Pod::Usage(3pm) 					 Perl Programmers Reference Guide					   Pod::Usage(3pm)

NAME

       Pod::Usage, pod2usage() - print a usage message from embedded pod documentation

SYNOPSIS

	 use Pod::Usage

	 my $message_text  = "This text precedes the usage message.";
	 my $exit_status   = 2; 	 ## The exit status to use
	 my $verbose_level = 0; 	 ## The verbose level to use
	 my $filehandle    = *STDERR;	 ## The filehandle to write to

	 pod2usage($message_text);

	 pod2usage($exit_status);

	 pod2usage( { -message => $message_text ,
		      -exitval => $exit_status	,
		      -verbose => $verbose_level,
		      -output  => $filehandle } );

	 pod2usage(   -msg     => $message_text ,
		      -exitval => $exit_status	,
		      -verbose => $verbose_level,
		      -output  => $filehandle	);

ARGUMENTS

       pod2usage should be given either a single argument, or a list of arguments corresponding to an associative array (a "hash"). When a single
       argument is given, it should correspond to exactly one of the following:

       o   A string containing the text of a message to print before printing the usage message

       o   A numeric value corresponding to the desired exit status

       o   A reference to a hash

       If more than one argument is given then the entire argument list is assumed to be a hash.  If a hash is supplied (either as a reference or
       as a list) it should contain one or more elements with the following keys:

       "-message"
       "-msg"
	   The text of a message to print immediately prior to printing the program's usage message.

       "-exitval"
	   The desired exit status to pass to the exit() function.  This should be an integer, or else the string "NOEXIT" to indicate that con-
	   trol should simply be returned without terminating the invoking process.

       "-verbose"
	   The desired level of "verboseness" to use when printing the usage message. If the corresponding value is 0, then only the "SYNOPSIS"
	   section of the pod documentation is printed. If the corresponding value is 1, then the "SYNOPSIS" section, along with any section enti-
	   tled "OPTIONS", "ARGUMENTS", or "OPTIONS AND ARGUMENTS" is printed.	If the corresponding value is 2 or more then the entire manpage is
	   printed.

       "-output"
	   A reference to a filehandle, or the pathname of a file to which the usage message should be written. The default is "*STDERR" unless
	   the exit value is less than 2 (in which case the default is "*STDOUT").

       "-input"
	   A reference to a filehandle, or the pathname of a file from which the invoking script's pod documentation should be read.  It defaults
	   to the file indicated by $0 ($PROGRAM_NAME for users of English.pm).

       "-pathlist"
	   A list of directory paths. If the input file does not exist, then it will be searched for in the given directory list (in the order the
	   directories appear in the list). It defaults to the list of directories implied by $ENV{PATH}. The list may be specified either by a
	   reference to an array, or by a string of directory paths which use the same path separator as $ENV{PATH} on your system (e.g., ":" for
	   Unix, ";" for MSWin32 and DOS).

DESCRIPTION

       pod2usage will print a usage message for the invoking script (using its embedded pod documentation) and then exit the script with the
       desired exit status. The usage message printed may have any one of three levels of "verboseness": If the verbose level is 0, then only a
       synopsis is printed. If the verbose level is 1, then the synopsis is printed along with a description (if present) of the command line
       options and arguments. If the verbose level is 2, then the entire manual page is printed.

       Unless they are explicitly specified, the default values for the exit status, verbose level, and output stream to use are determined as
       follows:

       o   If neither the exit status nor the verbose level is specified, then the default is to use an exit status of 2 with a verbose level of
	   0.

       o   If an exit status is specified but the verbose level is not, then the verbose level will default to 1 if the exit status is less than 2
	   and will default to 0 otherwise.

       o   If an exit status is not specified but verbose level is given, then the exit status will default to 2 if the verbose level is 0 and
	   will default to 1 otherwise.

       o   If the exit status used is less than 2, then output is printed on "STDOUT".	Otherwise output is printed on "STDERR".

       Although the above may seem a bit confusing at first, it generally does "the right thing" in most situations.  This determination of the
       default values to use is based upon the following typical Unix conventions:

       o   An exit status of 0 implies "success". For example, diff(1) exits with a status of 0 if the two files have the same contents.

       o   An exit status of 1 implies possibly abnormal, but non-defective, program termination.  For example, grep(1) exits with a status of 1
	   if it did not find a matching line for the given regular expression.

       o   An exit status of 2 or more implies a fatal error. For example, ls(1) exits with a status of 2 if you specify an illegal (unknown)
	   option on the command line.

       o   Usage messages issued as a result of bad command-line syntax should go to "STDERR".	However, usage messages issued due to an explicit
	   request to print usage (like specifying -help on the command line) should go to "STDOUT", just in case the user wants to pipe the out-
	   put to a pager (such as more(1)).

       o   If program usage has been explicitly requested by the user, it is often desireable to exit with a status of 1 (as opposed to 0) after
	   issuing the user-requested usage message.  It is also desireable to give a more verbose description of program usage in this case.

       pod2usage doesn't force the above conventions upon you, but it will use them by default if you don't expressly tell it to do otherwise.
       The ability of pod2usage() to accept a single number or a string makes it convenient to use as an innocent looking error message handling
       function:

	   use Pod::Usage;
	   use Getopt::Long;

	   ## Parse options
	   GetOptions("help", "man", "flag1")  ||  pod2usage(2);
	   pod2usage(1)  if ($opt_help);
	   pod2usage(-verbose => 2)  if ($opt_man);

	   ## Check for too many filenames
	   pod2usage("$0: Too many files given.
")  if (@ARGV > 1);

       Some user's however may feel that the above "economy of expression" is not particularly readable nor consistent and may instead choose to
       do something more like the following:

	   use Pod::Usage;
	   use Getopt::Long;

	   ## Parse options
	   GetOptions("help", "man", "flag1")  ||  pod2usage(-verbose => 0);
	   pod2usage(-verbose => 1)  if ($opt_help);
	   pod2usage(-verbose => 2)  if ($opt_man);

	   ## Check for too many filenames
	   pod2usage(-verbose => 2, -message => "$0: Too many files given.
")
	       if (@ARGV > 1);

       As with all things in Perl, there's more than one way to do it, and pod2usage() adheres to this philosophy.  If you are interested in see-
       ing a number of different ways to invoke pod2usage (although by no means exhaustive), please refer to "EXAMPLES".

EXAMPLES

       Each of the following invocations of "pod2usage()" will print just the "SYNOPSIS" section to "STDERR" and will exit with a status of 2:

	   pod2usage();

	   pod2usage(2);

	   pod2usage(-verbose => 0);

	   pod2usage(-exitval => 2);

	   pod2usage({-exitval => 2, -output => *STDERR});

	   pod2usage({-verbose => 0, -output  => *STDERR});

	   pod2usage(-exitval => 2, -verbose => 0);

	   pod2usage(-exitval => 2, -verbose => 0, -output => *STDERR);

       Each of the following invocations of "pod2usage()" will print a message of "Syntax error." (followed by a newline) to "STDERR", immediately
       followed by just the "SYNOPSIS" section (also printed to "STDERR") and will exit with a status of 2:

	   pod2usage("Syntax error.");

	   pod2usage(-message => "Syntax error.", -verbose => 0);

	   pod2usage(-msg  => "Syntax error.", -exitval => 2);

	   pod2usage({-msg => "Syntax error.", -exitval => 2, -output => *STDERR});

	   pod2usage({-msg => "Syntax error.", -verbose => 0, -output => *STDERR});

	   pod2usage(-msg  => "Syntax error.", -exitval => 2, -verbose => 0);

	   pod2usage(-message => "Syntax error.",
		     -exitval => 2,
		     -verbose => 0,
		     -output  => *STDERR);

       Each of the following invocations of "pod2usage()" will print the "SYNOPSIS" section and any "OPTIONS" and/or "ARGUMENTS" sections to "STD-
       OUT" and will exit with a status of 1:

	   pod2usage(1);

	   pod2usage(-verbose => 1);

	   pod2usage(-exitval => 1);

	   pod2usage({-exitval => 1, -output => *STDOUT});

	   pod2usage({-verbose => 1, -output => *STDOUT});

	   pod2usage(-exitval => 1, -verbose => 1);

	   pod2usage(-exitval => 1, -verbose => 1, -output => *STDOUT});

       Each of the following invocations of "pod2usage()" will print the entire manual page to "STDOUT" and will exit with a status of 1:

	   pod2usage(-verbose  => 2);

	   pod2usage({-verbose => 2, -output => *STDOUT});

	   pod2usage(-exitval  => 1, -verbose => 2);

	   pod2usage({-exitval => 1, -verbose => 2, -output => *STDOUT});

       Recommended Use

       Most scripts should print some type of usage message to "STDERR" when a command line syntax error is detected. They should also provide an
       option (usually "-H" or "-help") to print a (possibly more verbose) usage message to "STDOUT". Some scripts may even wish to go so far as
       to provide a means of printing their complete documentation to "STDOUT" (perhaps by allowing a "-man" option). The following complete exam-
       ple uses Pod::Usage in combination with Getopt::Long to do all of these things:

	   use Getopt::Long;
	   use Pod::Usage;

	   my $man = 0;
	   my $help = 0;
	   ## Parse options and print usage if there is a syntax error,
	   ## or if usage was explicitly requested.
	   GetOptions('help|?' => $help, man => $man) or pod2usage(2);
	   pod2usage(1) if $help;
	   pod2usage(-verbose => 2) if $man;

	   ## If no arguments were given, then allow STDIN to be used only
	   ## if it's not connected to a terminal (otherwise print usage)
	   pod2usage("$0: No files given.")  if ((@ARGV == 0) && (-t STDIN));
	   __END__

	   =head1 NAME

	   sample - Using GetOpt::Long and Pod::Usage

	   =head1 SYNOPSIS

	   sample [options] [file ...]

	    Options:
	      -help	       brief help message
	      -man	       full documentation

	   =head1 OPTIONS

	   =over 8

	   =item B<-help>

	   Print a brief help message and exits.

	   =item B<-man>

	   Prints the manual page and exits.

	   =back

	   =head1 DESCRIPTION

	   B<This program> will read the given input file(s) and do something
	   useful with the contents thereof.

	   =cut

CAVEATS

       By default, pod2usage() will use $0 as the path to the pod input file.  Unfortunately, not all systems on which Perl runs will set $0 prop-
       erly (although if $0 isn't found, pod2usage() will search $ENV{PATH} or else the list specified by the "-pathlist" option).  If this is the
       case for your system, you may need to explicitly specify the path to the pod docs for the invoking script using something similar to the
       following:

	   pod2usage(-exitval => 2, -input => "/path/to/your/pod/docs");

AUTHOR

       Brad Appleton <bradapp@enteract.com>

       Based on code for Pod::Text::pod2text() written by Tom Christiansen <tchrist@mox.perl.com>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       Steven McDougall <swmcd@world.std.com> for his help and patience with re-writing this manpage.

perl v5.8.0							    2002-06-01							   Pod::Usage(3pm)