Config::General identical blocks sequence

I already mailed the author but maybe someone here also know the answer?

If I have identical blocks in a Config::General configuration file like the one in my example below. What will be the sequence in which my script receives them? Will it be document order? From my test it seems to be the case, but I couldn't find anything about the order in the documentation.

here is my example code:

use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;
use Config::General;

my $conf = new Config::General( -String => <<'CONFIG' );

<option>
    value 1
</option>
<option>
    value 2
</option>

CONFIG
print Dumper(  { $conf->getall() } );
exit;
[download]

On my system the result is

$VAR1 = {
          'option' => [
                        {
                          'value' => '1'
                        },
                        {
                          'value' => '2'
                        }
                      ]
        };
[download]

Which is the document order I expected. But can I be sure that it will always be the case? Even in the next release of Config::General?

s$$([},&%#}/&/]+}%&{})*;#$&&s&&$^X.($'^"%]=\&(|?*{%
+.+=%;.#_}\&"^"-+%*).}%:##%}={~=~:.")&e&&s""`$''`"e

Comment on Config::General identical blocks sequence Select or Download Code
Re: Config::General identical blocks sequence by Anonymous Monk on Aug 01, 2011 at 07:50 UTC
But can I be sure that it will always be the case? Even in the next release of Config::General? Sure, why not http://search.cpan.org/~tlinden/Config-General-2.50/General.pm#IDENTICAL_OPTIONS_%28ARRAYS%29	[reply]
Re^2: Config::General identical blocks sequence by jethro (Monsignor) on Aug 01, 2011 at 08:58 UTC
I'm not so sure, the order is not mentioned in the section anonmonk cited. The example it gives is introduced with "you would end up with a data structure like this", not "you would end up with this data structure" or "exactly like this". While it isn't likely that the writer of the documentation thought about this question when he wrote that sentence, it is also unlikely that he thought about specifying the order at all	[reply]
Re: Config::General identical blocks sequence by Mr. Muskrat (Abbot) on Aug 02, 2011 at 19:34 UTC
From the docs, "You may have more than one line of the same option with different values." and "You will get a scalar if the option occurred only once or an array if it occurred more than once." If you look at the code for Config::General you will see that it's creating an array when it finds two or more of the same option with different values and pushing the values into an array. So yes, the order will be same.	[reply]
Re: Config::General identical blocks sequence by ikegami (Pope) on Aug 02, 2011 at 19:44 UTC
It's naturally easy to keep them in order, and it's a feature I suspect the maintainers want to keep. I don't see this changing.	[reply]
Re: Config::General identical blocks sequence by Skeeve (Vicar) on Aug 03, 2011 at 17:40 UTC
You both are right but as long as it is not documented, the implementer is free to change the order without notice. Sure it's easy to maintain document order and it's (to my understanding) the "natural" order. But anyway: Thomas replied and I think he will document it. `s$$([},&%#}/&/]+}%&{});#$&&s&&$^X.($'^"%]=\&(\|?{%` `+`.+=%;.#_}\&"^"-+%*).}%:##%}={~=~:.")&e&&s""`$''`"e	[reply] [d/l] [select]


No such thing as a small change
	PerlMonks

Config::General identical blocks sequence

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