Filter::BoxString - Describe your multiline strings as text boxes.
use Filter::BoxString;
# Trailing whitespace preserved
my $list = +---------------+
| 1. Milk |
| 2. Eggs |
| 3. Apples |
+---------------+;
# Trailing whitespace dropped
my $noodles = +-----------------------+
| Ramen
| Shirataki
| Soba
| Somen
| Udon
+;
my $xml = +---------------------------------------+
|<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
| <item>Milk</item>
| <item>Eggs</item>
| <item>Apples</item>
|</shopping_list>
+---------------------------------------+;
my $beatles = +
| Love Me Do
| I wanna hold your hand
| Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
| Penny Lane
+------------------------------+;
my $sql = +
| SELECT *
| FROM the_table
| WHERE this = 'that'
| AND those = 'these'
| ORDER BY things ASC
+;
my $metachars = +------------------------------------------------------------+
| \\ Quote the next metacharacter
| ^ Match the beginning of the line
| . Match any character (except newline)
| \$ Match the end of the line (or before newline at the end)
| | Alternation
| () Grouping
| [] Character class
+------------------------------------------------------------+;
my $gibberish = +-----------------------------------+
| +!@#\$%^&*()_|"?><{}>~=-\'/.,[]
| +=!@#$%^&*()_-|\"':;?/>.<,}]{[><~`
+-----------------------------------+;
This filter allows you to describe multiline strings in your code using ASCII art style boxes. Underneath it all, this filter transforms your box-string to the equivilent here-doc.
The purpose is purely aesthetic. Please enjoy.
The methodology is to capture your boxstring by matching something like " = + ... +; " which will break if your boxstring contains the sequence '+;'.
Make the delimiters as flexible as perl.
Perhaps:
my $s = qq---------------+
| "hello world" |
+---------------qq;
my $s = "---------------+
| hello world+; |
+---------------";
my $s = '------------------+
| qq{hello world}; |
+------------------';
Dylan Doxey <dylan.doxey@gmail.com>
Copyright (C) 2008 by Dylan Doxey
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.8 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.
