[11079] in Perl-Users-Digest
Perl-Users Digest, Issue: 4680 Volume: 8
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Perl-Users Digest)
Mon Jan 18 14:05:05 1999
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 99 11:01:37 -0800
From: Perl-Users Digest <Perl-Users-Request@ruby.OCE.ORST.EDU>
To: Perl-Users@ruby.OCE.ORST.EDU (Perl-Users Digest)
Perl-Users Digest Mon, 18 Jan 1999 Volume: 8 Number: 4680
Today's topics:
passing regexp modifiers in a scalar <prl2@lehigh.edu>
Re: Perl Criticism <jeromeo@atrieva.com>
Re: Perl Criticism <tterry@pbi.net>
Re: Perl Criticism <jeromeo@atrieva.com>
Re: perl Help ptimmins@netserv.unmc.edu
Re: Perl Web browser problem (Steve Linberg)
Re: Perl Web browser problem <ed@*NO*SPAM*pcr8.pcr.com>
Re: Perl Web browser problem <ludlow@us.ibm.com>
Printing word betrween to patterns - Sorry New (Scott Hadley)
Re: problem displaying images via perl cgi script- Pls (Larry Rosler)
Q: Alternatives to Perl CGI <ed@*NO*SPAM*pcr8.pcr.com>
Re: Q: Alternatives to Perl CGI <uri@home.sysarch.com>
Re: Q: Alternatives to Perl CGI <jeromeo@atrieva.com>
Re: Removing spaces from arrays... (Hawkwynd)
Using GetOptions? (Bob Waltenspiel)
Re: Using GetOptions? <ludlow@us.ibm.com>
Special: Digest Administrivia (Last modified: 12 Dec 98 (Perl-Users-Digest Admin)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 11:52:52 -0500
From: "Phil R Lawrence" <prl2@lehigh.edu>
Subject: passing regexp modifiers in a scalar
Message-Id: <77vqsc$hae@fidoii.cc.Lehigh.EDU>
Hey,
Currently I am doing this:
my $get_input = sub {
# Make a hashref that point to our params hash.
my $params = shift() or die;
...
my $input = '';
my $retval = ''
until ($retval) {
...
chomp( $input = &$fmt_case(<STDIN>) );
...
# Return Value is set to 1 (true) if $input matches the regexp.
$retval = eval { $input =~ /$params->{regexp}/ };
# Die if error.
die if $@;
}
return $input;
};
However, I want to be able to pass in regexp modifiers, as well as the regexp
itself, ala:
$retval = eval { $input =~ /$params->{regexp}/$params->{regexp_mods} };
Perl debugger laughed at me when I tried this:
DB<18> $r = '^X$';
DB<19> $m = 'i';
DB<20> print '!' if ('x' =~ /$r/$m)
Scalar found where operator expected at (eval 7) line 2, at end of line
I also tried:
DB<21> $exp = "'x' =~ /$r/$m"
DB<22> p eval { $exp }
'x' =~ /^X$/i
Obviously I don't know what I'm doing with that attempt.
<IMAGE: Blind man, tapping stick, dynamite>
Thanks for any help,
Phil R Lawrence
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 09:45:51 -0800
From: Jerome O'Neil <jeromeo@atrieva.com>
Subject: Re: Perl Criticism
Message-Id: <36A3734F.499CB07D@atrieva.com>
Tad McClellan wrote:
>
> Don't be getting all puffed up about celebrity status.
>
> Daffy Duck is a celebrity...
I think you're giving Daffy a bad rap, Tad.
--
Jerome O'Neil, Operations and Information Services
Atrieva Corporation, 600 University St., Ste. 911, Seattle, WA 98101
jeromeo@atrieva.com - Voice:206/749-2947
The Atrieva Service: Safe and Easy Online Backup http://www.atrieva.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 10:08:14 -0800
From: Troy Terry <tterry@pbi.net>
Subject: Re: Perl Criticism
Message-Id: <36A3788E.2D6B3F79@pbi.net>
Andrew Johnson wrote:
>
> [cross quoted from several postings]
>
> topmind wrote:
> ! code and realize that the system is composed of 30,000 lines
> ! of code that looks something like this:
> !
> !
> ! perl -le
> '$n=170;for($d=2;($d*$d)<=$n;$d+=(1+($d%2))){for($t=0;($n%$d)==0;
> ! $t++){$n=int($n/$d);}while($t-->0){push(@r,$d);}}if($n>1){push(@r,$n);}
[...]
Gracious!
Reminds me of a scene I witnessed once:
PROGRAMMER: Geez, look at this 2000-line "if" statement!
MANAGER: That's why it didn't work!
MANAGER'S MANAGER: If I ever see code like that again,
[Turns to PROGRAMMER] you're fired. [Turns to MANAGER]
And so are you!
[... Discussion of funky code sample...]
>
> ! > It's called a code-review... But you won't care so why am I
> bothering.
> !
> !
> ! Few companies actually spend the money or time for such.
> ! I am not against it, but just saying that it will not
> ! occure very often, just like training.
>
> ok, so you want to blame a language for the hiring practices of
> some company?
It is likely that topmind is overstating his case, but there is
an interesting assumption in his argument; that is, that the
tools you use -- in this case programming language -- have a
large effect on the work you put out. If this is true, then
his claim that perl needs to be 'fixed' or replaced deserves
some consideration.
The question becomes then, what kind of mindset or programming
practices does perl encourage? Does it encourage any bad ones?
I would be willing to accept that each language has functionality
which is easy to implement in that language. (I'd rather use C
than gw-basic to implement a linked-list scheme) I'm not sure that
I believe topmind's larger claim, that perl encourages hard-to-read
code.
Perhaps wiser heads than mine have some ideas.
Yours,
T. Terry
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 09:43:29 -0800
From: Jerome O'Neil <jeromeo@atrieva.com>
To: Staffan Liljas <staffan@ngb.se>
Subject: Re: Perl Criticism
Message-Id: <36A372C1.D74CD228@atrieva.com>
Staffan Liljas wrote:
>
> topmind@technologist.com wrote:
> > I have not seen it in Perl, but in almost every other system
> > that I was a followup person for. I truely doubt Perlers are
> > immune or better tought readibility skills. It is obvious
> > that they where only interested in finishing and don't care
> > about maintainability costs (they don't pay 'em).
> I would strongly suggest interpreting what you just said into a sign
> that perl-programmers write more maintainable and readable code than
> other programmers do. But maybe there is some nuance of your use of the
> English language that is eluding me. I'm a Swede, you know.
This has been my contention for some time. Perl makes it *easier* to
write maintainable code due to it's linguistic background. I have a QA
department to which I like to submit my code for review before I place
it on-line. These guys don't know a whole lot of perl, but it is
readable enough to get good feedback from them.
--
Jerome O'Neil, Operations and Information Services
Atrieva Corporation, 600 University St., Ste. 911, Seattle, WA 98101
jeromeo@atrieva.com - Voice:206/749-2947
The Atrieva Service: Safe and Easy Online Backup http://www.atrieva.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 15:49:10 GMT
From: ptimmins@netserv.unmc.edu
Subject: Re: perl Help
Message-Id: <77vl5j$qrc$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
In article <slrn7a5ulp.hi2.sholden@pgrad.cs.usyd.edu.au>,
sholden@cs.usyd.edu.au wrote:
> On Mon, 18 Jan 1999 08:22:16 GMT, ptimmins@netserv.unmc.edu
> <ptimmins@netserv.unmc.edu> wrote:
[snip]
> > $chr[$row]{char}[$i] = $tmp[$i];
[snip]
> The last posters solution shows how 'split' can be used to break up a
> string into a bunch of characters, which may be useful if you want to
> access them a lot. Why all the reference crap was included I will never
> know...
so the information could be stored for later use ... obviously
Patrick Timmins
$monger{Omaha}[0]
-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 11:38:22 -0500
From: linberg@literacy.upenn.edu (Steve Linberg)
Subject: Re: Perl Web browser problem
Message-Id: <linberg-1801991138220001@ltl1.literacy.upenn.edu>
In article <77viu2$885$1@heracles.fw.cuci.nl>, "Ronald Martens"
<rmartens@nmsmedia.nl> wrote:
> Does anyone has a simple working perl script e.g. Hello world" that MUST
> work, for me to test with.
You mean like:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
print "Hello, world.\n";
__END__
?
--
Steve Linberg, Systems Programmer &c.
National Center on Adult Literacy, University of Pennsylvania
email: <linberg@literacy.upenn.edu>
WWW: <http://www.literacyonline.org>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 12:29:57 -0500
From: Ed Eddington <ed@*NO*SPAM*pcr8.pcr.com>
Subject: Re: Perl Web browser problem
Message-Id: <8bKo2.88$Ly3.624@news13.ispnews.com>
You need to send http headers since you are using this as a CGI app.
You also need to send your "Hello" message in HTML for the browser...
Try this...
#/usr/bin/perl -w
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "<html><body>Hello World!</body></html>
exit ;
Ronald Martens wrote:
>
> Does anyone has a clue?
> I can run my perl script in telnet mode.
> However when I want to run it in a browser I get a misconfiguration error. I
> set the MOD 777 for testing,
> use standard $|=1; used STDOUT and...
>
> Does anyone has a simple working perl script e.g. Hello world" that MUST
> work, for me to test with.
>
> Ronald.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 11:49:31 -0600
From: James Ludlow <ludlow@us.ibm.com>
Subject: Re: Perl Web browser problem
Message-Id: <36A3742B.1FAA12D0@us.ibm.com>
Ronald Martens wrote:
> Does anyone has a clue?
That depends on the detail to which you ask your question, and the
relevance of that question in a Perl-only newsgroup.
> I can run my perl script in telnet mode.
I take this to mean that you have a shell account with an ISP, and
you're using their web server, which they configured.
> However when I want to run it in a browser I get a misconfiguration error. I
> set the MOD 777 for testing,
> use standard $|=1; used STDOUT and...
If your script runs fine from the command line, but not through the
browser, it's a huge clue that you are not dealing with a Perl problem.
The problem is with the way your web server is configured, or it's a
permission problem.
Does the server allow your scripts to run if they're 777? (It
shouldn't.)
Does the server allow scripts in world-writable directories to be run?
(It shouldn't.)
Does the server require the script to be in a particular directory? (It
should.)
Does the server require your script to have a particular extension?
(probably)
All this and more can be found in the proper newsgroup(s) (not clpm).
Just remember that CGI and Perl are not tied together. Just because
you're having a CGI problem doesn't mean that you're having a Perl
problem, especially if it's working correctly from the command line.
--
James Ludlow (ludlow@us.ibm.com)
(Any opinions expressed are my own, not necessarily those of IBM)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 17:33:38 GMT
From: ssh@cheerful.com (Scott Hadley)
Subject: Printing word betrween to patterns - Sorry New
Message-Id: <36a36f2d.324169427@news.supernews.com>
Sorry for the simple - question - still trying to learn.
What I want to do is print the word found between $pr .... $en. I for
the life of me can't figure out the proper syntext.
$pr="%!";
$en="!%";
open(book, "< /root/cern/public/Smoke.PDF") or die "can't open book:
$!";
while(<book>){
if ($_ =~ /$pr/) {
print "$_\n";
}
}
close(book) or die "can't close book: $!";
Thanks in advance
Steve Hedlund
ssh@dpn.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 08:11:30 -0800
From: lr@hpl.hp.com (Larry Rosler)
Subject: Re: problem displaying images via perl cgi script- Pls Help!
Message-Id: <MPG.110cfd0776315221989999@nntp.hpl.hp.com>
In article <77v58o$do7$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, Eadmund@writeme.com says...
> I'm a little bit new to all this and I appolgise if this question is old hat.
It may indeed be. :-)
> I am using the following code to display a gif image, but when I run it, the
> image displayed is very small and diaplayed as just a block of colored pixels.
>
> print "Content-type: image/gif\n\n";
> open(GIFFILE, "<$protect_gif_dir/$filename") ||
> &CgiDie("Could not open $protect_gif_dir/$filename");
Though you don't say so, it sounds as though your program is running on a
Windows/DOS box, and the binary stream contains a ^Z character, which is
interpreted as end-of-file. Try inserting here:
binmode GIFFILE;
which does no harm on Unix boxes.
> while (<GIFFILE>) {
> print $_;
> }
It is awkward to use line-oriented I/O when there are no lines! Either
loop on read(...), or (if the file is not too large to fit comfortably
into memory), simply print the whole file as a single string:
{ local $/; print <GIFFILE> }
--
(Just Another Larry) Rosler
Hewlett-Packard Company
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Larry_Rosler/
lr@hpl.hp.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 12:44:00 -0500
From: Ed Eddington <ed@*NO*SPAM*pcr8.pcr.com>
Subject: Q: Alternatives to Perl CGI
Message-Id: <7oKo2.95$Ly3.624@news13.ispnews.com>
I would like some advice on alternatives to using straight Perl and CGI.
I designed an internet interface to a database using Perl/CGI. The Perl
script simply acts as a communication interface. It receives form data
from an HTML page, then opens a socket and communicates with a backend
server daemon (on another machine) using a proprietary protocol. (The
actual database communication is not done with this script.) The script
also processes HTML templates for the output.
This interface needs to be implemented on many different systems - each
could be a different OS and web server platform. This is why I chose
Perl. However, many companies aren't wanting to use CGI due to the
obvious resource inefficiencies. I would still like the design to be
portable, if possible, but I need to find alternatives to using CGI. A
long-term high-performance solution is preferred over a "cost-conscious"
one.
Can anyone suggest alternatives and their benefits or drawbacks? Any
real world examples of performance improvement, portability, etc. is
appreciated.
I have looked at the following, but have no experience using them:
* fastCGI
* NSAPI
* ISAPI
* Apache server API
* Netscape Application Server (shared object code)
What about...
Perl Modules for persistent CGI?
or... If I re-wrote the Perl into C source code... Would this be a
portable form for the different server platforms? How hard is it to link
this into the different server's httpd?
or... can I link PERL itself into the different server's httpd as well
as the script?
IDEAS OR SUGGESTIONS???
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jan 1999 12:59:00 -0500
From: Uri Guttman <uri@home.sysarch.com>
Subject: Re: Q: Alternatives to Perl CGI
Message-Id: <x7d84cfonv.fsf@home.sysarch.com>
>>>>> "EE" == Ed Eddington <ed@*NO*SPAM*pcr8.pcr.com> writes:
EE> I would like some advice on alternatives to using straight Perl and CGI.
EE> I designed an internet interface to a database using Perl/CGI. The Perl
EE> script simply acts as a communication interface. It receives form data
EE> from an HTML page, then opens a socket and communicates with a backend
EE> server daemon (on another machine) using a proprietary protocol. (The
EE> actual database communication is not done with this script.) The script
EE> also processes HTML templates for the output.
EE> This interface needs to be implemented on many different systems - each
EE> could be a different OS and web server platform. This is why I chose
EE> Perl. However, many companies aren't wanting to use CGI due to the
EE> obvious resource inefficiencies. I would still like the design to be
EE> portable, if possible, but I need to find alternatives to using CGI. A
EE> long-term high-performance solution is preferred over a "cost-conscious"
EE> one.
CGI is inefficient due to the fork and the perl startup time. but
connecting to a database is very slow. the essence of all solutions for
that is persistance between CGI calls.
EE> I have looked at the following, but have no experience using them:
EE> * fastCGI
i worked for fast engines which makes a fastcgi plugin for netscape and
iis. it is very stable and efficient and supports multiple
platforms. check out www.fastengines.com. and www.fastcgi.com for a
broader view.
EE> * NSAPI
EE> * ISAPI
both are very difficult to program to. enter if you dare. also non-portable
EE> * Apache server API
what about mod_perl for apache? easier than the api and in the same
speed range as fastcgi. it also has persistance support.
EE> * Netscape Application Server (shared object code)
$$$$
EE> What about...
EE> Perl Modules for persistent CGI?
see mod_perl for apache.
EE> or... If I re-wrote the Perl into C source code... Would this be a
EE> portable form for the different server platforms? How hard is it to link
EE> this into the different server's httpd?
almost impossible. the server api's are way different. also the speedup
to c will not give you persistance which is what you really need.
uri
--
Uri Guttman ----------------- SYStems ARCHitecture and Software Engineering
Perl Hacker for Hire ---------------------- Perl, Internet, UNIX Consulting
uri@sysarch.com ------------------------------------ http://www.sysarch.com
The Best Search Engine on the Net ------------- http://www.northernlight.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 10:03:27 -0800
From: Jerome O'Neil <jeromeo@atrieva.com>
To: Ed Eddington <ed@pcr8.pcr.com>
Subject: Re: Q: Alternatives to Perl CGI
Message-Id: <36A3776F.32ECF1B5@atrieva.com>
Ed Eddington wrote:
> What about...
> Perl Modules for persistent CGI?
> or... If I re-wrote the Perl into C source code... Would this be a
> portable form for the different server platforms? How hard is it to link
> this into the different server's httpd?
> or... can I link PERL itself into the different server's httpd as well
> as the script?
>
> IDEAS OR SUGGESTIONS???
If you are willing to look at Apache, take a closer look at
Apache/mod_perl. I'm not sure how portable it is to WinTel boxes, but
on Unixes, it is a wonderful combination.
--
Jerome O'Neil, Operations and Information Services
Atrieva Corporation, 600 University St., Ste. 911, Seattle, WA 98101
jeromeo@atrieva.com - Voice:206/749-2947
The Atrieva Service: Safe and Easy Online Backup http://www.atrieva.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 18:06:47 GMT
From: hawkwynd@adelphia.net (Hawkwynd)
Subject: Re: Removing spaces from arrays...
Message-Id: <36a3763e.260931129@news.fwi.com>
On 16 Jan 1999 00:54:59 GMT of the dragon, in comp.lang.perl.misc, it
was read from the pen of "Allan M. Due" <allan@due.net> :
>How about something like:
>
>#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
>use strict;
>
>my @ary = ('6606677 Y R SF00 01/13/99 07:48 40-006990 INFO',
>' ',
>'6600151 Y R SF00 01/12/99 08:27 A359 ADIC',
>' ');
>
>my @foo = map {join "|",(split ' ')} grep {!/^\s*$/} @ary;
>foreach (@foo) {
> print "$_\n"
>}
>
>prints
>6606677|Y|R|SF00|01/13/99|07:48|40-006990|INFO
>6600151|Y|R|SF00|01/12/99|08:27|A359|ADIC
Thank YOU!!!
Here's the final code snippet THAT WORKS!
(open (INF, "$file"))or die("Can't open $file"); # open the file for
reading
$file = "calllog.log"; # File to read in the data
$outfile ="outfile.txt"; # File to export the report
(open (INF, "$file"))or die("Can't open $file");
@ary = <INF>;
close(INF);
open (NEW,">$outfile") || die "Cannot open $outfile!";
&header_print; #Set up the header page...
my @foo = map {join "|",(split ' ')} grep {!/^\s*$/} @ary;
foreach (@foo) {
print "$_\n"
}
The @ary is the entire file, so there's no need to define it any
further. Your @foo line is EXACTLY what the MD ordered. Many thanks
Allan!
http://hawkwynd.tzo.com
-------------------------------------------------
Talk about it at Hawkwynd's keep Discussion Forum
http://hawkwynd.tzo.com/discus/index.html
------------------------------
Date: 18 Jan 1999 17:28:55 GMT
From: bobw@sr.hp.com (Bob Waltenspiel)
Subject: Using GetOptions?
Message-Id: <77vr0n$ie1@canyon.sr.hp.com>
I want to allow my perl script to allow multiple instances of a
particular option. For instance, using my script 'lt':
lt -s file1 -s file2 -l file3 -l file4
I don't see how GetOptions as described in the O'Reilly books will
allow this, so I'm looking for another suggestion. Any help would be
greatly appreciated.
--
Bob Waltenspiel
HP Microwave Instruments Division | e-mail: bob_waltenspiel@hp.com
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999 12:13:51 -0600
From: James Ludlow <ludlow@us.ibm.com>
Subject: Re: Using GetOptions?
Message-Id: <36A379DF.93590F7C@us.ibm.com>
Bob Waltenspiel wrote:
> I want to allow my perl script to allow multiple instances of a
> particular option. For instance, using my script 'lt':
>
> lt -s file1 -s file2 -l file3 -l file4
>
> I don't see how GetOptions as described in the O'Reilly books will
> allow this, so I'm looking for another suggestion. Any help would be
> greatly appreciated.
I'm not sure how to do exactly what you're asking for either, but this
might help anyway.
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Getopt::Long;
my $fileListCommandLine = "";
my @fileList = ();
my $fileCounter = 1;
GetOptions( "files=s" => \$fileListCommandLine );
@fileList = split /\,/, $fileListCommandLine;
foreach (@fileList) {
print "$fileCounter: $_\n";
$fileCounter++;
}
The idea is to take the multiple file names as 1 command line
parameter. In this case, they'd be comma separated.
$ foo.pl -files=f1.ext,f2.ext,f3.ext
--
James Ludlow (ludlow@us.ibm.com)
(Any opinions expressed are my own, not necessarily those of IBM)
------------------------------
Date: 12 Dec 98 21:33:47 GMT (Last modified)
From: Perl-Request@ruby.oce.orst.edu (Perl-Users-Digest Admin)
Subject: Special: Digest Administrivia (Last modified: 12 Dec 98)
Message-Id: <null>
Administrivia:
Well, after 6 months, here's the answer to the quiz: what do we do about
comp.lang.perl.moderated. Answer: nothing.
]From: Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>
]Date: 21 Sep 1998 19:53:43 -0700
]Subject: comp.lang.perl.moderated available via e-mail
]
]It is possible to subscribe to comp.lang.perl.moderated as a mailing list.
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------------------------------
End of Perl-Users Digest V8 Issue 4680
**************************************
