writing to a variable

astroboy has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
•Re: writing to a variable by merlyn (Sage) on Oct 20, 2003 at 15:37 UTC
See IO::String, or use the "open a scalar-ref" in recent versions of Perl. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply]
bull;Re: writing to a variable by Anonymous Monk on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:51 UTC
Thanks all for your replies. Unfortunately we're using Perl 5.6, Win32. We can't go to 5.8, as some of the libraries don't exist for that version. Likewise, IO::Scalar isn't available as a ppm package. However, I have tried using IO::String - and I'm obviously missing something. I'm a newbie, so apologies in advance for whatever is wrong with my code: `use IO::String; use strict; my $output; tie *IO, IO::String->new($output); my $col1 = "first"; my $col2 = "second"; write (IO); print $output; format IO = =============== ==================== @<<<<<<<<<<<<<: @<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< $col1, $col2` [download] I was hoping that printing $output would give me the report. Any advice appreciated	[reply] [d/l]
Re: writing to a variable by jdporter (Paladin) on Oct 20, 2003 at 15:39 UTC
Of course! Read up on the built-in function formline. Formats use this function internally, but you can call it yourself too. jdporter The 6th Rule of Perl Club is -- There is no Rule #6.	[reply]
Re: writing to a variable by jeffa (Bishop) on Oct 20, 2003 at 15:37 UTC
You can always redirect STDOUT to a variable, i recently wrote some code over at 3Re: Tests for 'printing' code that used IO::Scalar to do just that. But, simply using sprintf instead might be a better solution. jeffa L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L-- -R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B-- H---H---H---H---H---H--- (the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)	[reply]
Re: writing to a variable by rinceWind (Monsignor) on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:41 UTC
If you are writing new code, you ought to consider abandoning "format" and "write", which will be deprecated in Perl 6, in favour of TheDamian's Text::Reform. See also this thread -- I'm Not Just Another Perl Hacker	[reply]
Re: writing to a variable by davido (Cardinal) on Oct 20, 2003 at 17:44 UTC
To illustrate the "open to a scalar ref" method..... According to `perldoc -f`open, "File handles can be opened to 'in memory' files held in Perl scalars..." `open( $fh, '>', \$variable ) or ....` [download] I've tinkered with this construct both with the '>' and '>>' style of open. You have to be sure to close the filehandle before you access the variable directly again, or you get into race-condition problems. I realize that you said you can't use Perl version 5.8.0. And AFAIK this is a new 5.8.0 feature. But I mention it hopefully for the benefit of someone. Dave "If I had my life to do over again, I'd be a plumber." -- Albert Einstein	[reply] [d/l] [select]