#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my %values;

# Pretend we have an input file w/values
while (<DATA>) {
   last if /TEMPLATE/;   # needed here to separate demo data
   my ($key, $val) = split;
   $values{$key} = $val;
}

# Pretend we have an input file w/template
my $template = join '', <DATA>;

# Process the fields
for my $key (keys %values) {
   $template =~ s/%$key%/$values{$key}/g;
}

# Show result
print $template;

__DATA__
name Roadrunner
job running
TEMPLATE
Hello Mr. %name%.
We hope you are good at %job%.
[download]

For a more elegant approach to the substitution, replace entire process fields "for" loop with this: $template =~ s/%(\w+)%/$values{$1}/g;

If you are going to get serious about this, I suggest you look into one of the template modules.

------------------------------------------------------------
"Perl is a mess and that's good because the
problem space is also a mess." - Larry Wall

Well, almost any time you want to use soft references ($$var_name), you'll find that a hash does the trick. Beyond that, it's tough to give you an answer. Can you answer the following?

• What are you using for a template system?
• How are you passing the data to the template?
• Could you show us snippets to illustrate each of the above responses?

If you show us that, we can probably provide better answers.

Cheers,
Ovid

Join the Perlmonks Setiathome Group or just click on the the link and check out our stats.

use Template;
Template->new({
  START_TAG => '%', END_TAG => '%',
})->process(\*DATA, { <<'END_DATA' =~ /^(\S+)\s+(.*)/gm });
from    Randal
to      Loki
subject template processing
END_DATA
__END__
Here is one way from %from% to %to% to accomplish %subject%.
[download]

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

-Blake

//extract all varriable names from template file and save names to arr
+ay.
$clean_vars = gleen_vars();

//extract outgoing mail format from template file.
$fd = fopen ($template, "r") or die("Could not open template file");
 $mail_out = fread ($fd, filesize($template));
fclose ($fd);

//replace varribles in template with varriables from input.
$i="0";
$replaced_var = "$$clean_vars";
echo $replaced_var[2][2];
while($clean_vars[2][$i]){
  str_replace("%$clean_vars[$i]%","$replaced_var[2][$i]",$mail_out);
  echo $clean_vars[2][$i];
  echo $replaced_var[2][$i];
  echo "<br><br>";
  $i++;
}
echo $replaced_var[2][2];
echo $mail_out;
break;

//seperate out the header information and create varriables to, and fr
+om.
list($header,$mail_out) = preg_split("%Begin Email%",$mail_out,2);
list($to,$from) = preg_split("/[\n]+/",$header);
list($crap,$to)=split(":",$to);
list($crap,$from)=split(":",$from);

//output to mailer deamon
sndmail($to,$from,$title,$mail_out);
logdata($to,$from,$title,1);

/*********************************************************************
+***********************/
/*                                                                    
+                      */
/* gleen_vars function: reads and puts incomming arrays (from template
+ file) into an array  */
/*                                                                    
+                      */
/*********************************************************************
+***********************/
function gleen_vars() {
    $template = "template.php";
    $fd = fopen ("$template", "r") or die("Could not open template fil
+e");
      $contents = fread ($fd, filesize($template));
    fclose ($fd);
    if(preg_match_all ("/(%) ([_0-9a-zA-Z]*) (%)/x", "$contents", $pre
+_vars, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER)){
      return($pre_vars);
    }else{
      error("No varriables defined in the template script: $template")
+;
      return(0);
    }
}
[download]