NAME

CDB_Perl - Perl extension for reading and creating CDB files

SYNOPSIS

###################
#### Read a CDB ###
###################

require CDB_Perl::Read;
my $rcdb = CDB_Perl::Read->new('file.cdb');

#get all values associated with a key 'key'
my @values = $rcdb->get_values('key');

#get the first value (insertion order)
my $value = $rcdb->get_value('key');
@values = $rcdb->get_value('key');

#get the next values, end indicated by undef
#use when iterating over multiple values of a key
my $next_value = $rcdb->get_next();

####################
### Create a CDB ###
####################

require CDB_Perl::Write;
my $wcdb = CDB_Perl::Write->new('create.cdb');

#insert key value pairs
$wcdb->insert('key','value');

#finish the CDB (automatic in destructor so you don't need to do this)
$wcdb->finish;

#####################
### tie interface ###
#####################

### Reading

my %read;
tie %read, 'CDB_Perl::Read', 'read.cdb';

#read a key value
my $val = $read{'key'};	# only first key by insertion order

#iterate through a CDB (all key/value pairs by insertion order, even multiple ones
while(my($k,$v) = each(%read)){
	#do something
}

### Creating

my %write;
tie %write, 'CDB_Perl::Write', 'write.cdb';

#store a key/value pair
$write{'key'} = 'value';

#write all data, no need to call this, destructor takes care of that
untie %data;

DESCRIPTION

CDB_Perl is a perl only interface to read and create CDB files. CDB stands for Constant Database, a data format created by Dan Berstein.

It's very efficient to read CDB files but creation is somewhat costly. This module is a fall-back option for people with problems using XS modules. See next section for better alternatives.

SEE ALSO

CDB_File XS implementation quite faster than this module

The eg directory for some examples on how to use the package

TO DO

Improve documentation a lot

AUTHOR

Cláudio Valente, <plank@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2008 by Cláudio Valente

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