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1 | .rn '' }` |
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2 | ''' $Header: a2p.man,v 2.0 88/06/05 00:15:36 root Exp $ |
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3 | ''' |
4 | ''' $Log: a2p.man,v $ |
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5 | ''' Revision 2.0 88/06/05 00:15:36 root |
6 | ''' Baseline version 2.0. |
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7 | ''' |
8 | ''' |
9 | .de Sh |
10 | .br |
11 | .ne 5 |
12 | .PP |
13 | \fB\\$1\fR |
14 | .PP |
15 | .. |
16 | .de Sp |
17 | .if t .sp .5v |
18 | .if n .sp |
19 | .. |
20 | .de Ip |
21 | .br |
22 | .ie \\n.$>=3 .ne \\$3 |
23 | .el .ne 3 |
24 | .IP "\\$1" \\$2 |
25 | .. |
26 | ''' |
27 | ''' Set up \*(-- to give an unbreakable dash; |
28 | ''' string Tr holds user defined translation string. |
29 | ''' Bell System Logo is used as a dummy character. |
30 | ''' |
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31 | .tr \(*W-|\(bv\*(Tr |
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32 | .ie n \{\ |
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33 | .ds -- \(*W- |
34 | .if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=24u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-12u'-\" diablo 10 pitch |
35 | .if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=20u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-8u'-\" diablo 12 pitch |
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36 | .ds L" "" |
37 | .ds R" "" |
38 | .ds L' ' |
39 | .ds R' ' |
40 | 'br\} |
41 | .el\{\ |
42 | .ds -- \(em\| |
43 | .tr \*(Tr |
44 | .ds L" `` |
45 | .ds R" '' |
46 | .ds L' ` |
47 | .ds R' ' |
48 | 'br\} |
49 | .TH A2P 1 LOCAL |
50 | .SH NAME |
51 | a2p - Awk to Perl translator |
52 | .SH SYNOPSIS |
53 | .B a2p [options] filename |
54 | .SH DESCRIPTION |
55 | .I A2p |
56 | takes an awk script specified on the command line (or from standard input) |
57 | and produces a comparable |
58 | .I perl |
59 | script on the standard output. |
60 | .Sh "Options" |
61 | Options include: |
62 | .TP 5 |
63 | .B \-D<number> |
64 | sets debugging flags. |
65 | .TP 5 |
66 | .B \-F<character> |
67 | tells a2p that this awk script is always invoked with this -F switch. |
68 | .TP 5 |
69 | .B \-n<fieldlist> |
70 | specifies the names of the input fields if input does not have to be split into |
71 | an array. |
72 | If you were translating an awk script that processes the password file, you |
73 | might say: |
74 | .sp |
75 | a2p -7 -nlogin.password.uid.gid.gcos.shell.home |
76 | .sp |
77 | Any delimiter will do to separate the field names. |
78 | .TP 5 |
79 | .B \-<number> |
80 | causes a2p to assume that input will always have that many fields. |
81 | .Sh "Considerations" |
82 | A2p cannot do as good a job translating as a human would, but it usually |
83 | does pretty well. |
84 | There are some areas where you may want to examine the perl script produced |
85 | and tweak it some. |
86 | Here are some of them, in no particular order. |
87 | .PP |
88 | The split operator in perl always strips off all null fields from the end. |
89 | Awk does NOT do this, if you've set FS. |
90 | If the perl script splits to an array, the field count may not reflect |
91 | what you expect. |
92 | Ordinarily this isn't a problem, since nonexistent array elements have a null |
93 | value, but if you rely on NF in awk, you could be in for trouble. |
94 | Either force the number of fields with \-<number>, or count the number of |
95 | delimiters another way, e.g. with y/:/:/. |
96 | Or add something non-null to the end before you split, and then pop it off |
97 | the resulting array. |
98 | .PP |
99 | There is an awk idiom of putting int() around a string expression to force |
100 | numeric interpretation, even though the argument is always integer anyway. |
101 | This is generally unneeded in perl, but a2p can't tell if the argument |
102 | is always going to be integer, so it leaves it in. |
103 | You may wish to remove it. |
104 | .PP |
105 | Perl differentiates numeric comparison from string comparison. |
106 | Awk has one operator for both that decides at run time which comparison |
107 | to do. |
108 | A2p does not try to do a complete job of awk emulation at this point. |
109 | Instead it guesses which one you want. |
110 | It's almost always right, but it can be spoofed. |
111 | All such guesses are marked with the comment \*(L"#???\*(R". |
112 | You should go through and check them. |
113 | .PP |
114 | Perl does not attempt to emulate the behavior of awk in which nonexistent |
115 | array elements spring into existence simply by being referenced. |
116 | If somehow you are relying on this mechanism to create null entries for |
117 | a subsequent for...in, they won't be there in perl. |
118 | .PP |
119 | If a2p makes a split line that assigns to a list of variables that looks |
120 | like (Fld1, Fld2, Fld3...) you may want |
121 | to rerun a2p using the \-n option mentioned above. |
122 | This will let you name the fields throughout the script. |
123 | If it splits to an array instead, the script is probably referring to the number |
124 | of fields somewhere. |
125 | .PP |
126 | The exit statement in awk doesn't necessarily exit; it goes to the END |
127 | block if there is one. |
128 | Awk scripts that do contortions within the END block to bypass the block under |
129 | such circumstances can be simplified by removing the conditional |
130 | in the END block and just exiting directly from the perl script. |
131 | .PP |
132 | Perl has two kinds of array, numerically-indexed and associative. |
133 | Awk arrays are usually translated to associative arrays, but if you happen |
134 | to know that the index is always going to be numeric you could change |
135 | the {...} to [...]. |
136 | Iteration over an associative array is done with each(), but |
137 | iteration over a numeric array is NOT. |
138 | You need a for loop, or while loop with a pop() or shift(), so you might |
139 | need to modify any loop that is iterating over the array in question. |
140 | .PP |
141 | Arrays which have been split into are assumed to be numerically indexed. |
142 | The usual perl idiom for iterating over such arrays is to use pop() or shift() |
143 | and assign the resulting value to a variable inside the conditional of the |
144 | while loop. |
145 | This is destructive to the array, however, so a2p can't assume this is |
146 | reasonable. |
147 | A2p will write a standard for loop with a scratch variable. |
148 | You may wish to change it to a pop() loop for more efficiency, presuming |
149 | you don't want to keep the array around. |
150 | .PP |
151 | Awk starts by assuming OFMT has the value %.6g. |
152 | Perl starts by assuming its equivalent, $#, to have the value %.20g. |
153 | You'll want to set $# explicitly if you use the default value of OFMT. |
154 | .PP |
155 | Near the top of the line loop will be the split operation that is implicit in |
156 | the awk script. |
157 | There are times when you can move this down past some conditionals that |
158 | test the entire record so that the split is not done as often. |
159 | .PP |
160 | There may occasionally be extra parentheses that you can remove. |
161 | .PP |
162 | For aesthetic reasons you may wish to change the array base $[ from 1 back |
163 | to the default of 0, but remember to change all array subscripts AND |
164 | all substr() and index() operations to match. |
165 | .PP |
166 | Cute comments that say "# Here is a workaround because awk is dumb" are not |
167 | translated. |
168 | .PP |
169 | Awk scripts are often embedded in a shell script that pipes stuff into and |
170 | out of awk. |
171 | Often the shell script wrapper can be incorporated into the perl script, since |
172 | perl can start up pipes into and out of itself, and can do other things that |
173 | awk can't do by itself. |
174 | .SH ENVIRONMENT |
175 | A2p uses no environment variables. |
176 | .SH AUTHOR |
177 | Larry Wall <lwall@devvax.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> |
178 | .SH FILES |
179 | .SH SEE ALSO |
180 | perl The perl compiler/interpreter |
181 | .br |
182 | s2p sed to perl translator |
183 | .SH DIAGNOSTICS |
184 | .SH BUGS |
185 | It would be possible to emulate awk's behavior in selecting string versus |
186 | numeric operations at run time by inspection of the operands, but it would |
187 | be gross and inefficient. |
188 | Besides, a2p almost always guesses right. |
189 | .PP |
190 | Storage for the awk syntax tree is currently static, and can run out. |
191 | .rn }` '' |