Since I've recently learned what a dispatch table is.. (or rather, what I used is one..) I'm wondering if theres a better way to do this, or if anyone has any ideas for improvement..

What I've got is a console programm in which the user can enter a number of commands, and commands can be added to the list using modules.
The structure holding the commands looks like this:

sub init_commands
{
    # Fill %Commands hash for parsecommands
    # %Commands{commandname}{pattern} =
    # %Commands{commandname}{function} = ['modulename', [['name', numb
+er of arguments]]
    # %Commands{commandname}{syntax} =

    $Commands{'log'}->{'pattern'} = '^log (.*)$';
    $Commands{'log'}->{'function'} = ['', ['createlog', 1]];
    $Commands{'log'}->{'syntax'} = 'log <filename> <new/append>';

    $Commands{'modules saveall'}->{'pattern'} = '^modules saveall$';
    $Commands{'modules saveall'}->{'function'} = ['', ['savemodules', 
+0]];
    $Commands{'modules saveall'}->{'syntax'} = 'modules saveall';

    $Commands{'modules loadall'}->{'pattern'} = '^modules loadall ([\w
+\.]+)$';
    $Commands{'modules loadall'}->{'function'} = ['', ['loadmodules', 
+1]];
    $Commands{'modules loadall'}->{'syntax'} = 'modules loadall <filen
+ame>';

    ... and so on..
}

[download]
The wonderful code for using this looks like this: 
            while( my ($command, $params) = each %Commands)
            {
#               debug("parselocalcommand: Command: $command\n");
                if(substr($data, 0, length($command)) eq $command)
                {
                    my $pattern = $params->{'pattern'};
                    if(my @res = $data =~ $pattern)
                    {
                        if($#+ == $params->{'function'}[1][1])
                        {
                            my $answer;
                            if($params->{'function'}[0] eq '')
                            {
                                $answer = &{$params->{'function'}[1][0
+]}(@res);
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                $answer = modulemethod($params->{'func
+tion'}[0],
                                                       $params->{'func
+tion'}[1][0],
                                                       @res);
                            }
                            if($answer)
                            {
                                printandprompt($answer);
                                last;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        printandprompt("Syntax: #" . $params->{'syntax
+'} . "\n");
                    }
                }
            }

[download]
I'm currently planning to use this thing again (or something simliar) in another programm, which is why I'm asking..

C.

In reply to Complex dispatch table by castaway

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