NAME¶
Text::BibTeX::File - interface to whole BibTeX files
SYNOPSIS¶
use Text::BibTeX; # this loads Text::BibTeX::File
$bib = new Text::BibTeX::File "foo.bib" or die "foo.bib: $!\n";
# or:
$bib = new Text::BibTeX::File;
$bib->open ("foo.bib") || die "foo.bib: $!\n";
$bib->set_structure ($structure_name,
$option1 => $value1, ...);
$at_eof = $bib->eof;
$bib->close;
DESCRIPTION¶
"Text::BibTeX::File" provides an object-oriented interface to BibTeX
files. Its most obvious purpose is to keep track of a filename and filehandle
together for use by the "Text::BibTeX::Entry" module (which is much
more interesting). In addition, it allows you to specify certain options which
are applicable to a whole database (file), rather than having to specify them
for each entry in the file. Currently, you can specify the
database
structure and some
structure options. These concepts are fully
documented in Text::BibTeX::Structure.
METHODS¶
Object creation, file operations¶
- new ([FILENAME [,MODE [,PERMS]]])
- Creates a new "Text::BibTeX::File" object. If FILENAME is
supplied, passes it to the "open" method (along with MODE and
PERMS if they are supplied). If the "open" fails,
"new" fails and returns false; if the "open" succeeds
(or if FILENAME isn't supplied), "new" returns the new object
reference.
- open (FILENAME [,MODE [,PERMS]])
- Opens the file specified by FILENAME, possibly using MODE and PERMS. See
IO::File for full semantics; this "open" is just a front end for
"IO::File::open".
- close ()
- Closes the filehandle associated with the object. If there is no such
filehandle (i.e., "open" was never called on the object), does
nothing.
- eof ()
- Returns the end-of-file state of the filehandle associated with the
object: a true value means we are at the end of the file.
Object properties¶
- set_structure (STRUCTURE [, OPTION => VALUE, ...])
- Sets the database structure for a BibTeX file. At the simplest level, this
means that entries from the file are expected to conform to certain field
requirements as specified by the structure module. It also gives
you full access to the methods of the particular structured
entry class for this structure, allowing you to perform operations
specific to this kind of database. See "CLASS INTERACTIONS" in
Text::BibTeX::Structure for all the consequences of setting the database
structure for a "Text::BibTeX::File" object.
- structure ()
- Returns the name of the database structure associated with the object (as
set by "set_structure").
- preserve_values ([PRESERVE])
- Sets the "preserve values" flag, to control all future parsing
of entries from this file. If PRESERVE isn't supplied, returns the current
state of the flag. See Text::BibTeX::Value for details on parsing in
"value preservation" mode.
SEE ALSO¶
Text::BibTeX, Text::BibTeX::Entry, Text::BibTeX::Structure
AUTHOR¶
Greg Ward <gward@python.net>
COPYRIGHT¶
Copyright (c) 1997-2000 by Gregory P. Ward. All rights reserved. This file is
part of the Text::BibTeX library. This library is free software; you may
redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.