Perl Script to write a perl script

electroman00 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi all..... Trying to write a perl script that will write a perl script while only substuting some of the vars. ===== Here's my test prog test.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl 

# External Modules
#use strict;
#use warnings;

use Cwd;
system "clear";

$cwdir = cwd;
$APPNAME="AnyName"; # << "AnyName" must substitute in prog_file below.

#require "$cwdir/prog_file";
    
open(PROGFILE, "<$cwdir/prog_file"); # open for input

#my(@lines) = <PROGFILE>; # read file into list

@lines = <PROGFILE>; # read file into list

#my($line);

foreach $line (@lines) # loop thru list
 {
 print "$line"; 
 }
 
close(PROGFILE);
[download]

===== Here's the file prog_file

#!/usr/bin/perl 
# Sample Program

\$APPNAME="AnyName";

print "This is the var \$APPNAME and this is what needs to get substit
+uted $APPNAME\n";
[download]

The output needs to be the prog_file with only the second $APPNAME in the print line substituted by the var in the test.pl So the output looks like this....

#!/usr/bin/perl 
# Sample Program


print "This is the var $APPNAME and this is what needs to get substitu
+ted AnyName\n";
[download]

It somewhat works but not exactly, seems to be a catch 22 built in here. Thanks for any and all help in advance...

Comment on Perl Script to write a perl script Select or Download Code

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Re: Perl Script to write a perl script by almut (Canon) on Dec 02, 2009 at 20:30 UTC
One way would be to read the file into a string, put qq (with a delimiter that doesn't occur in the file) around it, and eval it `$APPNAME = "AnyName"; open my $fh, "<", "prog_file" or die $!; my $lines; { local $/ = undef; $lines = <$fh>; } print eval "qq\|$lines\|";` [download] Another way would be to put `$lines = qq\| ... \|;` around the entire content of the file (in the file itself), and then use do `$APPNAME = "AnyName"; do "prog_file"; print $lines;` [download] A third way would be to use regex substitution to replace strings like `$APPNAME` in the lines, but only if unescaped... But maybe what you're really looking for is a templating system, like Text::Template, the Template Toolkit, etc...	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Perl Script to write a perl script by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on Dec 03, 2009 at 03:12 UTC
electroman00, Everyone has suggested using some form of templating and I agree. I also know that sometimes learning method X when what I want to do is Y can be frustrating. Here is an example using HTML::Template - When should I use a dispatch table?. It isn't particularly good but it shows how easy it is and was one I remembered off the top of my head. Don't get frustrated, take things 1 step at a time. Cheers - L~R	[reply]
Re^2: Perl Script to write a perl script by electroman00 (Novice) on Dec 03, 2009 at 15:40 UTC
First, thanks for the responses. After posting this I did do further research and found HTML::Template. Not sure it's what I'm looking for though. The code I provided was an example of the task at hand. Basically, it's to take a perl script and treat it as a flat text file and read it in substituting the vars as needed from the perl script creator. I do have a working bash script that was very easy to make. `#!/bin/bash APPNAME="AnyApp" screen=1 if [! screen ]; then { cat > /tmp/new_prog_file << EOF } else { cat << EOF } print "This is the var \$APPNAME and this is what needs to get substit +uted $APPNAME\n"; EOF` [download] Works a treat with little effort (max efficiency) the goal. However perl seems to be a cronic complainer. It seems from tests so far the only way to get perl to sub the vars is to make prog_files an include, then perl complains about everything in prog_files. As a note.... \$APPNAME results in $APPNAME.... $APPNAME results in AnyApp.... Bash just eats, digests and spits out the result. Simple, my favorite method KISS. Now I also tried the equiv in perl.... `#!/usr/bin/perl $APPNAME="AnyApp" require "prog_file.lib"; read_prog` [download] prog_file.lib `sub read_prog print <<"EOF"; print "This is the var \$APPNAME and this is what needs to get substit +uted $APPNAME\n"; EOF 1;` [download] The problem is getting an "if" to print to screen or to a file to work, either from the require sub or from the perl creator prog. Easy using bash, not so with perl....at least not for me. My mind is already boggled by the var substitutions that needed to be done throughout. Solved the var boggle issue using a var naming convention. Thanks in advance...	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Perl Script to write a perl script by electroman00 (Novice) on Dec 04, 2009 at 18:07 UTC
Thanks for the advice, however the server that is going to be running the prog doesn't have, nor will it have the mods loaded by default. So it kinda rules out using the mod, at least for now.	[reply]
Re^3: Perl Script to write a perl script by Corion (Patriarch) on Dec 04, 2009 at 18:18 UTC
Yes, even you can use CPAN	[reply]
Re: Perl Script to write a perl script by ikegami (Patriarch) on Dec 02, 2009 at 22:29 UTC
To properly process your template by your specs, you'd need to parse Perl. That's no small task. Don't reinvent the wheel. Use Template-Toolkit or something.	[reply]
Re: Perl Script to write a perl script by leocharre (Priest) on Dec 02, 2009 at 20:49 UTC
Yes, I have a suggestion, stop doing this. Instead, use a vim template for new files... ~/.vimnewfile.pl.tmpl :insert #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use vars qw($VERSION); use LEOCHARRE::CLI2 ':all'; use LEOCHARRE::Dir ':all'; $VERSION = sprintf "%d.%02d", q$Revision: 1.3 $ =~ /(\d+)/g; exit; sub usage { qq{$0 [OPTION].. -d debug -h help -v version }} __END__ =pod =head1 NAME =head1 DESCRIPTION =head1 OPTIONS =head1 USAGE =head2 Usage Examples =head1 AUTHOR Leo Charre leocharre at cpan dot org =head1 SEE ALSO =head1 LICENSE This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify i +t under the same terms as Perl itself, i.e., under the terms of the " +Artistic License" or the "GNU General Public License". =head1 DISCLAIMER This package is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WI +THOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABIL +ITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the "GNU General Public License" for more details. =cut . [download] In your ~/.vimrc `autocmd bufnewfile *.pl so ~/.vimnewfile.pl.tmpl` [download] Now, whenever you run a command like # vim file.pl , that template will show up. If you place APPNAME where you want it, you can can then do a search and replace such as :%s/APPNAME/blabla/g	[reply] [d/l] [select]