AppConfig::File(3)    User Contributed Perl Documentation   AppConfig::File(3)


NAME
       AppConfig::File - Perl5 module for reading configuration files.

SYNOPSIS
           use AppConfig::File;

           my $state   = AppConfig::State->new(\%cfg1);
           my $cfgfile = AppConfig::File->new($state, $file);

           $cfgfile->parse($file);            # read config file

OVERVIEW
       AppConfig::File is a Perl5 module which reads configuration files and
       use the contents therein to update variable values in an
       AppConfig::State object.

       AppConfig::File is distributed as part of the AppConfig bundle.

DESCRIPTION
   USING THE AppConfig::File MODULE
       To import and use the AppConfig::File module the following line should
       appear in your Perl script:

           use AppConfig::File;

       AppConfig::File is used automatically if you use the AppConfig module
       and create an AppConfig::File object through the file() method.

       AppConfig::File is implemented using object-oriented methods.  A new
       AppConfig::File object is created and initialised using the
       AppConfig::File->new() method.  This returns a reference to a new
       AppConfig::File object.  A reference to an AppConfig::State object
       should be passed in as the first parameter:

           my $state   = AppConfig::State->new();
           my $cfgfile = AppConfig::File->new($state);

       This will create and return a reference to a new AppConfig::File
       object.

   READING CONFIGURATION FILES
       The parse() method is used to read a configuration file and have the
       contents update the STATE accordingly.

           $cfgfile->parse($file);

       Multiple files maye be specified and will be read in turn.

           $cfgfile->parse($file1, $file2, $file3);

       The method will return an undef value if it encounters any errors
       opening the files.  It will return immediately without processing any
       further files.  By default, the PEDANTIC option in the AppConfig::State
       object, $self->{ STATE }, is turned off and any parsing errors (invalid
       variables, unvalidated values, etc) will generated warnings, but not
       cause the method to return.  Having processed all files, the method
       will return 1 if all files were processed without warning or 0 if one
       or more warnings were raised.  When the PEDANTIC option is turned on,
       the method generates a warning and immediately returns a value of 0 as
       soon as it encounters any parsing error.

       Variables values in the configuration files may be expanded depending
       on the value of their EXPAND option, as determined from the App::State
       object.  See AppConfig::State for more information on variable
       expansion.

   CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT
       A configuration file may contain blank lines and comments which are
       ignored.  Comments begin with a '#' as the first character on a line or
       following one or more whitespace tokens, and continue to the end of the
       line.

           # this is a comment
           foo = bar               # so is this
           url = index.html#hello  # this too, but not the '#welcome'

       Notice how the '#welcome' part of the URL is not treated as a comment
       because a whitespace character doesn't precede it.

       Long lines can be continued onto the next line by ending the first line
       with a '\'.

           callsign = alpha bravo camel delta echo foxtrot golf hipowls \
                      india juliet kilo llama mike november oscar papa  \
                      quebec romeo sierra tango umbrella victor whiskey \
                      x-ray yankee zebra

       Variables that are simple flags and do not expect an argument (ARGCOUNT
       = ARGCOUNT_NONE) can be specified without any value.  They will be set
       with the value 1, with any value explicitly specified (except "0" and
       "off") being ignored.  The variable may also be specified with a "no"
       prefix to implicitly set the variable to 0.

           verbose                              # on  (1)
           verbose = 1                          # on  (1)
           verbose = 0                          # off (0)
           verbose off                          # off (0)
           verbose on                           # on  (1)
           verbose mumble                       # on  (1)
           noverbose                            # off (0)

       Variables that expect an argument (ARGCOUNT = ARGCOUNT_ONE) will be set
       to whatever follows the variable name, up to the end of the current
       line.  An equals sign may be inserted between the variable and value
       for clarity.

           room = /home/kitchen
           room   /home/bedroom

       Each subsequent re-definition of the variable value overwrites the
       previous value.

           print $config->room();               # prints "/home/bedroom"

       Variables may be defined to accept multiple values (ARGCOUNT =
       ARGCOUNT_LIST).  Each subsequent definition of the variable adds the
       value to the list of previously set values for the variable.

           drink = coffee
           drink = tea

       A reference to a list of values is returned when the variable is
       requested.

           my $beverages = $config->drinks();
           print join(", ", @$beverages);      # prints "coffee, tea"

       Variables may also be defined as hash lists (ARGCOUNT = ARGCOUNT_HASH).
       Each subsequent definition creates a new key and value in the hash
       array.

           alias l="ls -CF"
           alias h="history"

       A reference to the hash is returned when the variable is requested.

           my $aliases = $config->alias();
           foreach my $k (keys %$aliases) {
               print "$k => $aliases->{ $k }\n";
           }

       A large chunk of text can be defined using Perl's "heredoc" quoting
       style.

          scalar = <<BOUNDARY_STRING
          line 1
          line 2: Space/linebreaks within a HERE document are kept.
          line 3: The last linebreak (\n) is stripped.
          BOUNDARY_STRING

          hash   key1 = <<'FOO'
            * Quotes (['"]) around the boundary string are simply ignored.
            * Whether the variables in HERE document are expanded depends on
              the EXPAND option of the variable or global setting.
          FOO

          hash = key2 = <<"_bar_"
          Text within HERE document are kept as is.
          # comments are treated as a normal text.
          The same applies to line continuation. \
          _bar_

       Note that you cannot use HERE document as a key in a hash or a name of
       a variable.

       The '-' prefix can be used to reset a variable to its default value and
       the '+' prefix can be used to set it to 1

           -verbose
           +debug

       Variable, environment variable and tilde (home directory) expansions
       Variable values may contain references to other AppConfig variables,
       environment variables and/or users' home directories.  These will be
       expanded depending on the EXPAND value for each variable or the GLOBAL
       EXPAND value.

       Three different expansion types may be applied:

           bin = ~/bin          # expand '~' to home dir if EXPAND_UID
           tmp = ~abw/tmp       # as above, but home dir for user 'abw'

           perl = $bin/perl     # expand value of 'bin' variable if EXPAND_VAR
           ripl = $(bin)/ripl   # as above with explicit parens

           home = ${HOME}       # expand HOME environment var if EXPAND_ENV

       See AppConfig::State for more information on expanding variable values.

       The configuration files may have variables arranged in blocks.  A block
       header, consisting of the block name in square brackets, introduces a
       configuration block.  The block name and an underscore are then
       prefixed to the names of all variables subsequently referenced in that
       block.  The block continues until the next block definition or to the
       end of the current file.

           [block1]
           foo = 10             # block1_foo = 10

           [block2]
           foo = 20             # block2_foo = 20

AUTHOR
       Andy Wardley, <abw@wardley.org>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 1997-2007 Andy Wardley.  All Rights Reserved.

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

SEE ALSO
       AppConfig, AppConfig::State

perl v5.38.0                      2023-07-25                AppConfig::File(3)