Text::BibTeX::File(3pm) 				User Contributed Perl Documentation				   Text::BibTeX::File(3pm)

NAME

       Text::BibTeX::File - interface to whole BibTeX files

SYNOPSIS

	  use Text::BibTeX;	# this loads Text::BibTeX::File

	  $bib = new Text::BibTeX::File "foo.bib" or die "foo.bib: $!
";
	  # or:
	  $bib = new Text::BibTeX::File;
	  $bib->open ("foo.bib") || die "foo.bib: $!
";

	  $bib->set_structure ($structure_name,
			       $option1 => $value1, ...);

	  $at_eof = $bib->eof;

	  $bib->close;

DESCRIPTION

       "Text::BibTeX::File" provides an object-oriented interface to BibTeX files.  Its most obvious purpose is to keep track of a filename and
       filehandle together for use by the "Text::BibTeX::Entry" module (which is much more interesting).  In addition, it allows you to specify
       certain options which are applicable to a whole database (file), rather than having to specify them for each entry in the file.	Currently,
       you can specify the database structure and some structure options.  These concepts are fully documented in Text::BibTeX::Structure.

METHODS

   Object creation, file operations
       new ([FILENAME [,MODE [,PERMS]]])
	   Creates a new "Text::BibTeX::File" object.  If FILENAME is supplied, passes it to the "open" method (along with MODE and PERMS if they
	   are supplied).  If the "open" fails, "new" fails and returns false; if the "open" succeeds (or if FILENAME isn't supplied), "new"
	   returns the new object reference.

       open (FILENAME [,MODE [,PERMS]])
	   Opens the file specified by FILENAME, possibly using MODE and PERMS.  See IO::File for full semantics; this "open" is just a front end
	   for "IO::File::open".

       close ()
	   Closes the filehandle associated with the object.  If there is no such filehandle (i.e., "open" was never called on the object), does
	   nothing.

       eof ()
	   Returns the end-of-file state of the filehandle associated with the object: a true value means we are at the end of the file.

   Object properties
       set_structure (STRUCTURE [, OPTION => VALUE, ...])
	   Sets the database structure for a BibTeX file.  At the simplest level, this means that entries from the file are expected to conform to
	   certain field requirements as specified by the structure module.  It also gives you full access to the methods of the particular
	   structured entry class for this structure, allowing you to perform operations specific to this kind of database.  See "CLASS
	   INTERACTIONS" in Text::BibTeX::Structure for all the consequences of setting the database structure for a "Text::BibTeX::File" object.

       structure ()
	   Returns the name of the database structure associated with the object (as set by "set_structure").

       preserve_values ([PRESERVE])
	   Sets the "preserve values" flag, to control all future parsing of entries from this file.  If PRESERVE isn't supplied, returns the
	   current state of the flag.  See Text::BibTeX::Value for details on parsing in "value preservation" mode.

SEE ALSO

       Text::BibTeX, Text::BibTeX::Entry, Text::BibTeX::Structure

AUTHOR

       Greg Ward <gward@python.net>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 1997-2000 by Gregory P. Ward.  All rights reserved.  This file is part of the Text::BibTeX library.  This library is free
       software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

perl v5.14.2							    2012-06-02						   Text::BibTeX::File(3pm)