NAME

Config::Properties - read Java-style properties files

SYNOPSIS

use Config::Properties;

my $properties = new Config::Properties(); $properties->load( $fileHandle );

$value = $properties->getProperty( $key ); $properties->setProperty( $key, $value );

$properties->format( '%s => %s' ); $properties->store( $fileHandle, $header );

DESCRIPTION

Config::Properties is an near implementation of the java.util.Properties API. It is designed to allow easy reading, writing and manipulation of Java-style property files.

The format of a Java-style property file is that of a key-value pair seperated by either whitespace, the colon (:) character, or the equals (=) character. Whitespace before the key and on either side of the seperator is ignored.

Lines that begin with either a hash (#) or a bang (!) are considered comment lines and ignored.

A backslash (\) at the end of a line signifies a continuation and the next line is counted as part of the current line (minus the backslash, any whitespace after the backslash, the line break, and any whitespace at the beginning of the next line).

The official references used to determine this format can be found in the Java API docs for java.util.Properties at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/api/index.html.

When a property file is saved it is in the format "key=value" for each line. This can be changed by setting the format attribute using either $object->format( $format_string ) or $object->setFormat( $format_string ) (they do the same thing). The format string is fed to printf and must contain exactly two %s format characters. The first will be replaced with the key of the property and the second with the value. The string can contain no other printf control characters, but can be anything else. A newline will be automatically added to the end of the string. You an get the current format string either by using $object->format() (with no arguments) or $object->getFormat().

If a true third parameter is passed to the constructor, the Config::Properties object be created in PERL_MODE. This can be set at any time by passing a true or false value into the setPerlMode() instance method. If in PERL_MODE, the behavior of the object may be expanded, enhanced and/or just plain different than the Java API spec.

The following is a list of the current behavior changed under PERL_MODE:

* Ummm... nothing yet.

The current (true/false) value of PERL_MODE can be retrieved with the perlMode instance variable.

AUTHOR

Config::Properties was developed by Randy Jay Yarger.