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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "Config::File 3pm"
.TH Config::File 3pm "2022-10-16" "perl v5.34.0" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
.if n .ad l
.nh
.SH "NAME"
Config::File \- Parse a simple configuration file
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
use Config::File;
.PP
my \f(CW$config_hash\fR = Config::File::read_config_file($configuration_file);
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
\&\f(CW\*(C`read_config_file\*(C'\fR parses a simple configuration file and stores its
values in an anonymous hash reference. The syntax of the configuration
file is as follows:
.PP
.Vb 4
\&    # This is a comment
\&    VALUE_ONE = foo
\&    VALUE_TWO = $VALUE_ONE/bar
\&    VALUE_THREE = The value contains a \e# (hash). # This is a comment.
.Ve
.PP
Options can be clustered when creating groups:
.PP
.Vb 4
\&    CLUSTER_ONE[data] = data cluster one
\&    CLUSTER_ONE[value] = value cluster one
\&    CLUSTER_TWO[data] = data cluster two
\&    CLUSTER_TWO[value] = value cluster two
.Ve
.PP
Then values can be fetched using this syntax:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    $hash_config\->{CLUSTER_ONE}{data};
.Ve
.PP
There can be as many sub-options in a cluster as needed.
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    BIG_CLUSTER[part1][part2][part3] = data
.Ve
.PP
is fetched by:
    \f(CW$hash_config\fR\->{\s-1BIG_CLUSTER\s0}{part1}{part2}{part3};
.PP
There are a couple of restrictions as for the names of the keys. First of all,
all the characters should be alphabetic, numeric, underscores or hyphens, with
square brackets allowed for the clustering. That is, the keys should conform
to /^[A\-Za\-z0\-9_\-]+$/
.PP
This means also that no space is allowed in the key part of the line.
.PP
.Vb 2
\&    CLUSTER_ONE[data] = data cluster one      # Right
\&    CLUSTER_ONE[ data ] = data cluster one    # Wrong
.Ve
.ie n .SH "Function ""read_config_file"""
.el .SH "Function \f(CWread_config_file\fP"
.IX Header "Function read_config_file"
.SS "Syntax"
.IX Subsection "Syntax"
.Vb 1
\&    Config::File::read_config_file($file);
.Ve
.SS "Arguments"
.IX Subsection "Arguments"
\&\f(CW$file\fR is the configuration file.
.SS "Return value"
.IX Subsection "Return value"
This function returns a hash reference. Each key of the hash is a
value defined in the configuration file.
.SS "Description"
.IX Subsection "Description"
\&\f(CW\*(C`read_config_file\*(C'\fR parses a configuration file a sets up some values 
in a hash reference.
.SH "NOTES"
.IX Header "NOTES"
.SS "Function not exported by default"
.IX Subsection "Function not exported by default"
In versions up to 1.0, the function read_config_file was exported to the
calling program's namespace \- Starting in version 1.1, nothing is exported
by default. You can either fully qualify read_config_file or explicitly
import it into your namespace:
.IP "Fully qualifying read_config_file" 4
.IX Item "Fully qualifying read_config_file"
.Vb 1
\&  use Config::File;
\&
\&  my $config_hash = Config::File::read_config_file($configuration_file);
.Ve
.IP "Explicitly importing read_config_file" 4
.IX Item "Explicitly importing read_config_file"
.Vb 1
\&  use Config::File qw(read_config_file);
\&
\&  my $config_hash = read_config_file($configuration_file);
.Ve
.SS "Migrated away from ConfigFile into Config::File"
.IX Subsection "Migrated away from ConfigFile into Config::File"
As of version 1.4, in order to include this module in the \s-1CPAN, I\s0 decided to
move away from the highly unstandard name of ConfigFile and rename the module
to Config::File. A small redirecting module is put in place, so current code
using this module does not break, but the ConfigFile namespace usage is
deprecated (and will thus issue a warning). Please update your code!
.SH "AUTHOR"
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
Development was started by Sebastien J. Gross <seb@sjgross.org>. Maintained by
Gunnar Wolf <gwolf@gwolf.org> until 2018 when Stockholm University (Johan
Wassberg and Mikael Nordin) took over maintainance.
.PP
All rights reserved.  This program is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the terms of the \s-1GPL.\s0
.SH "VERSION"
.IX Header "VERSION"
Version 1.54
Copyright (c) 2002 Sebastien J. Gross. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2003\-2018 Gunnar Wolf. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2018\- Stockholm University. All rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the \s-1GPL\s0 v2 (or later, at your choice).