perl 5.003_06: sv.h
[p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git] / pod / perldsc.pod
CommitLineData
cb1a09d0 1=head1 NAME
4633a7c4 2
cb1a09d0 3perldsc - Perl Data Structures Cookbook
4633a7c4 4
cb1a09d0 5=head1 DESCRIPTION
4633a7c4 6
7The single feature most sorely lacking in the Perl programming language
8prior to its 5.0 release was complex data structures. Even without direct
9language support, some valiant programmers did manage to emulate them, but
10it was hard work and not for the faint of heart. You could occasionally
11get away with the C<$m{$LoL,$b}> notation borrowed from I<awk> in which the
12keys are actually more like a single concatenated string C<"$LoL$b">, but
13traversal and sorting were difficult. More desperate programmers even
14hacked Perl's internal symbol table directly, a strategy that proved hard
15to develop and maintain--to put it mildly.
16
17The 5.0 release of Perl let us have complex data structures. You
18may now write something like this and all of a sudden, you'd have a array
19with three dimensions!
20
21 for $x (1 .. 10) {
22 for $y (1 .. 10) {
23 for $z (1 .. 10) {
4973169d 24 $LoL[$x][$y][$z] =
4633a7c4 25 $x ** $y + $z;
26 }
27 }
28 }
29
30Alas, however simple this may appear, underneath it's a much more
31elaborate construct than meets the eye!
32
33How do you print it out? Why can't you just say C<print @LoL>? How do
34you sort it? How can you pass it to a function or get one of these back
35from a function? Is is an object? Can you save it to disk to read
36back later? How do you access whole rows or columns of that matrix? Do
4973169d 37all the values have to be numeric?
4633a7c4 38
39As you see, it's quite easy to become confused. While some small portion
40of the blame for this can be attributed to the reference-based
41implementation, it's really more due to a lack of existing documentation with
42examples designed for the beginner.
43
44This document is meant to be a detailed but understandable treatment of
45the many different sorts of data structures you might want to develop. It should
46also serve as a cookbook of examples. That way, when you need to create one of these
47complex data structures, you can just pinch, pilfer, or purloin
48a drop-in example from here.
49
50Let's look at each of these possible constructs in detail. There are separate
51documents on each of the following:
52
53=over 5
54
55=item * arrays of arrays
56
57=item * hashes of arrays
58
59=item * arrays of hashes
60
61=item * hashes of hashes
62
63=item * more elaborate constructs
64
65=item * recursive and self-referential data structures
66
67=item * objects
68
69=back
70
71But for now, let's look at some of the general issues common to all
4973169d 72of these types of data structures.
4633a7c4 73
74=head1 REFERENCES
75
76The most important thing to understand about all data structures in Perl
77-- including multidimensional arrays--is that even though they might
78appear otherwise, Perl C<@ARRAY>s and C<%HASH>es are all internally
79one-dimensional. They can only hold scalar values (meaning a string,
80number, or a reference). They cannot directly contain other arrays or
81hashes, but instead contain I<references> to other arrays or hashes.
82
83You can't use a reference to a array or hash in quite the same way that
84you would a real array or hash. For C or C++ programmers unused to distinguishing
85between arrays and pointers to the same, this can be confusing. If so,
86just think of it as the difference between a structure and a pointer to a
4973169d 87structure.
4633a7c4 88
89You can (and should) read more about references in the perlref(1) man
90page. Briefly, references are rather like pointers that know what they
91point to. (Objects are also a kind of reference, but we won't be needing
4973169d 92them right away--if ever.) This means that when you have something which
93looks to you like an access to a two-or-more-dimensional array and/or hash,
94what's really going on is that the base type is
4633a7c4 95merely a one-dimensional entity that contains references to the next
96level. It's just that you can I<use> it as though it were a
97two-dimensional one. This is actually the way almost all C
98multidimensional arrays work as well.
99
100 $list[7][12] # array of arrays
101 $list[7]{string} # array of hashes
102 $hash{string}[7] # hash of arrays
103 $hash{string}{'another string'} # hash of hashes
104
105Now, because the top level only contains references, if you try to print
106out your array in with a simple print() function, you'll get something
107that doesn't look very nice, like this:
108
109 @LoL = ( [2, 3], [4, 5, 7], [0] );
110 print $LoL[1][2];
111 7
112 print @LoL;
113 ARRAY(0x83c38)ARRAY(0x8b194)ARRAY(0x8b1d0)
114
115
116That's because Perl doesn't (ever) implicitly dereference your variables.
117If you want to get at the thing a reference is referring to, then you have
118to do this yourself using either prefix typing indicators, like
119C<${$blah}>, C<@{$blah}>, C<@{$blah[$i]}>, or else postfix pointer arrows,
120like C<$a-E<gt>[3]>, C<$h-E<gt>{fred}>, or even C<$ob-E<gt>method()-E<gt>[3]>.
121
122=head1 COMMON MISTAKES
123
124The two most common mistakes made in constructing something like
125an array of arrays is either accidentally counting the number of
126elements or else taking a reference to the same memory location
127repeatedly. Here's the case where you just get the count instead
128of a nested array:
129
130 for $i (1..10) {
131 @list = somefunc($i);
132 $LoL[$i] = @list; # WRONG!
4973169d 133 }
4633a7c4 134
135That's just the simple case of assigning a list to a scalar and getting
136its element count. If that's what you really and truly want, then you
137might do well to consider being a tad more explicit about it, like this:
138
139 for $i (1..10) {
140 @list = somefunc($i);
141 $counts[$i] = scalar @list;
4973169d 142 }
4633a7c4 143
144Here's the case of taking a reference to the same memory location
145again and again:
146
147 for $i (1..10) {
148 @list = somefunc($i);
149 $LoL[$i] = \@list; # WRONG!
4973169d 150 }
4633a7c4 151
152So, just what's the big problem with that? It looks right, doesn't it?
153After all, I just told you that you need an array of references, so by
154golly, you've made me one!
155
156Unfortunately, while this is true, it's still broken. All the references
157in @LoL refer to the I<very same place>, and they will therefore all hold
158whatever was last in @list! It's similar to the problem demonstrated in
159the following C program:
160
161 #include <pwd.h>
162 main() {
163 struct passwd *getpwnam(), *rp, *dp;
164 rp = getpwnam("root");
165 dp = getpwnam("daemon");
166
4973169d 167 printf("daemon name is %s\nroot name is %s\n",
4633a7c4 168 dp->pw_name, rp->pw_name);
169 }
170
171Which will print
172
173 daemon name is daemon
4973169d 174 root name is daemon
4633a7c4 175
176The problem is that both C<rp> and C<dp> are pointers to the same location
177in memory! In C, you'd have to remember to malloc() yourself some new
178memory. In Perl, you'll want to use the array constructor C<[]> or the
179hash constructor C<{}> instead. Here's the right way to do the preceding
4973169d 180broken code fragments:
4633a7c4 181
182 for $i (1..10) {
183 @list = somefunc($i);
184 $LoL[$i] = [ @list ];
4973169d 185 }
4633a7c4 186
187The square brackets make a reference to a new array with a I<copy>
188of what's in @list at the time of the assignment. This is what
4973169d 189you want.
4633a7c4 190
191Note that this will produce something similar, but it's
192much harder to read:
193
194 for $i (1..10) {
195 @list = 0 .. $i;
196 @{$LoL[$i]} = @list;
4973169d 197 }
4633a7c4 198
199Is it the same? Well, maybe so--and maybe not. The subtle difference
200is that when you assign something in square brackets, you know for sure
201it's always a brand new reference with a new I<copy> of the data.
202Something else could be going on in this new case with the C<@{$LoL[$i]}}>
203dereference on the left-hand-side of the assignment. It all depends on
204whether C<$LoL[$i]> had been undefined to start with, or whether it
205already contained a reference. If you had already populated @LoL with
206references, as in
207
208 $LoL[3] = \@another_list;
209
210Then the assignment with the indirection on the left-hand-side would
211use the existing reference that was already there:
212
213 @{$LoL[3]} = @list;
214
215Of course, this I<would> have the "interesting" effect of clobbering
216@another_list. (Have you ever noticed how when a programmer says
217something is "interesting", that rather than meaning "intriguing",
218they're disturbingly more apt to mean that it's "annoying",
219"difficult", or both? :-)
220
221So just remember to always use the array or hash constructors with C<[]>
222or C<{}>, and you'll be fine, although it's not always optimally
4973169d 223efficient.
4633a7c4 224
225Surprisingly, the following dangerous-looking construct will
226actually work out fine:
227
228 for $i (1..10) {
229 my @list = somefunc($i);
230 $LoL[$i] = \@list;
4973169d 231 }
4633a7c4 232
233That's because my() is more of a run-time statement than it is a
234compile-time declaration I<per se>. This means that the my() variable is
235remade afresh each time through the loop. So even though it I<looks> as
236though you stored the same variable reference each time, you actually did
237not! This is a subtle distinction that can produce more efficient code at
238the risk of misleading all but the most experienced of programmers. So I
239usually advise against teaching it to beginners. In fact, except for
240passing arguments to functions, I seldom like to see the gimme-a-reference
241operator (backslash) used much at all in code. Instead, I advise
242beginners that they (and most of the rest of us) should try to use the
243much more easily understood constructors C<[]> and C<{}> instead of
244relying upon lexical (or dynamic) scoping and hidden reference-counting to
245do the right thing behind the scenes.
246
247In summary:
248
249 $LoL[$i] = [ @list ]; # usually best
250 $LoL[$i] = \@list; # perilous; just how my() was that list?
251 @{ $LoL[$i] } = @list; # way too tricky for most programmers
252
253
4973169d 254=head1 CAVEAT ON PRECEDENCE
4633a7c4 255
256Speaking of things like C<@{$LoL[$i]}>, the following are actually the
257same thing:
258
259 $listref->[2][2] # clear
260 $$listref[2][2] # confusing
261
262That's because Perl's precedence rules on its five prefix dereferencers
263(which look like someone swearing: C<$ @ * % &>) make them bind more
264tightly than the postfix subscripting brackets or braces! This will no
265doubt come as a great shock to the C or C++ programmer, who is quite
266accustomed to using C<*a[i]> to mean what's pointed to by the I<i'th>
267element of C<a>. That is, they first take the subscript, and only then
268dereference the thing at that subscript. That's fine in C, but this isn't C.
269
270The seemingly equivalent construct in Perl, C<$$listref[$i]> first does
271the deref of C<$listref>, making it take $listref as a reference to an
272array, and then dereference that, and finally tell you the I<i'th> value
273of the array pointed to by $LoL. If you wanted the C notion, you'd have to
274write C<${$LoL[$i]}> to force the C<$LoL[$i]> to get evaluated first
275before the leading C<$> dereferencer.
276
277=head1 WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS C<use strict>
278
279If this is starting to sound scarier than it's worth, relax. Perl has
280some features to help you avoid its most common pitfalls. The best
281way to avoid getting confused is to start every program like this:
282
283 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
284 use strict;
285
286This way, you'll be forced to declare all your variables with my() and
287also disallow accidental "symbolic dereferencing". Therefore if you'd done
288this:
289
290 my $listref = [
291 [ "fred", "barney", "pebbles", "bambam", "dino", ],
292 [ "homer", "bart", "marge", "maggie", ],
293 [ "george", "jane", "alroy", "judy", ],
294 ];
295
296 print $listref[2][2];
297
298The compiler would immediately flag that as an error I<at compile time>,
299because you were accidentally accessing C<@listref>, an undeclared
300variable, and it would thereby remind you to instead write:
301
302 print $listref->[2][2]
303
304=head1 DEBUGGING
305
4973169d 306Before 5.002, the standard Perl debugger didn't do a very nice job of
307printing out complex data structures. With version 5.002 or above, the
308debugger includes several new features, including command line editing as
309well as the C<x> command to dump out complex data structures. For
310example, given the assignment to $LoL above, here's the debugger output:
4633a7c4 311
312 DB<1> X $LoL
313 $LoL = ARRAY(0x13b5a0)
314 0 ARRAY(0x1f0a24)
315 0 'fred'
316 1 'barney'
317 2 'pebbles'
318 3 'bambam'
319 4 'dino'
320 1 ARRAY(0x13b558)
321 0 'homer'
322 1 'bart'
323 2 'marge'
324 3 'maggie'
325 2 ARRAY(0x13b540)
326 0 'george'
327 1 'jane'
328 2 'alroy'
329 3 'judy'
330
331There's also a lower-case B<x> command which is nearly the same.
332
cb1a09d0 333=head1 CODE EXAMPLES
334
335Presented with little comment (these will get their own man pages someday)
4973169d 336here are short code examples illustrating access of various
cb1a09d0 337types of data structures.
338
339=head1 LISTS OF LISTS
340
341=head2 Declaration of a LIST OF LISTS
342
343 @LoL = (
344 [ "fred", "barney" ],
345 [ "george", "jane", "elroy" ],
346 [ "homer", "marge", "bart" ],
347 );
348
349=head2 Generation of a LIST OF LISTS
350
351 # reading from file
352 while ( <> ) {
353 push @LoL, [ split ];
4973169d 354 }
cb1a09d0 355
356 # calling a function
357 for $i ( 1 .. 10 ) {
358 $LoL[$i] = [ somefunc($i) ];
4973169d 359 }
cb1a09d0 360
361 # using temp vars
362 for $i ( 1 .. 10 ) {
363 @tmp = somefunc($i);
364 $LoL[$i] = [ @tmp ];
4973169d 365 }
cb1a09d0 366
367 # add to an existing row
368 push @{ $LoL[0] }, "wilma", "betty";
369
370=head2 Access and Printing of a LIST OF LISTS
371
372 # one element
373 $LoL[0][0] = "Fred";
374
375 # another element
376 $LoL[1][1] =~ s/(\w)/\u$1/;
377
378 # print the whole thing with refs
379 for $aref ( @LoL ) {
380 print "\t [ @$aref ],\n";
4973169d 381 }
cb1a09d0 382
383 # print the whole thing with indices
384 for $i ( 0 .. $#LoL ) {
385 print "\t [ @{$LoL[$i]} ],\n";
4973169d 386 }
cb1a09d0 387
388 # print the whole thing one at a time
389 for $i ( 0 .. $#LoL ) {
390 for $j ( 0 .. $#{$LoL[$i]} ) {
391 print "elt $i $j is $LoL[$i][$j]\n";
392 }
4973169d 393 }
cb1a09d0 394
395=head1 HASHES OF LISTS
396
397=head2 Declaration of a HASH OF LISTS
398
399 %HoL = (
400 "flintstones" => [ "fred", "barney" ],
401 "jetsons" => [ "george", "jane", "elroy" ],
402 "simpsons" => [ "homer", "marge", "bart" ],
403 );
404
405=head2 Generation of a HASH OF LISTS
406
407 # reading from file
408 # flintstones: fred barney wilma dino
409 while ( <> ) {
410 next unless s/^(.*?):\s*//;
411 $HoL{$1} = [ split ];
4973169d 412 }
cb1a09d0 413
414 # reading from file; more temps
415 # flintstones: fred barney wilma dino
416 while ( $line = <> ) {
417 ($who, $rest) = split /:\s*/, $line, 2;
418 @fields = split ' ', $rest;
419 $HoL{$who} = [ @fields ];
4973169d 420 }
cb1a09d0 421
422 # calling a function that returns a list
423 for $group ( "simpsons", "jetsons", "flintstones" ) {
424 $HoL{$group} = [ get_family($group) ];
4973169d 425 }
cb1a09d0 426
427 # likewise, but using temps
428 for $group ( "simpsons", "jetsons", "flintstones" ) {
429 @members = get_family($group);
430 $HoL{$group} = [ @members ];
4973169d 431 }
cb1a09d0 432
433 # append new members to an existing family
434 push @{ $HoL{"flintstones"} }, "wilma", "betty";
435
436=head2 Access and Printing of a HASH OF LISTS
437
438 # one element
439 $HoL{flintstones}[0] = "Fred";
440
441 # another element
442 $HoL{simpsons}[1] =~ s/(\w)/\u$1/;
443
444 # print the whole thing
445 foreach $family ( keys %HoL ) {
446 print "$family: @{ $HoL{$family} }\n"
4973169d 447 }
cb1a09d0 448
449 # print the whole thing with indices
450 foreach $family ( keys %HoL ) {
451 print "family: ";
452 foreach $i ( 0 .. $#{ $HoL{$family} ) {
453 print " $i = $HoL{$family}[$i]";
454 }
455 print "\n";
4973169d 456 }
cb1a09d0 457
458 # print the whole thing sorted by number of members
459 foreach $family ( sort { @{$HoL{$b}} <=> @{$HoL{$b}} } keys %HoL ) {
460 print "$family: @{ $HoL{$family} }\n"
4973169d 461 }
cb1a09d0 462
463 # print the whole thing sorted by number of members and name
464 foreach $family ( sort { @{$HoL{$b}} <=> @{$HoL{$a}} } keys %HoL ) {
465 print "$family: ", join(", ", sort @{ $HoL{$family}), "\n";
4973169d 466 }
cb1a09d0 467
468=head1 LISTS OF HASHES
469
470=head2 Declaration of a LIST OF HASHES
471
472 @LoH = (
473 {
4973169d 474 Lead => "fred",
475 Friend => "barney",
cb1a09d0 476 },
477 {
478 Lead => "george",
479 Wife => "jane",
480 Son => "elroy",
481 },
482 {
483 Lead => "homer",
484 Wife => "marge",
485 Son => "bart",
486 }
487 );
488
489=head2 Generation of a LIST OF HASHES
490
491 # reading from file
492 # format: LEAD=fred FRIEND=barney
493 while ( <> ) {
494 $rec = {};
495 for $field ( split ) {
496 ($key, $value) = split /=/, $field;
497 $rec->{$key} = $value;
498 }
499 push @LoH, $rec;
4973169d 500 }
cb1a09d0 501
502
503 # reading from file
504 # format: LEAD=fred FRIEND=barney
505 # no temp
506 while ( <> ) {
507 push @LoH, { split /[\s+=]/ };
4973169d 508 }
cb1a09d0 509
510 # calling a function that returns a key,value list, like
511 # "lead","fred","daughter","pebbles"
1fef88e7 512 while ( %fields = getnextpairset() ) {
cb1a09d0 513 push @LoH, { %fields };
4973169d 514 }
cb1a09d0 515
516 # likewise, but using no temp vars
517 while (<>) {
518 push @LoH, { parsepairs($_) };
4973169d 519 }
cb1a09d0 520
521 # add key/value to an element
4973169d 522 $LoH[0]{pet} = "dino";
523 $LoH[2]{pet} = "santa's little helper";
cb1a09d0 524
525=head2 Access and Printing of a LIST OF HASHES
526
527 # one element
4973169d 528 $LoH[0]{lead} = "fred";
cb1a09d0 529
530 # another element
4973169d 531 $LoH[1]{lead} =~ s/(\w)/\u$1/;
cb1a09d0 532
533 # print the whole thing with refs
534 for $href ( @LoH ) {
535 print "{ ";
536 for $role ( keys %$href ) {
537 print "$role=$href->{$role} ";
538 }
539 print "}\n";
4973169d 540 }
cb1a09d0 541
542 # print the whole thing with indices
543 for $i ( 0 .. $#LoH ) {
544 print "$i is { ";
545 for $role ( keys %{ $LoH[$i] } ) {
546 print "$role=$LoH[$i]{$role} ";
547 }
548 print "}\n";
4973169d 549 }
cb1a09d0 550
551 # print the whole thing one at a time
552 for $i ( 0 .. $#LoH ) {
553 for $role ( keys %{ $LoH[$i] } ) {
554 print "elt $i $role is $LoH[$i]{$role}\n";
555 }
4973169d 556 }
cb1a09d0 557
558=head1 HASHES OF HASHES
559
560=head2 Declaration of a HASH OF HASHES
561
562 %HoH = (
563 "flintstones" => {
564 "lead" => "fred",
565 "pal" => "barney",
566 },
567 "jetsons" => {
4973169d 568 "lead" => "george",
569 "wife" => "jane",
570 "his boy" => "elroy",
571 },
cb1a09d0 572 "simpsons" => {
573 "lead" => "homer",
574 "wife" => "marge",
575 "kid" => "bart",
4973169d 576 },
577 );
cb1a09d0 578
579=head2 Generation of a HASH OF HASHES
580
581 # reading from file
582 # flintstones: lead=fred pal=barney wife=wilma pet=dino
583 while ( <> ) {
584 next unless s/^(.*?):\s*//;
585 $who = $1;
586 for $field ( split ) {
587 ($key, $value) = split /=/, $field;
588 $HoH{$who}{$key} = $value;
589 }
590
591
592 # reading from file; more temps
593 while ( <> ) {
594 next unless s/^(.*?):\s*//;
595 $who = $1;
596 $rec = {};
597 $HoH{$who} = $rec;
598 for $field ( split ) {
599 ($key, $value) = split /=/, $field;
600 $rec->{$key} = $value;
601 }
4973169d 602 }
cb1a09d0 603
cb1a09d0 604 # calling a function that returns a key,value hash
605 for $group ( "simpsons", "jetsons", "flintstones" ) {
606 $HoH{$group} = { get_family($group) };
4973169d 607 }
cb1a09d0 608
609 # likewise, but using temps
610 for $group ( "simpsons", "jetsons", "flintstones" ) {
611 %members = get_family($group);
612 $HoH{$group} = { %members };
4973169d 613 }
cb1a09d0 614
615 # append new members to an existing family
616 %new_folks = (
617 "wife" => "wilma",
618 "pet" => "dino";
619 );
4973169d 620
cb1a09d0 621 for $what (keys %new_folks) {
622 $HoH{flintstones}{$what} = $new_folks{$what};
4973169d 623 }
cb1a09d0 624
625=head2 Access and Printing of a HASH OF HASHES
626
627 # one element
4973169d 628 $HoH{flintstones}{wife} = "wilma";
cb1a09d0 629
630 # another element
631 $HoH{simpsons}{lead} =~ s/(\w)/\u$1/;
632
633 # print the whole thing
634 foreach $family ( keys %HoH ) {
1fef88e7 635 print "$family: { ";
4973169d 636 for $role ( keys %{ $HoH{$family} } ) {
cb1a09d0 637 print "$role=$HoH{$family}{$role} ";
638 }
639 print "}\n";
4973169d 640 }
cb1a09d0 641
642 # print the whole thing somewhat sorted
643 foreach $family ( sort keys %HoH ) {
1fef88e7 644 print "$family: { ";
4973169d 645 for $role ( sort keys %{ $HoH{$family} } ) {
cb1a09d0 646 print "$role=$HoH{$family}{$role} ";
647 }
648 print "}\n";
4973169d 649 }
cb1a09d0 650
651
652 # print the whole thing sorted by number of members
653 foreach $family ( sort { keys %{$HoH{$b}} <=> keys %{$HoH{$b}} } keys %HoH ) {
1fef88e7 654 print "$family: { ";
4973169d 655 for $role ( sort keys %{ $HoH{$family} } ) {
cb1a09d0 656 print "$role=$HoH{$family}{$role} ";
657 }
658 print "}\n";
4973169d 659 }
cb1a09d0 660
661 # establish a sort order (rank) for each role
662 $i = 0;
663 for ( qw(lead wife son daughter pal pet) ) { $rank{$_} = ++$i }
664
665 # now print the whole thing sorted by number of members
666 foreach $family ( sort { keys %{$HoH{$b}} <=> keys %{$HoH{$b}} } keys %HoH ) {
1fef88e7 667 print "$family: { ";
cb1a09d0 668 # and print these according to rank order
1fef88e7 669 for $role ( sort { $rank{$a} <=> $rank{$b} keys %{ $HoH{$family} } } ) {
cb1a09d0 670 print "$role=$HoH{$family}{$role} ";
671 }
672 print "}\n";
4973169d 673 }
cb1a09d0 674
675
676=head1 MORE ELABORATE RECORDS
677
678=head2 Declaration of MORE ELABORATE RECORDS
679
680Here's a sample showing how to create and use a record whose fields are of
681many different sorts:
682
683 $rec = {
4973169d 684 TEXT => $string,
685 SEQUENCE => [ @old_values ],
686 LOOKUP => { %some_table },
687 THATCODE => \&some_function,
688 THISCODE => sub { $_[0] ** $_[1] },
689 HANDLE => \*STDOUT,
cb1a09d0 690 };
691
4973169d 692 print $rec->{TEXT};
cb1a09d0 693
694 print $rec->{LIST}[0];
4973169d 695 $last = pop @ { $rec->{SEQUENCE} };
cb1a09d0 696
697 print $rec->{LOOKUP}{"key"};
698 ($first_k, $first_v) = each %{ $rec->{LOOKUP} };
699
4973169d 700 $answer = &{ $rec->{THATCODE} }($arg);
701 $answer = &{ $rec->{THISCODE} }($arg1, $arg2);
cb1a09d0 702
703 # careful of extra block braces on fh ref
4973169d 704 print { $rec->{HANDLE} } "a string\n";
cb1a09d0 705
706 use FileHandle;
4973169d 707 $rec->{HANDLE}->autoflush(1);
708 $rec->{HANDLE}->print(" a string\n");
cb1a09d0 709
710=head2 Declaration of a HASH OF COMPLEX RECORDS
711
712 %TV = (
713 "flintstones" => {
714 series => "flintstones",
4973169d 715 nights => [ qw(monday thursday friday) ],
cb1a09d0 716 members => [
717 { name => "fred", role => "lead", age => 36, },
718 { name => "wilma", role => "wife", age => 31, },
4973169d 719 { name => "pebbles", role => "kid", age => 4, },
cb1a09d0 720 ],
721 },
722
723 "jetsons" => {
724 series => "jetsons",
4973169d 725 nights => [ qw(wednesday saturday) ],
cb1a09d0 726 members => [
727 { name => "george", role => "lead", age => 41, },
728 { name => "jane", role => "wife", age => 39, },
729 { name => "elroy", role => "kid", age => 9, },
730 ],
731 },
732
733 "simpsons" => {
734 series => "simpsons",
4973169d 735 nights => [ qw(monday) ],
cb1a09d0 736 members => [
737 { name => "homer", role => "lead", age => 34, },
738 { name => "marge", role => "wife", age => 37, },
739 { name => "bart", role => "kid", age => 11, },
740 ],
741 },
742 );
743
744=head2 Generation of a HASH OF COMPLEX RECORDS
745
746 # reading from file
747 # this is most easily done by having the file itself be
748 # in the raw data format as shown above. perl is happy
749 # to parse complex datastructures if declared as data, so
750 # sometimes it's easiest to do that
751
752 # here's a piece by piece build up
753 $rec = {};
754 $rec->{series} = "flintstones";
755 $rec->{nights} = [ find_days() ];
756
757 @members = ();
758 # assume this file in field=value syntax
1fef88e7 759 while (<>) {
cb1a09d0 760 %fields = split /[\s=]+/;
761 push @members, { %fields };
762 }
763 $rec->{members} = [ @members ];
764
765 # now remember the whole thing
766 $TV{ $rec->{series} } = $rec;
767
768 ###########################################################
769 # now, you might want to make interesting extra fields that
770 # include pointers back into the same data structure so if
771 # change one piece, it changes everywhere, like for examples
772 # if you wanted a {kids} field that was an array reference
773 # to a list of the kids' records without having duplicate
774 # records and thus update problems.
775 ###########################################################
776 foreach $family (keys %TV) {
777 $rec = $TV{$family}; # temp pointer
778 @kids = ();
779 for $person ( @{$rec->{members}} ) {
780 if ($person->{role} =~ /kid|son|daughter/) {
781 push @kids, $person;
782 }
783 }
784 # REMEMBER: $rec and $TV{$family} point to same data!!
785 $rec->{kids} = [ @kids ];
786 }
787
788 # you copied the list, but the list itself contains pointers
789 # to uncopied objects. this means that if you make bart get
790 # older via
791
792 $TV{simpsons}{kids}[0]{age}++;
793
794 # then this would also change in
795 print $TV{simpsons}{members}[2]{age};
796
797 # because $TV{simpsons}{kids}[0] and $TV{simpsons}{members}[2]
798 # both point to the same underlying anonymous hash table
799
800 # print the whole thing
801 foreach $family ( keys %TV ) {
802 print "the $family";
803 print " is on during @{ $TV{$family}{nights} }\n";
804 print "its members are:\n";
805 for $who ( @{ $TV{$family}{members} } ) {
806 print " $who->{name} ($who->{role}), age $who->{age}\n";
807 }
808 print "it turns out that $TV{$family}{'lead'} has ";
809 print scalar ( @{ $TV{$family}{kids} } ), " kids named ";
810 print join (", ", map { $_->{name} } @{ $TV{$family}{kids} } );
811 print "\n";
812 }
813
c07a80fd 814=head1 Database Ties
815
816You cannot easily tie a multilevel data structure (such as a hash of
817hashes) to a dbm file. The first problem is that all but GDBM and
818Berkeley DB have size limitations, but beyond that, you also have problems
819with how references are to be represented on disk. One experimental
820module that does attempt to partially address this need is the MLDBM
821module. Check your nearest CPAN site as described in L<perlmod> for
822source code to MLDBM.
823
4633a7c4 824=head1 SEE ALSO
825
1fef88e7 826perlref(1), perllol(1), perldata(1), perlobj(1)
4633a7c4 827
828=head1 AUTHOR
829
830Tom Christiansen E<lt>F<tchrist@perl.com>E<gt>
831
4973169d 832Last update:
833Mon Jul 8 05:22:49 MDT 1996