#!/usr/bin/perl

use Pod::Text;

&pods unless $name = shift;

print "Greetings, $name.  I'm quite pleased to meet you.\n";

# I use the following little 6-line snippet in almost every script 
# I write for public consumption. It allows me to use embedded 
# POD documentation for the script as its usage statement, 
# saving me the trouble of maintaining separate documentation 
# and usage statements and allowing me to easily create HTML, 
# LaTeX, PDF, or whatever kind of documentation for the script 
# that I like.

# It's so trivial, it almost seems silly to post it; however, 
# I've found it to be quite useful.

sub pods {

        my $message = shift;
        print "\n$message\n\n" if $message;
        open(POD,$0) || die "Cannot print help text for $0:  $!";
        Pod::Text->new()->parse_from_filehandle(\*POD);
        close POD;
        exit;

} # end sub pods

__END__

=head1 DESCRIPTION

  hello.pl - A Perl script to print a greeting

=head1 USAGE

  ./hello.pl name

where C<name> is your name.

=cut