NAME

Data::Pack - Pack data structures so only real content remains

VERSION

version 1.101611

SYNOPSIS

    use Data::Pack ':all';

    my $h = {
        a => 1,
        b => [ 2..4, undef, 6..8 ],
        c => [],
        d => {},
        e => undef,
        f => (bless {
            f1 => undef,
            f2 => 'f2',
        }, 'Foo'),
        g => {
            g1 => undef,
            g2 => undef,
            g3 => [ undef, undef, undef ],
            g4 => {
                g4a => undef,
                g4b => undef,
            },
        },
    };

    my $p = pack_data($h);
    my %h2 = pack_hash(%$h);

The result is

    $p = {
        a => 1,
        b => [ 2..4, 6..8 ],
        f => (bless {
            f2 => 'f2',
        }, 'Foo'),
    };

DESCRIPTION

This module provides a way to traverse data structures and eliminate any undefined or otherwise empty pieces from it. None of the functions are exported automatically, but you can request them by name, or get all of them if you use the :all tag.

FUNCTIONS

pack_data

This function takes a possibly blessed hash or array reference and traverses it, returning a copy that has no undefined or otherwise empty pieces. That is, key/value pairs where the value is undefined - or recursively deemed to be without content - are eliminated from the copy, as are undefined or recursively content-free elements from arrays. Checking for content is done with has_content(), so for example a hash key/value pair whose value is a hash of arrays or the like, but whose leaves are all undefined or empty, is omitted. See the Synopsis for an example.

In list context, hashes and arrays are returned as such. In scalar context, references are returned.

pack_hash

This convenience function can be passed a hash instead of a reference. It returns the packed hash in list context, or a reference to it in scalar context.

pack_array

This convenience function can be passed an array instead of a reference. It returns the packed array in list context, or a reference to it in scalar context.

has_content

This is really just a convenience function used by data_pack(), but can still be exported.

Given a scalar, it returns whether this is a defined value.

Given a possibly blessed array reference, it returns whether that array contains any elements.

Given a possibly blessed hash reference, it returns whether that hash contains any key/value pairs.

Given any other type of reference, it will die.

INSTALLATION

See perlmodinstall for information and options on installing Perl modules.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

No bugs have been reported.

Please report any bugs or feature requests through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org.

AVAILABILITY

The latest version of this module is available from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN). Visit http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ to find a CPAN site near you, or see http://search.cpan.org/dist/Data-Pack/.

The development version lives at http://github.com/hanekomu/Data-Pack/. Instead of sending patches, please fork this project using the standard git and github infrastructure.

AUTHOR

  Marcel Gruenauer <marcel@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2008 by Marcel Gruenauer.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

cpanm Data::Pack

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Data::Pack