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

Hi all, The following code works fine when dealing with a single file, but having troubles with mulitple files. Essentially, takes each file found, replaces the first few columns of this file with a set of columns form another file called replace. The main i think is the way i am printing to an output file, it might be better to overwrite the file in question. Any suggestions? 
@files = File::Find::Rule->file
                         ->name('complex.*')
                         ->in ("/home");

$new = 'replace';
open (REPLACE, "<$new");

while (<REPLACE>) {

push @new, $_ =~ m/^(\S+\s+\S+\s+\S+)/;
             }
close (REPLACE);


foreach $file (@files) {

open (FH, "<$file");

open (OUT, ">output");

while (<FH>) {

$_ =~ s/^\S+\s+\S+\s+\S+/$new[$i++] /;

print OUT $_;
$count++;
rename "NEWNAMES", "NEWNAMES$count";
}
close(FH);
}

[download]

20040928 Edit by Steve_p: Changed title from 'File::Find'

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Replacing text in multiple files using File::Find
by si_lence (Deacon) on Sep 28, 2004 at 13:38 UTC
    I don't think your problem lies with File::Find.
    In the while(<FH>) loop you rename your (open) outfile for each line you're reading.

    My guess would be you want something like this:
    use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Find::Rule;

my @files = File::Find::Rule->file
                         ->name('complex.*')
                         ->in ("/home");
my $new = 'replace';
open (REPLACE, "< $new") || die "could not open $new: $!"; ;

my @new;
while (<REPLACE>) {
    push @new, $_ =~ m/^(\S+\s+\S+\s+\S+)/;
}
close (REPLACE);

my $count=0;
foreach my $file (@files) {
    open (FH, "< $file") || die "could not open $file for input: $!";;
    open (OUT, "> output") || die "could not open 'output' for output:
+ $!";;
    my $i=0;
    while (<FH>) {
        $_ =~ s/^\S+\s+\S+\s+\S+/$new[$i++] /;
        print OUT $_;
    }
    close(FH) || die "could not close FH: $!"; ;
    close(OUT)|| die "could not close OUT: $!"; 
    $count++;
    rename "output", "output$count";
}

    [download]

    Also make it a habit to run under strict and warnings and test your open calls.
    (I spent too much time myself wondering what happened when "use warnings" would
    have told me right away ;-)
    si_lence
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Replacing text in multiple files using File::Find
by fjaenale (Acolyte) on Sep 28, 2004 at 14:44 UTC
    Hello:

    On the line where you defined the handle for the output file open (OUT, ">output"); you have to use >> intead of > because you are creating a new output file each time you have to iterate the foreach.

    Resuming the code should be: open (OUT, ">>output");.

    Francisco Jaen

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
Re: Replacing text in multiple files using File::Find
by Anonymous Monk on Sep 28, 2004 at 12:48 UTC
    sorry, NEWNAMES should read output
[reply]

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