ch19.008_prob_ex19.6

Perl Best Practices the source code

##############################################################################
## Example 19.6 (NOT RECOMMENDED) from Chapter 19 of "Perl Best Practices"  ##
##     Copyright (c) O'Reilly & Associates, 2005. All Rights Reserved.      ##
##  See: http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/ask_tim/2001/codepolicy.html  ##
##############################################################################


#  Example 19-6. Building a report with format


# Standard modules...
use strict;
use warnings;
use IO::Prompt;
use Carp;
use English qw( -no_match_vars );
use Data::Alias;
use Readonly;


# Predeclare report format with the necessary package variables...
our ($name, $ID, $age, $comments);
 
format CONTACT =
 ==================================
| NAME           | AGE | ID NUMBER |
|----------------+-----+-----------|
| ^<<<<<<<<<<<<< | ^|| | ^>>>>>>>> |~~
  $name,           $age, $ID,
|==================================|
| COMMENTS                         |
|----------------------------------|
| ^<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< |~~
  $comments,
 ==================================
.
 
# and later...

my $search_string;
 
# Grab contact information...
($ID, $name, $age, my $comments_ref) = get_contact($search_string);
 
# Massage comments into a single string...
$comments = join "\n", @{$comments_ref};
 
# Open output stream to STDOUT and write formatted data...
open *CONTACT, q{>-} or croak $!;
write *CONTACT;


sub get_contact {
    return (
        869942,
        'Damian M. Conway',
        40,
        [
            'Do not feed after midnight.',
            'Do not mix with quantum physics.',
            'Do not allow subject to talk for "as long as he likes".',
        ],
    );
}