#!perl -w
#test Perl's I/O for merging binary files



#global initializations 
   use strict;    #require variable declaration 
   sub merge_pieces (\@$);    #function prototype 

#try the function 
   my @inList =  qw < in1 in2 in3 >; 
   merge_pieces @inList, "out";



#function:  merge files to create 1 overall file 
   #input 1:  $pieceList, reference to a list of file pieces 
   #input 2:  $outName, name of the merged file 
sub merge_pieces (\@$)
{
   #get function inputs 
   my ($pieceList, $outName) = @_; 

   #user message 
   print "Reconstituting file $outName from \n"; 

   #open output file 
   open my $fOut, ">", $outName   
      or die "Unable to open file $outName for writing:  $! \n"; 

   #loop for all input files 
   foreach my $toRead (@$pieceList)
   {
      #open file 
      open my $input, "<", $toRead
         or die "Unable to open file $toRead for reading:  $! \n"; 

      #user message 
      print "   $toRead \n"; 

      #read and write entire file 
      while (<$input>) 
         { print $fOut $_} 
   }
}