Re: Parsing an Arbitrary "config" file (based on a "template"?)

[roboticus]

three18ti:

If it's always that format, you don't need anything fancy. Just read the file, split each line into two chunks at the first colon, and package it all up into a hash. It should be something like this:

sub read_config_file {
   my $file_name = shift;
   open my $FH, '<', $file_name or die "Can't read $file_name: $!\n";
   my $result = {};
   while (my $line = <$FH>) {
      my ($key, $value) = split /:/, $line, 2;
      $value =~ s/\r?\n$//;
      $result->{$key} = $value;
   }
   return $result;
}

my $config_data = read_config_file('config_file_name.cfg');
print "Daily mission: ", $config_data->{'What are we doing today Brain
+'}, "\n";
print "Location: ", $config->data{where}, "\n";

(Note: untested...)

Update: I actually like Marpa::R2 a good bit. I just did a project at work with it last month where I had to write a parser for a programming language. I found it to be pretty nice to use in that capacity. But it's overpowered, in my opinion, if you have simple tag:value pairs in a configuration file.

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.

[roboticus]

OK, I got a little bored at work, so I thought I'd code it up in Marpa just as an example. There's a minor bug in it, but I'll leave it in there. Source code:

Read more... (3 kB)

When I run it, I get:

$ perl parse_cfg_file.pl
Daily mission: Same thing we do every day Pinky
Location: October

All configuration data: {
  "baz" => "1234+54q - bar bar",
  "foo" => "bar",
  "Some other parameter" => 42,
  "What are we doing today Brain" => "Same thing we do every day Pinky
+",
  "where" => "October",
  "who" => "bob",
}

...roboticus

When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.

[three18ti]

This is great thanks!

I do see what you mean about it being a bit overpowered, but it is clean.

I especially like:

$value =~ s/\r?\n$//;

from your first example.

I wonder which will be more maintainable in the long run.

Thanks for the examples!