FileHandle(3pm)

NAME
FileHandle - supply object methods for filehandles

SYNOPSIS
    use FileHandle;

    $fh = new FileHandle;
    if ($fh->open("< file")) {
        print <$fh>;
        $fh->close;
    }

    $fh = new FileHandle "> FOO";
    if (defined $fh) {
        print $fh "bar\n";
        $fh->close;
    }

    $fh = new FileHandle "file", "r";
    if (defined $fh) {
        print <$fh>;
        undef $fh;       # automatically closes the file
    }

    $fh = new FileHandle "file", O_WRONLY|O_APPEND;
    if (defined $fh) {
        print $fh "corge\n";
        undef $fh;       # automatically closes the file
    }

    $pos = $fh->getpos;
    $fh->setpos($pos);

    $fh->setvbuf($buffer_var, _IOLBF, 1024);

    ($readfh, $writefh) = FileHandle::pipe;

    autoflush STDOUT 1;

DESCRIPTION
NOTE: This class is now a front-end to the IO::* classes.

"FileHandle::new" creates a "FileHandle", which is a reference to a newly created symbol (see the "Symbol" package). If it receives any parameters, they are passed to "FileHandle::open"; if the open fails, the "FileHandle" object is destroyed. Otherwise, it is returned to the caller.

"FileHandle::new_from_fd" creates a "FileHandle" like "new" does. It requires two parameters, which are passed to "FileHandle::fdopen"; if the fdopen fails, the "FileHandle" object is destroyed. Otherwise, it is returned to the caller.

"FileHandle::open" accepts one parameter or two. With one parameter, it is just a front end for the built-in "open" function. With two parameters, the first parameter is a filename that may include whitespace or other special characters, and the second parameter is the open mode, optionally followed by a file permission value.

If "FileHandle::open" receives a Perl mode string (">", "+<", etc.) or a POSIX fopen() mode string ("w", "r+", etc.), it uses the basic Perl "open" operator.

If "FileHandle::open" is given a numeric mode, it passes that mode and the optional permissions value to the Perl "sysopen" operator. For convenience, "FileHandle::import" tries to import the O_XXX constants from the Fcntl module. If dynamic loading is not available, this may fail, but the rest of FileHandle will still work.

"FileHandle::fdopen" is like "open" except that its first parameter is not a filename but rather a file handle name, a FileHandle object, or a file descriptor number.

If the C functions fgetpos() and fsetpos() are available, then "FileHandle::getpos" returns an opaque value that represents the current position of the FileHandle, and "FileHandle::setpos" uses that value to return to a previously visited position.

If the C function setvbuf() is available, then "FileHandle::setvbuf" sets the buffering policy for the FileHandle. The calling sequence for the Perl function is the same as its C counterpart, including the macros "_IOFBF", "_IOLBF", and "_IONBF", except that the buffer parameter specifies a scalar variable to use as a buffer. WARNING: A variable used as a buffer by "FileHandle::setvbuf" must not be modified in any way until the FileHandle is closed or until "FileHandle::setvbuf" is called again, or memory corruption may result!

See perlfunc for complete descriptions of each of the following supported "FileHandle" methods, which are just front ends for the corresponding built-in functions:

    close
    fileno
    getc
    gets
    eof
    clearerr
    seek
    tell

See perlvar for complete descriptions of each of the following supported "FileHandle" methods:

    autoflush
    output_field_separator
    output_record_separator
    input_record_separator
    input_line_number
    format_page_number
    format_lines_per_page
    format_lines_left
    format_name
    format_top_name
    format_line_break_characters
    format_formfeed

Furthermore, for doing normal I/O you might need these:

$fh->print
    See "print" in perlfunc.

$fh->printf
    See "printf" in perlfunc.

$fh->getline
    This works like <$fh> described in "I/O Operators" in perlop except that it's more readable and can be safely called in a list context but still returns just one line.

$fh->getlines
    This works like <$fh> when called in a list context to read all the remaining lines in a file, except that it's more readable. It will also croak() if accidentally called in a scalar context.

There are many other functions available since FileHandle is descended from IO::File, IO::Seekable, and IO::Handle. Please see those respective pages for documentation on more functions.

SEE ALSO
The IO extension, perlfunc, "I/O Operators" in perlop.