how can i load the files and search for match?

rianne809 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi good day to all. I have created a module which will load a list of addresses and help users to search for the name they wanted to search. I just cant load the list so the search returns nothing. here is my module, please help, thanks a many.

package Load;

#use strict;
use warnings;
use vars qw ($VERSION @ARRAY_LIST @SEARCH_STRING);
our $VERSION=0.10;
our @ARRAY_LIST=();
our @SEARCH_STRING=();

sub new {
    my ($class) = @_;
    my $self = {
        _listNames => undef,
        _search => undef
    };
    bless $self,$class;
    return $self;
}

sub listNames {
    my ($self,$listNames) = @_;
    $self->{_listNames}= $listNames if defined ($listNames);
    open(LIST,"$listNames") || die "Error::Cannot load names!!!\n";
    #my $buff="./data/buffed.dat";
    #open(BUFF,">$buff") || die "Error::Cannot load buffer file!!!\n";
    while(<LIST>) {
        chomp($_);
        push (@ARRAY_LIST,$_);
    }
}

sub search {
    my ($self,$search) = @_;
    $self->{_search}=$search if defined ($search);
    our @SEARCH_STRING=grep(/$search/,@ARRAY_LIST);
}

sub display {
    my    ($self) = @_;
    print "\n\nSearching directory ...\n\n";
    sleep 2;
    print "Search Results:\n";
    print "=======================================\n\n";
    foreach $files (@SEARCH_STRING){
    print "$files\n";
}
}

1;
[download]

And here is my perl script:

#! /usr/perl/bin/perl

use lib qw(./modules);
use warnings;
use Load;

$list="./data/list.txt";
$dir=Load->new();
$dir=Load->listNames($list);
$counter=0;
print "=============================================\n";  
print "==           D I R E C T O R Y             ==\n";  
print "=============================================\n\n";
sleep 1;
### Search Loop
until($counter==1){
print "Please enter name to be searched:\n\n";
chomp($string=<STDIN>);
sleep 2;
$dir=Load->search($string);
$dir=Load->display();
sleep 2;
print "Would you like to search another?[y/n]\n\n";
chomp($ans=<STDIN>);
if ($ans=~/^[yY]/){
    print "\n";
    next;
}
elsif ($ans=~/^[Nn]/){
    print "\nClosing directory ...\n\n";
    sleep 2;
    $counter++;
}
else {
    $counter++;
}
}
[download]

Edit: g0n - moved text out of code tags

Comment on how can i load the files and search for match? Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: how can i load the files and search for match? by Zaxo (Archbishop) on Oct 12, 2005 at 12:50 UTC
You don't say whether you get any error messages. I'll take the free guess and assert that the data file isn't being found. You have a hard-coded relative path, meaning the program can only be run from one particular directory. If you have a single data file in a known location, use an absolute path. If you want to be able to select a data file, accept the name from the command line. A design note: you should consider the effect of storing the namelist in a global array. Should `new` take the file name in the constructor, keeping the name list as instance data? Added: Also, the commented-out open to write suggests that you may have clobbered your name file. After Compline, Zaxo	[reply]
Re: how can i load the files and search for match? by davidrw (Prior) on Oct 12, 2005 at 13:11 UTC
First thing i see is this: `package Load; #use strict;` [download] Which probably means there was some warning and it "went away" with strict commented out... First, remove that, and we get: `Global symbol "$files" requires explicit package name at Load.pm line +44. Global symbol "$files" requires explicit package name at Load.pm line +45.` [download] To fix that, make it read `foreach my $files (@SEARCH_STRING){` in the `display()` method. Next error is this, which is the root cause of your problem: `Can't use string ("Load") as a HASH ref while "strict refs" in use at +Load.pm line 22.` [download] Line 22 is in `listNames()` and is: `$self->{_listNames}= $listNames if defined ($listNames);` [download] The calling code is: `$dir=Load->new(); $dir=Load->listNames($list);` [download] That needs to be something along the lines of: `my $load = Load->new(); my $dir = $load->listNames($list);` [download] Since listNames() accesses values of the object (blessed hashref), you can only invoke it on an object, and not directly on the class name. You should similarily modifiy the `->search()` and `->display` calls as well. Also, be _sure_ to add `use strict;` in your program file as well...	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: how can i load the files and search for match? by rianne809 (Novice) on Oct 13, 2005 at 18:03 UTC
Hi I already changed the script to this : #! /usr/perl/bin/perl use lib qw(./modules); use warnings; use strict; use Load; my $list="./data/list.txt"; my $dir=Load->new(); $dir->listNames($list); my $counter=0; print "=============================================\n"; print "== D I R E C T O R Y ==\n"; print "=============================================\n\n"; sleep 1; ### Search Loop until($counter==1){ print "Please enter name to be searched:\n\n"; chomp(my $string=<STDIN>); sleep 2; $dir->search($string); $dir->display(); sleep 2; print "Would you like to search another?[y/n]\n\n"; chomp(my $ans=<STDIN>); if ($ans=~/^[yY]/){ print "\n"; next; } elsif ($ans=~/^[Nn]/){ print "\nClosing directory ...\n\n"; sleep 2; $counter++; } else { $counter++; } } [download] but still no returned search result. Please help, thanks. Edit: g0n - moved node text out of code tags	[reply] [d/l]