Text::Wrap(3p) Perl Programmers Reference Guide Text::Wrap(3p)NAMEText::Wrap - line wrapping to form simple paragraphs
SYNOPSIS
Example 1
use Text::Wrap
$initial_tab = "\t"; # Tab before first line
$subsequent_tab = ""; # All other lines flush left
print wrap($initial_tab, $subsequent_tab, @text);
print fill($initial_tab, $subsequent_tab, @text);
$lines = wrap($initial_tab, $subsequent_tab, @text);
@paragraphs = fill($initial_tab, $subsequent_tab, @text);
Example 2
use Text::Wrap qw(wrap $columns $huge);
$columns = 132; # Wrap at 132 characters
$huge = 'die';
$huge = 'wrap';
$huge = 'overflow';
Example 3
use Text::Wrap
$Text::Wrap::columns = 72;
print wrap('', '', @text);
DESCRIPTION
"Text::Wrap::wrap()" is a very simple paragraph formatter.
It formats a single paragraph at a time by breaking lines at
word boundries. Indentation is controlled for the first line
($initial_tab) and all subsequent lines ($subsequent_tab)
independently. Please note: $initial_tab and
$subsequent_tab are the literal strings that will be used:
it is unlikley you would want to pass in a number.
Text::Wrap::fill() is a simple multi-paragraph formatter.
It formats each paragraph separately and then joins them
together when it's done. It will destroy any whitespace in
the original text. It breaks text into paragraphs by look-
ing for whitespace after a newline. In other respects it
acts like wrap().
OVERRIDES
"Text::Wrap::wrap()" has a number of variables that control
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its behavior. Because other modules might be using
"Text::Wrap::wrap()" it is suggested that you leave these
variables alone! If you can't do that, then use
"local($Text::Wrap::VARIABLE) = YOURVALUE" when you change
the values so that the original value is restored. This
"local()" trick will not work if you import the variable
into your own namespace.
Lines are wrapped at $Text::Wrap::columns columns.
$Text::Wrap::columns should be set to the full width of your
output device. In fact, every resulting line will have
length of no more than "$columns - 1".
It is possible to control which characters terminate words
by modifying $Text::Wrap::break. Set this to a string such
as '[\s:]' (to break before spaces or colons) or a pre-
compiled regexp such as "qr/[\s']/" (to break before spaces
or apostrophes). The default is simply '\s'; that is, words
are terminated by spaces. (This means, among other things,
that trailing punctuation such as full stops or commas stay
with the word they are "attached" to.)
Beginner note: In example 2, above $columns is imported into
the local namespace, and set locally. In example 3,
$Text::Wrap::columns is set in its own namespace without
importing it.
"Text::Wrap::wrap()" starts its work by expanding all the
tabs in its input into spaces. The last thing it does it to
turn spaces back into tabs. If you do not want tabs in your
results, set $Text::Wrap::unexpand to a false value. Like-
wise if you do not want to use 8-character tabstops, set
$Text::Wrap::tabstop to the number of characters you do want
for your tabstops.
If you want to separate your lines with something other than
"\n" then set $Text::Wrap::separator to your preference.
This replaces all newlines with $Text::Wrap::separator. If
you just to preserve existing newlines but add new breaks
with something else, set $Text::Wrap::separator2 instead.
When words that are longer than $columns are encountered,
they are broken up. "wrap()" adds a "\n" at column
$columns. This behavior can be overridden by setting $huge
to 'die' or to 'overflow'. When set to 'die', large words
will cause "die()" to be called. When set to 'overflow',
large words will be left intact.
Historical notes: 'die' used to be the default value of
$huge. Now, 'wrap' is the default value.
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print wrap("\t","","This is a bit of text that forms
a normal book-style paragraph");
LICENSE
David Muir Sharnoff <muir@idiom.com> with help from Tim
Pierce and many many others. Copyright (C) 1996-2002 David
Muir Sharnoff. This module may be modified, used, copied,
and redistributed at your own risk. Publicly redistributed
modified versions must use a different name.
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