TABLIFY(1p)						User Contributed Perl Documentation					       TABLIFY(1p)

NAME

       tablify - turn a delimited text file into a text table

SYNOPSIS

	 tablify [options] file

       Options:

	 -h|--help	     Show help
	 --no-headers	     Assume first line is data, not headers
	 --no-pager	     Do not use $ENV{'PAGER'} even if defined
	 --strip-quotes      Strip " or ' around fields
	 -l|--list	     List the fields in the file (for use with -f)
	 -f|--fields=f1[,f2] Show only fields in comma-separated list;
			     when used in conjunction with "no-headers"
			     the list should be field numbers (starting at 1);
			     otherwise, should be field names
	 -w|where=f<cmp>v    Apply the "cmp" Perl operator to restrict output
			     where field "f" matches the value "v";  acceptable
			     operators include ==, eq, >, >=, <=, and =~
	 -v|--vertical	     Show records vertically
	 --limit=n	     Limit to first "n" records
	 --fs=x 	     Use "x" as the field separator
			     (default is tab "	")
	 --rs=x 	     Use "x" as the record separator
			     (default is newline "
")
	 --as-html	     Create an HTML table instead of plain text

DESCRIPTION

       This script is essentially a quick way to parse a delimited text file and view it as a nice ASCII table.  By selecting only certain fields,
       employing a where clause to only select records where a field matches some value, and using the limit to only see some of the output, you
       almost have a mini-database front-end for a simple text file.

EXAMPLES

       Given a data file like this:

	 name,rank,serial_no,is_living,age
	 George,General,190293,0,64
	 Dwight,General,908348,0,75
	 Attila,Hun,,0,56
	 Tojo,Emporor,,0,87
	 Tommy,General,998110,1,54

       To find the fields you can reference, use the list option:

	 $ tablify --fs ',' -l people.dat
	 +-----------+-----------+
	 | Field No. | Field	 |
	 +-----------+-----------+
	 | 1	     | name	 |
	 | 2	     | rank	 |
	 | 3	     | serial_no |
	 | 4	     | is_living |
	 | 5	     | age	 |
	 +-----------+-----------+

       To extract just the name and serial numbers, use the fields option:

	 $ tablify --fs ',' -f name,serial_no people.dat
	 +--------+-----------+
	 | name   | serial_no |
	 +--------+-----------+
	 | George | 190293    |
	 | Dwight | 908348    |
	 | Attila |	      |
	 | Tojo   |	      |
	 | Tommy  | 998110    |
	 +--------+-----------+
	 5 records returned

       To extract the first through third fields and the fifth field (where field numbers start at "1" -- tip: use the list option to quickly
       determine field numbers), use this syntax for fields:

	 $ tablify --fs ',' -f 1-3,5 people.dat
	 +--------+---------+-----------+------+
	 | name   | rank    | serial_no | age  |
	 +--------+---------+-----------+------+
	 | George | General | 190293	| 64   |
	 | Dwight | General | 908348	| 75   |
	 | Attila | Hun     |		| 56   |
	 | Tojo   | Emporor |		| 87   |
	 | Tommy  | General | 998110	| 54   |
	 +--------+---------+-----------+------+
	 5 records returned

       To select only the ones with six serial numbers, use a where clause:

	 $ tablify --fs ',' -w 'serial_no=~/^d{6}$/' people.dat
	 +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
	 | name   | rank    | serial_no | is_living | age  |
	 +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
	 | George | General | 190293	| 0	    | 64   |
	 | Dwight | General | 908348	| 0	    | 75   |
	 | Tommy  | General | 998110	| 1	    | 54   |
	 +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
	 3 records returned

       To find Dwight's record, you would do this:

	 $ tablify --fs ',' -w 'name eq "Dwight"' people.dat
	 +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
	 | name   | rank    | serial_no | is_living | age  |
	 +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
	 | Dwight | General | 908348	| 0	    | 75   |
	 +--------+---------+-----------+-----------+------+
	 1 record returned

       To find the name of all the people with a serial number who are living:

	 $ tablify --fs ',' -f name -w 'is_living==1' -w 'serial_no>0' people.dat
	 +-------+
	 | name  |
	 +-------+
	 | Tommy |
	 +-------+
	 1 record returned

       To filter outside of program and simply format the results, use "-" as the last argument to force reading of STDIN (and probably assume no
       headers):

	 $ grep General people.dat | tablify --fs ',' -f 1-3 --no-headers -
	 +---------+--------+--------+
	 | Field1  | Field2 | Field3 |
	 +---------+--------+--------+
	 | General | 190293 | 0      |
	 | General | 908348 | 0      |
	 | General | 998110 | 1      |
	 +---------+--------+--------+
	 3 records returned

       When dealing with data lacking field names, you can specify "no-headers" and then refer to fields by number (starting at one), e.g.:

	 $ tail -5 people.dat | tablify --fs ',' --no-headers -w '3 eq "General"' -
	 +--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
	 | Field1 | Field2  | Field3 | Field4 | Field5 |
	 +--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
	 | George | General | 190293 | 0      | 64     |
	 | Dwight | General | 908348 | 0      | 75     |
	 | Tommy  | General | 998110 | 1      | 54     |
	 +--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
	 3 records returned

       If your file has many fields which are hard to see across the screen, consider using the vertical display with "-v" or "--vertical", e.g.:

	 $ tablify --fs ',' -v --limit 1 people.dat
	 ************ Record 1 ************
	      name: George
	      rank: General
	 serial_no: 190293
	 is_living: 0
	      age : 64

	 1 record returned

SEE ALSO

       o   Text::RecordParser

       o   Text::TabularDisplay

       o   DBD::CSV

	   Although I don't DBD::CSV this module, the idea was much the inspiration for this.  I just didn't want to have to install DBI and
	   DBD::CSV to get this kind of functionality.	I think my interface is simpler.

AUTHOR

       Ken Youens-Clark <kclark@cpan.org>.

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2006-10 Ken Youens-Clark.	All rights reserved.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
       the Free Software Foundation; version 2.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

perl v5.10.1							    2010-07-26							       TABLIFY(1p)