Re: reading __DATA__ more than once

Just a related question ...

Is is manditory to have all the __DATA__ at the bottom of the script.

if it can be placed in the middle of script,

how to differentiate the "__DATA__ content" form the program script?

Can someone describe/elobrate/comment about the __DATA__ usage, its constraints and best practices..

Thanks in advance

Anandatirtha

Comment on Re: reading __DATA__ more than once

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Re: Re: reading __DATA__ more than once by ff (Hermit) on Nov 14, 2002 at 14:53 UTC
Basically, __DATA__ provides a quickie way to bundle data for a script right there at the bottom of the script, and make it available to you via the filehandle <DATA>, rather than have to (lazy-speak) put the data in a text file and make sure you always have access to that file, open it, etc. All text after a line containing '__DATA__ will be ignored in terms of executable code. __END__ functions similarly. Usually (?)this is for including test data for your script. In looking for online documentation about __DATA__, the best I could find was contained in a couple of paragraphs from perldata.html (using ActiveState) which in turn said "See the SelfLoader manpage for more description of __DATA__, and an example of its use." Not that said description was crystal clear... Good Luck! :-)	[reply]

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Re: Re: reading __DATA__ more than once
by ff (Hermit) on Nov 14, 2002 at 14:53 UTC

open

__DATA__

In looking for online documentation about __DATA__, the best I could find was contained in a couple of paragraphs from perldata.html (using ActiveState) which in turn said "See the SelfLoader manpage for more description of __DATA__, and an example of its use." Not that said description was crystal clear... Good Luck! :-)

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