#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use 5.004;
use strict;
use Getopt::Std;



srand($$ ^ time);

# get the options:
my %opts;
usage() unless (getopts('t:i:o:h', \%opts));
usage() if ($opts{'h'} || !$opts{'t'});

# the opening and closing tags we'll insert into the text:
my $opening_tag = "<$opts{'t'}>";
my $closing_tag = "</$opts{'t'}>";

# open the input file for reading, or, if no file was specified, get s
+ome text
# from the console:
my $text_from_console;
if ($opts{'i'})
{
    open(INFILE, "< $opts{'i'}")
        || die "Couldn't open file ($opts{'i'}) to read text: $!";
}
else
{
    print "Enter some text: ";
    $text_from_console = <STDIN>;
}

# now randomly insert the specified HTML tag into the text:
my $tagged_text = '';
my $unclosed_tag = 0;
while (my $line = $opts{'i'} ? <INFILE> : $text_from_console)
{
    my $char;
    while (length($char = substr($line, 0, 1, '')))
    {
        if ($char !~ /\s/ # skip spaces.
            and int rand 2) # 0 or 1.
        {
            # add the opening tag unless the previous character is
            # within a tag that has yet to be closed:
            $tagged_text .= $opening_tag unless ($unclosed_tag);

            $tagged_text .= $char;

            $unclosed_tag = 1;
        }
        else
        {
            # Either this is a space or a non-space character that
            # was rejected by rand(). Regardless, close the last tag
            # if it's still open:
            if ($unclosed_tag)
            {
                $tagged_text .= $closing_tag;
                $unclosed_tag = 0;
            }

            $tagged_text .= $char;
        }
    }

    # break if we got text from the console instead of from a file, si
+nce
    # there's nothing left:
    last unless ($opts{'i'});
}

close INFILE if ($opts{'i'});



if (my $output_file = $opts{'o'} || $opts{'i'})
{
    # print the text with tags inserted into it to a file:
    open(OUTFILE, "> $output_file")
        || die "Couldn't file ($output_file) to save text: $!";
    print OUTFILE $tagged_text;
    close OUTFILE;

    print "Saved text to $output_file.\n";
}
else
{
    print "\n$tagged_text";
}





sub usage
{
    print <<'END_OF_USAGE';
This script randomly inserts a specified HTML tag into some text.

Usage:
 $ taginserter [FLAGS | OPTIONS...]

Options:
    -t   The name of the tag you want inserted (e.g., "b" for <b> (bol
+d),
         "i" for <i> (italic), etc.).
    -i   (Optional.) The file which taginserter will read the text you
+ want
         tags inserted into from. If this isn't supplied, then you'll 
+be
         prompted to enter some text.
    -o   (Optional.) The file where you want the text outputted to aft
+er
         the tags have been inserted. If you don't supply this, then t
+he
         filename you supplied to the -i option will be used instead. 
+If
         you didn't supply a filename to -i, then the text will be pri
+nted
         out to the console.
Flags:
    -h   Displays this message.
END_OF_USAGE
    exit;
}
[download]

For example, running the PM copyright notice through the script with -t set to "b" converts this:

This page brought to you by the kind folks at The Everything Development Company and maintained by Tim Vroom. Perl Monks somehow became entangled with Yet Another Society. Beefy Boxes and Bandwidth Generously Provided by pair Networks

to this:

This page brought to you by the kind folks at The Everything Development Company and maintained by Tim Vroom. Perl Monks somehow became entangled with Yet Another Society. Beefy Boxes and Bandwidth Generously Provided by pair Networks