'Looping' through a variable

ab1447 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have returned a .csv like file using WWW::Mechanize.

use warnings;
use strict;
use WWW::Mechanize;
use DBI;

# Assign url strings;
my $first_url = 'http://www.ots.treas.gov/holdsq/hold.cfm?catNumber=61
+&firstview=1';


# Fetch the page
$mech->get($first_url);

# Submit the SelectMenu form blankly
$mech->submit_form( form_name => 'SelectMenu',
            fields => {
                   CATNUMBER => '61',
                   docket => '',
                   hcno => '',
                   hcn1 => '',
                   hrg => '',
                   state => '',
                   zip => '',
                   ptt => '',
                   status => '',
                   bank => '',
                   date_from => '',
                   date_to => '',
                   eff_from => '',
                   eff_to => ''
                  } );

# Now $mech has the returned page.  Will submit the form to get the cs
+v file
$mech->submit_form ( form_name => 'getCSV',
             fields => {
                   CATNUMBER => '61',
                   DOCKET => '',
                   HCNO => '',
                   HCN1 => '',
                   HRG => '',
                   STATE => '',
                   ZIP => '',
                   PTT => '',
                   STATUS => '',
                   BANK => '',
                   DATE_FROM => '',
                   DATE_TO => '',
                   EFF_FROM => '',
                   EFF_TO => ''
                  } );

# Now $mech has a reference to all the thrift holding companies
# In .csv format.  
my $content = $mech->content;
[download]

I would like to go through $content line by line, but I don't know where to start. Any help would be great.

Comment on 'Looping' through a variable Download Code

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Re: 'Looping' through a variable by ikegami (Patriarch) on Aug 30, 2007 at 22:06 UTC
Since Perl 5.8, scalars can be used as file buffers. This is useful if your CSV modules requires a file handle. (I used Text::CSV which does not.) `use Text::CSV qw( ); my $content = ...; my $csv = Text::CSV->new(); open my $csv_fh, '<', \$content; while (<$csv_fh>) { my $status = $csv->parse($_) or die; my @fields = $csv->fields(); ... }` [download] If you don't require a file handle, it's simple to extract lines yourself. `use Text::CSV qw( ); my $content = ...; my $csv = Text::CSV->new(); while (length($content)) { my ($line) = $content =~ s/^([^\r\n])\r?\n?//; my $status = $csv->parse($line) or die; my @fields = $csv->fields(); ... }` [download] Update*: Added second snippet. Allowed for `\r\n`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.

Re: 'Looping' through a variable
by ikegami (Patriarch) on Aug 30, 2007 at 22:06 UTC

Since Perl 5.8, scalars can be used as file buffers. This is useful if your CSV modules requires a file handle. (I used Text::CSV which does not.)

use Text::CSV qw( );

my $content = ...;

my $csv = Text::CSV->new();
open my $csv_fh, '<', \$content;
while (<$csv_fh>) {
   my $status = $csv->parse($_)
      or die;
   my @fields = $csv->fields();
   ...
}
[download]

If you don't require a file handle, it's simple to extract lines yourself.

use Text::CSV qw( );

my $content = ...;

my $csv = Text::CSV->new();
while (length($content)) {
   my ($line) = $content =~ s/^([^\r\n]*)\r?\n?//;
   my $status = $csv->parse($line)
      or die;
   my @fields = $csv->fields();
   ...
}
[download]

Update: Added second snippet. Allowed for \r\n.

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]