Reading a Properties file

[mantra2006]

Hello Monks


What is the best way to read a properties file using perl
program. suppose my properties file contains the following
source_dir="C:\\Testing\\Source"
target_dir="C:\\Testing\\Target"
pattern="*.txt *.dat *.doc"

pattern is an array..perl script should read this properties file
and get the details such as source_dir
into a string target_dir into a string
and pattern into an array
so that for each pattern
files will be checked and processed


Note: properties file i mean to say basically a text file with
that format...so that the script will be independent
and if i change the target directory i can do
it in text file and my script won't be touched it
should work with that change
and if i want to add say *.xls
i can add it in text file and no need of changing the script
hope am clear
Thanks in advance for suggestions and sample code


Sridhar

[davorg]

I searched CPAN for "properties" and found Config::Properties. Is that useful? You might need to be a little clearer about what you mean by a "properties file".

[mantra2006]

Hello

properties file i mean to say basically a text file with
that format...so that the script will be independent
and if i change the target directory i can do
it in text file and my script won't be touched it should work with that change
and if i want to add say *.xls
i can add it in text file and no need of changing the script
hope am clear


Thanks & Regards
Sridhar

[davorg]

In that case, your best approach is probably to pick one of the existing config file parsing modules and adjust your config file to match that syntax.

[holli]

Boy, do you ever read your own posts? If so, I wonder why you don't realize that </br> tags do absolutely nothing. Make that <br />, please.

[Trix606]

Also take a look at Config::Tiny it should do what you require.

[BerntB]

I also have good experiences with Config::Tiny.

The only problem is that I can't get it to set a property to multiple lines of text without patching the code. Am I doing something wrong?

[Trix606]

In that case use something more powerful like Config::Simple, it allows for multiple lines.

[rblasch]

I once had a similar problem. The properties file was used by a Java program, in java.util.Properties format. I used Config::Properties, which worked nicely for me.

I also couldn't install modules on the machine, so I distributed the module with the script, by putting Properties.pm into a subdirectory lib/Config and told the script to use lib 'lib';. See lib. If your current directory isn't the directory that contains the script have a look at FindBin.

Hope that helps a bit.

[mantra2006]

Hello Monks
I didn't permissons to download CPAN modules..so I came up with the following code
suggest me if anything is wrong


$config = "C:\\Testing\\file.ini";
# check if file exists and can be read
-r $config || die "$config does not exists or is not readable";
open(IN, $config) || die "Cannot open $config for reading: $!";
sub readFile
{
    my $key = "";
    my $value = "";
    # initialize rule storage
    my $source_dir = "";
    my $target_dir = "";
    my @pattern; 
 
    while(<IN>)  # read a line from line into $_
    {
        $line = $_;
        if ( /^(\s*|\;.*|\#.*)$/i )
        {
            # empty line or comment
        }
        elsif ( ($key, $value) = /^\$([A-Z_]+)\=(.+)/ )
        {
            #significant line: $key=$value
            $value = evalValue($value);
            #$key = lc($key);
 
             # look for file attributes
             $source_dir=$value if( $key eq "SOURCE_DIR" );
             $target_dir=$value if ( $key eq "TARGET_DIR" );
             @pattern=$value if ( $key eq "PATTERN" );
        }
    }
}

sub evalValue
{
    my $value = $_[0];
    my $key = "";
    my $result = "";
    my $rest = "";

    $_ = $value;
    $rest = $value;

    while( ($key) = /\$([A-Z_]\w*)/)
    {
        $key_val{$key} || die "Undefined key: $key $!";
        $result = $result . $` . $key_val{$key};
        $_ = $';
        $rest = $';
    }
    $result = $result . $rest;
    return $result;
}

This way I can read all the values and then process accordingly

Thanks again for suggestions

Sridhar

[duff]

You can't download a module, but you can write your own code? I'm having a hard time with this concept. At the very least you can download the module and include its source code within your program. Or you could install the module in your "disk area" and use it from there. If anyone asks, we'll tell them that you wrote it. :-)