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

Hello Monks,

I came across the following few lines at the beginning of a python script. I write short programs in perl and would like to share my scripts with others. It will be very useful it this kind of meta-information is created/modified automatically whenever I write/edit a script. (I use gedit to write scripts on ubuntu OS)

If you know of any perl script or software/addon or any other pointers to do this, kindly share.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# join_proteins.py --- 
# 
# Filename: join_proteins.py
# Description: 
# Author: Andy Bork
# Maintainer: 
# Copyright (C) 2010 Andy Bork, all rights reserved.
# Created: Sat May 21 16:32:14 2011 (+0530)
# Version: 
# Last-Updated: Sat May 21 17:54:05 2011 (+0530)
#           By: Ray jennings
#     Update #: 117
# URL: 
# Keywords: 
# Compatibility: 
# 
# 

# Commentary: 
# 
# 
# 
# 

# Change log:
# 
# 
# 

# Code:

...
...
...        

# 
# join_proteins.py ends here

[download]

Thanks in Advance

Chakri

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: How to do the follwing in Perl OR any other software
by graff (Chancellor) on Jun 25, 2011 at 01:07 UTC
    If I understand correctly, I think you want a template for writing new Perl scripts, rather than new Python scripts. Right? If so, I've found from my own experience that a template like the following is far more useful than the pattern shown in the OP. 
    #!/usr/bin/perl

=head1 NAME



=head1 SYNOPSIS



=head1 DESCRIPTION



=head1 AUTHOR

{your name and email address here}

=cut

use strict;
use warnings;

my $Usage = "Usage:  $0 \n";

    [download]
    I delete the $Usage line if I'm writing a module, or when I decide to go with "use Pod::Usage". The NAME, SYNOPSIS and DESCRIPTION sections always get filled in before I write any of the code. (There's probably a nifty way to have the NAME section initialized to the name of the file being edited -- that's an itch to be scratched...)

    I know there's a way in emacs to have a template file loaded into the editing buffer every time you start a new file with a given extension (e.g. *.pl or *.pm), but I'm content just to have the above template stored in an easy-to-find file, and do "meta-x include-file" every time I start a perl script.

[reply]
[d/l]
Re: How to do the follwing in Perl OR any other software
by Corion (Patriarch) on Jun 24, 2011 at 20:18 UTC

    You don't show us what code you have already written and where you encounter problems with it.

    I can only suggest you look at Module::Starter and/or Template Toolkit. The two are common solutions for generating boilerplate text files.

[reply]
Re: How to do the follwing in Perl OR any other software
by roboticus (Chancellor) on Jun 24, 2011 at 20:27 UTC

    chakreey:

    Most editors that I've seen have the ability to stick in a template, and there are a zillion others. But *just for you*, here's a perl script that'll generate a template for you:

    #!/usr/bin/perl
my $new_file_name = shift;
open my $OFH, '>', $new_file_name;
print $OFH <<EOHDR;
#!/usr/bin/env python
# join_proteins.py --- 
# 
# Filename: $new_file_name
# Description: 
# Author: Andy Bork
# Maintainer: 
# Copyright (C) 2010 Andy Bork, all rights reserved.
# Created: Sat May 21 16:32:14 2011 (+0530)
# Version: 
# Last-Updated: Sat May 21 17:54:05 2011 (+0530)
#           By: Ray jennings
#     Update #: 117
# URL: 
# Keywords: 
# Compatibility: 
# 
# 

# Commentary: 
# 
# 
# 
# 

# Change log:
# 
# 
# 

# Code:

print "hello, world!\n";
print "Replace this section with the code you want.\n";

# 
# $new_file_name ends here
EOHDR
close $OFH;

    [download]

    With just a few simple modifications, you can have it automatically put in current copyright dates and such.

    ...roboticus

    When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.

[reply]
[d/l]

      Thank you roboticus. I just came to know few key words for doing this, like "boilerplate". I googled "boilerplate" and found interesting links. I am reading on further to be able to do it myself.

      chakri

[reply]
Re: How to do the follwing in Perl OR any other software
by Anonymous Monk on Jun 25, 2011 at 01:56 UTC
[reply]

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