ConfigFile(3)						User Contributed Perl Documentation					     ConfigFile(3)

NAME

       ConfigFile - Parse a simple configuration file

SYNOPSIS

       use ConfigFile;

       my $config_hash = ConfigFile::read_config_file($configuration_file);

NOTES

       In versions up to 1.0, the function read_config_file was exported to the calling program's namespace - Starting in version 1.1, nothing is
       exported by default. You can either fully qualify read_config_file or explicitly import it into your namespace:

   Fully qualifying read_config_file
	 use ConfigFile;

	 my $config_hash = ConfigFile::read_config_file($configuration_file);

   Explicitly importing read_config_file
	 use ConfigFile qw(read_config_file);

	 my $config_hash = read_config_file($configuration_file);

DESCRIPTION

       "read_config_file" parses a simple configuration file and stores its values in an anonymous hash reference. The syntax of the configuration
       file is quite simple:

	   # This is a comment
	   VALUE_ONE = foo
	   VALUE_TWO = $VALUE_ONE/bar
	   VALUE_THREE = The value contains a # (hash). # This is a comment.

       Options can be clustered when creating groups:

	   CLUSTER_ONE[data] = data cluster one
	   CLUSTER_ONE[value] = value cluster one
	   CLUSTER_TWO[data] = data cluster two
	   CLUSTER_TWO[value] = value cluster two

       Then values can be fetched using this syntax:

	   $hash_config->{CLUSTER_ONE}{data};

       There can be as many sub-options in a cluster as needed.

	   BIG_CLUSTER[part1][part2][part3] = data

       is fetched by:
	   $hash_config->{BIG_CLUSTER}{part1}{part2}{part3};

       The only restriction is no space in the key part of the line.

	   CLUSTER_ONE[data] = data cluster one      # Right
	   CLUSTER_ONE[ data ] = data cluster one    # Wrong

Function ";read_config_file"
   Syntax
	   ConfigFile::read_config_file($file);

   Arguments
       $file is the configuration file.

   Return value
       This function returns a hash reference. Each key of the hash is a value defined in the configuration file.

   Description
       "read_config_file" parses a configuration file a sets up some values in a hash reference.

AUTHOR

       Development was started by Sebastien J. Gross <seb@sjgross.org>

       All rights reserved.  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL.

VERSION

       Version 1.1.0 Copyright (c) 2002 Sebastien J. Gross. All rights reserved.  Copyright (c) 2003 Gunnar Wolf. All rights reserved.	This
       program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GPL.

perl v5.12.1							    2003-10-27							     ConfigFile(3)