Oh my, PERL Data

[ichinyo]

I like the way PERL looks, though I am watching video, as boring as anything. I have a guide book, makes things look easier.

Here is a question, how would a data field work. In BASIC there is read, then that does a data function. like.

Read N$, A,B,C
print n$,A,B,C
data Bob Jones, 23,45,67
end
Run
Bob Jones 23 45 67.

How could PERL be used like spread sheet?

Thanks

[talexb]

Here's some code that does roughly what you want:

#!perl

use strict;
use warnings;

{
    while ( <DATA> ) {

      chomp;
      my ( $n_string, $a_num, $b_num, $c_num ) = split(/,/);

      print "$n_string: " .
        join(', ', $a_num, $b_num, $c_num) .
        "\n";
    }
}

__DATA__
Bob Jones,23,45,67
Bill Hicks,56,43,29

This produces the following output:

Bob Jones: 23, 45, 67
Bill Hicks: 56, 43, 29

When you save stuff from a spreadsheet, one of the possible output formats is a CSV, like the two lines of data shown above.

[Your Mother]

We would love to help and Perl is a perfect choice for CSV and spreadsheet style data. Your question, as it stands, it a bit hard to understand. Could you elaborate? Files? Data in the script? Explain what you're thinking and wanting to do as if to a non-programmer. Everything, step by step.

[kcott]

G'day ichinyo,

Welcome to the Monastery.

"I like the way PERL looks, though I am watching video, as boring as anything. I have a guide book, makes things look easier."

You'd probably be well served by reading "perlintro -- a brief introduction and overview of Perl".

"How could PERL be used like spread sheet?"

That depends on what you want to do. Here's some resources that may be useful.

• Text::CSV - defaults to comma-separated; use the sep_char attribute to change to tab-separated, pipe-separated, etc.
• Search CPAN for "Spreadsheet" - you'll find modules for both XLS and XLSX formats.
• Search CPAN for "Excel" - you'll find modules for both XLS and XLSX formats.
• Using Win32::OLE and Excel - Tips and Tricks - A PerlMonks' Tutorial.

[NetWallah]

You could use the perl built-in debugger, to do simple stuff:

>perl -d -E ""

Loading DB routines from perl5db.pl version 1.33
Editor support available.

Enter h or `h h' for help, or `perldoc perldebug' for more help.

Debugged program terminated.  Use q to quit or R to restart,
  use o inhibit_exit to avoid stopping after program termination,
  h q, h R or h o to get additional info.

  DB<4> chomp (($n,$a,$b,$c)=<>)
Bob Jones
23
45
67
^Z


  DB<5> print join(",",$n,$a,$b,$c)
Bob Jones,23,45,67

  DB<6> print $a+$b-$c
1

[InfiniteSilence]

...data field...data function..How could PERL be used like spread sheet...

Correct me if I'm wrong but this question asks three separate questions: 1) How can Perl be used like a data field (on a spreadsheet) 2) how can it behave like a Basic program and 3) how can it behave like the embedded formula tools inside of a spreadsheet.

Perl is a language that you can use to build software tools but is not a tool like a spreadsheet. A data field on a spreadsheet represents a collection of objects that fire events that parse your input, maintain state, and offer you a nice and pretty visual representation to interact with. You can build a spreadsheet with Perl but not the other way around (easily). This covers the spreadsheet-related questions.

That leaves how Perl can be like the BASIC language. Well, they are two different languages with different syntax, rules, and purposes. BASIC was designed to teach people programming. The 'B' in BASIC stands for 'Beginner.' It was never meant to be your 'do all be all.' Instead it was designed to introduce you to this stuff of computing and then send you out into the wild. Perl started out with a different set of intentions and thus the syntax and constructs of the language look a lot different.

Programming, like anything, takes time to learn. The excitement comes from mastering techniques, solving problems, and (in the case of Perl) watching people suffer and struggle with their computers trying to do things you can literally whip up in minutes.