO supports the special "\n>"-like record separator. That anchors ">" at the start of the line. Workers receive record(s) beginning with ">" and ending with "\n".

   # non-shared handle ---------------------------------------------

   use MCE::Shared::Handle;

   mce_open my $fh, '<', 'bio.fasta' or die "open error: $!";

   # shared handle -------------------------------------------------

   use MCE::Shared;

   mce_open my $fh, '<', 'bio.fasta' or die "open error: $!";

   # 'k' or 'm' indicates kibiBytes (KiB) or mebiBytes (MiB) respectively.
   # Read continues reading until reaching the record separator or EOF.
   # Optionally, one may specify the record separator.

   $/ = "\n>";

   while ( read($fh, my($buf), '2k') ) {
      print "# chunk number: $.\n";
      print "$buf\n";
   }

$. contains the chunk_id above or the record_number below. readline($fh) or <$fh> may be used for reading a single record.

   while ( my $buf = <$fh> ) {
      print "# record number: $.\n";
      print "$buf\n";
   }

The following provides a parallel demonstration. Workers receive the next chunk from the shared-manager process where the actual read takes place. MCE::Shared also works with threads, forks, and likely other parallel modules.

   use MCE::Hobo;       # (change to) use threads; (or) use forks;
   use MCE::Shared;
   use feature qw( say );

   my $pattern  = 'something';
   my $hugefile = 'somehuge.log';

   my $result = MCE::Shared->array();
   mce_open my $fh, "<", $hugefile or die "open error: $!";

   sub task {
      # the trailing 'k' or 'm' for size enables chunk IO
      while ( read $fh, my( $slurp_chunk ), "640k" ) {
         my $chunk_id = $.;
         # process chunk only if a match is found; ie. fast scan
         # optionally, comment out the if statement and closing brace
         if ( $slurp_chunk =~ /$pattern/m ) {
            my @matches;
            while ( $slurp_chunk =~ /([^\n]+\n)/mg ) {
               my $line = $1; # save $1 to not lose the value
               push @matches, $line if ( $line =~ /$pattern/ );
            }
            $result->push( @matches ) if @matches;
         }
      }
   }

   MCE::Hobo->create('task') for 1 .. 4;

   # do something else

   MCE::Hobo->waitall();

   say $result->len();

For comparison, the same thing using MCE::Flow. MCE workers read the file directly when given a plain path, so will have lesser overhead. However, the run time is similar if one were to pass a file handle instead to mce_flow_f.

The benefit of chunk IO is from lesser IPC for the shared-manager process (above). Likewise, for the mce-manager process (below).

   use MCE::Flow;
   use feature qw( say );

   my $pattern  = 'something';
   my $hugefile = 'somehuge.log';

   my @result = mce_flow_f {
      max_workers => 4, chunk_size => '640k',
      use_slurpio => 1,
   },
   sub {
      my ( $mce, $slurp_ref, $chunk_id ) = @_;
      # process chunk only if a match is found; ie. fast scan
      # optionally, comment out the if statement and closing brace
      if ( $$slurp_ref =~ /$pattern/m ) {
         my @matches;
         while ( $$slurp_ref =~ /([^\n]+\n)/mg ) {
            my $line = $1; # save $1 to not lose the value
            push @matches, $line if ( $line =~ /$pattern/ );
         }
         MCE->gather( @matches ) if @matches;
      }
   }, $hugefile;

   say scalar( @result );

CREDITS

Implementation inspired by Tie::StdHandle.

LIMITATIONS

Perl must have IO::FDPass for constructing a shared condvar or queue while the shared-manager process is running. For platforms where IO::FDPass isn't possible, construct condvar and queue before other classes. On systems without IO::FDPass, the manager process is delayed until sharing other classes or started explicitly.

   use MCE::Shared;

   my $has_IO_FDPass = $INC{'IO/FDPass.pm'} ? 1 : 0;

   my $cv  = MCE::Shared->condvar();
   my $que = MCE::Shared->queue();

   MCE::Shared->start() unless $has_IO_FDPass;

Regarding mce_open, IO::FDPass is needed for constructing a shared-handle from a non-shared handle not yet available inside the shared-manager process. The workaround is to have the non-shared handle made before the shared-manager is started. Passing a file by reference is fine for the three STD* handles.

   # The shared-manager knows of \*STDIN, \*STDOUT, \*STDERR.

   mce_open my $shared_in,  "<",  \*STDIN;   # ok
   mce_open my $shared_out, ">>", \*STDOUT;  # ok
   mce_open my $shared_err, ">>", \*STDERR;  # ok
   mce_open my $shared_fh1, "<",  "/path/to/sequence.fasta";  # ok
   mce_open my $shared_fh2, ">>", "/path/to/results.log";     # ok

   mce_open my $shared_fh, ">>", \*NON_SHARED_FH;  # requires IO::FDPass

The IO::FDPass module is known to work reliably on most platforms. Install 1.1 or later to rid of limitations described above.

   perl -MIO::FDPass -le "print 'Cheers! Perl has IO::FDPass.'"

INDEX

MCE, MCE::Hobo, MCE::Shared

AUTHOR

Mario E. Roy, <marioeroy AT gmail DOT com>