man ConfigFile () - Parse a simple configuration file

NAME

ConfigFile - Parse a simple configuration file

SYNOPSIS

use ConfigFile;

my CW$config_hash = ConfigFile::read_config_file($configuration_file);

NOTES

In versions up to 1.0, the function read_config_file was exported to the calling program's namespace - Starting in version 1.1, nothing is exported by default. You can either fully qualify read_config_file or explicitly import it into your namespace:

Fully qualifying read_config_file

  use ConfigFile;


  my $config_hash = ConfigFile::read_config_file($configuration_file);

Explicitly importing read_config_file

  use ConfigFile qw(read_config_file);


  my $config_hash = read_config_file($configuration_file);

DESCRIPTION

CWread_config_file parses a simple configuration file and stores its values in an anonymous hash reference. The syntax of the configuration file is quite simple: 

    # This is a comment
    VALUE_ONE = foo
    VALUE_TWO = $VALUE_ONE/bar
    VALUE_THREE = The value contains a \# (hash). # This is a comment.

Options can be clustered when creating groups: 

    CLUSTER_ONE[data] = data cluster one
    CLUSTER_ONE[value] = value cluster one
    CLUSTER_TWO[data] = data cluster two
    CLUSTER_TWO[value] = value cluster two

Then values can be fetched using this syntax: 

    $hash_config->{CLUSTER_ONE}{data};

There can be as many sub-options in a cluster as needed. 

    BIG_CLUSTER[part1][part2][part3] = data

is fetched by: CW$hash_config->{BIG_CLUSTER}{part1}{part2}{part3};

There are a couple of restrictions as for the names of the keys. First of all, all the characters should be alphabetic, numeric, underscores or hyphens, with square brackets allowed for the clustering. That is, the keys should conform to /^[A-Za-z0-9_-]+$/

This means also that no space is allowed in the key part of the line. 

    CLUSTER_ONE[data] = data cluster one      # Right
    CLUSTER_ONE[ data ] = data cluster one    # Wrong

Syntax

    ConfigFile::read_config_file($file);

Arguments

CW$file is the configuration file.

Return value

This function returns a hash reference. Each key of the hash is a value defined in the configuration file.

Description

CWread_config_file parses a configuration file a sets up some values in a hash reference.

AUTHOR

Development was started by Sebastien J. Gross <seb@sjgross.org>

All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL.

VERSION

Version 1.2.1 Copyright (c) 2002 Sebastien J. Gross. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2003 Gunnar Wolf. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL.