FileHandle

FileHandle(3)	       Perl Programmers Reference Guide		FileHandle(3)



NAME
       FileHandle - supply object methods for filehandles

SYNOPSIS
	   use FileHandle;

	   $fh = new FileHandle;
	   if ($fh->open("< file")) {
	       print <$fh>;
	       $fh->close;
	   }

	   $fh = new FileHandle "> FOO";
	   if (defined $fh) {
	       print $fh "bar\n";
	       $fh->close;
	   }

	   $fh = new FileHandle "file", "r";
	   if (defined $fh) {
	       print <$fh>;
	       undef $fh;	# automatically closes the file
	   }

	   $fh = new FileHandle "file", O_WRONLY│O_APPEND;
	   if (defined $fh) {
	       print $fh "corge\n";
	       undef $fh;	# automatically closes the file
	   }

	   $pos = $fh->getpos;
	   $fh->setpos($pos);

	   $fh->setvbuf($buffer_var, _IOLBF, 1024);

	   ($readfh, $writefh) = FileHandle::pipe;

	   autoflush STDOUT 1;

DESCRIPTION
       NOTE: This class is now a front-end to the IO::* classes.

       "FileHandle::new" creates a "FileHandle", which is a reference to a
       newly created symbol (see the "Symbol" package).	 If it receives any
       parameters, they are passed to "FileHandle::open"; if the open fails,
       the "FileHandle" object is destroyed.  Otherwise, it is returned to
       the caller.

       "FileHandle::new_from_fd" creates a "FileHandle" like "new" does.  It
       requires two parameters, which are passed to "FileHandle::fdopen"; if
       the fdopen fails, the "FileHandle" object is destroyed.	Otherwise, it
       is returned to the caller.

       "FileHandle::open" accepts one parameter or two.	 With one parameter,
       it is just a front end for the built-in "open" function.	 With two
       parameters, the first parameter is a filename that may include whites-
       pace or other special characters, and the second parameter is the open
       mode, optionally followed by a file permission value.

       If "FileHandle::open" receives a Perl mode string (">", "+<", etc.)
       or a POSIX fopen() mode string ("w", "r+", etc.), it uses the basic
       Perl "open" operator.

       If "FileHandle::open" is given a numeric mode, it passes that mode and
       the optional permissions value to the Perl "sysopen" operator.  For
       convenience, "FileHandle::import" tries to import the O_XXX constants
       from the Fcntl module.  If dynamic loading is not available, this may
       fail, but the rest of FileHandle will still work.

       "FileHandle::fdopen" is like "open" except that its first parameter is
       not a filename but rather a file handle name, a FileHandle object, or
       a file descriptor number.

       If the C functions fgetpos() and fsetpos() are available, then "File-
       Handle::getpos" returns an opaque value that represents the current
       position of the FileHandle, and "FileHandle::setpos" uses that value
       to return to a previously visited position.

       If the C function setvbuf() is available, then "FileHandle::setvbuf"
       sets the buffering policy for the FileHandle.  The calling sequence
       for the Perl function is the same as its C counterpart, including the
       macros "_IOFBF", "_IOLBF", and "_IONBF", except that the buffer param-
       eter specifies a scalar variable to use as a buffer.  WARNING: A vari-
       able used as a buffer by "FileHandle::setvbuf" must not be modified in
       any way until the FileHandle is closed or until "FileHandle::setvbuf"
       is called again, or memory corruption may result!

       See perlfunc for complete descriptions of each of the following sup-
       ported "FileHandle" methods, which are just front ends for the corre-
       sponding built-in functions:

	   close
	   fileno
	   getc
	   gets
	   eof
	   clearerr
	   seek
	   tell

       See perlvar for complete descriptions of each of the following sup-
       ported "FileHandle" methods:

	   autoflush
	   output_field_separator
	   output_record_separator
	   input_record_separator
	   input_line_number
	   format_page_number
	   format_lines_per_page
	   format_lines_left
	   format_name
	   format_top_name
	   format_line_break_characters
	   format_formfeed

       Furthermore, for doing normal I/O you might need these:

       $fh->print
	   See "print" in perlfunc.

       $fh->printf
	   See "printf" in perlfunc.

       $fh->getline
	   This works like <$fh> described in "I/O Operators" in perlop
	   except that it’s more readable and can be safely called in a list
	   context but still returns just one line.

       $fh->getlines
	   This works like <$fh> when called in a list context to read all
	   the remaining lines in a file, except that it’s more readable.  It
	   will also croak() if accidentally called in a scalar context.

       There are many other functions available since FileHandle is descended
       from IO::File, IO::Seekable, and IO::Handle.  Please see those respec-
       tive pages for documentation on more functions.

SEE ALSO
       The IO extension, perlfunc, "I/O Operators" in perlop.



perl v5.8.8			  2001-09-21			FileHandle(3)