
 NAME
 NAMEIO-stringy - I/O on in-core objects like strings and arrays
 SYNOPSIS
 SYNOPSIS
    IO::
    ::AtomicFile   adpO  Write a file which is updated atomically     ERYQ
    ::Lines        bdpO  I/O handle to read/write to array of lines   ERYQ
    ::Scalar       RdpO  I/O handle to read/write to a string         ERYQ
    ::ScalarArray  RdpO  I/O handle to read/write to array of scalars ERYQ
    ::Wrap         RdpO  Wrap old-style FHs in standard OO interface  ERYQ
    ::WrapTie      adpO  Tie your handles & retain full OO interface  ERYQ
 DESCRIPTION
 DESCRIPTIONThis toolkit primarily provides modules for performing both traditional and object-oriented i/o) on things other than normal filehandles; in particular, IO::Scalar, IO::ScalarArray, and IO::Lines.
If you have access to tie(), these classes will make use of the IO::WrapTie module to inherit a convenient new_tie() constructor. It also exports a nice wraptie() function.
In the more-traditional IO::Handle front, we have IO::AtomicFile which may be used to painlessly create files which are updated atomically.
And in the "this-may-prove-useful" corner, we have IO::Wrap, whose exported wraphandle() function will clothe anything that's not a blessed object in an IO::Handle-like wrapper... so you can just use OO syntax and stop worrying about whether your function's caller handed you a string, a globref, or a FileHandle.
 INSTALLATION
 INSTALLATIONMost of you already know the drill...
    perl Makefile.PL
    make test
    make install
For everyone else out there...
if you've never installed Perl code before, or you're trying to use
this in an environment where your sysadmin or ISP won't let you do
interesting things, relax: since this module contains no binary 
extensions, you can cheat.  That means copying the directory tree
under my "./lib" directory into someplace where your script can "see" 
it.  For example, under Linux:
    cp -r IO-stringy-1.234/lib/* /path/to/my/perl/
Now, in your Perl code, do this:
    use lib "/path/to/my/perl";
    use IO::Scalar;                   ### or whatever
Ok, now you've been told. At this point, anyone who whines about not being given enough information gets an unflattering haiku written about them in the next change log. I'll do it. Don't think I won't.
 VERSION
 VERSION$Id: Stringy.pm,v 1.220 2001/04/04 05:37:51 eryq Exp $
 TO DO
 TO DOWill the sudden sensitivity to $/ hose anyone out there? I'm worried, so you have to enable it explicitly.
    Isn't it the case that real operating system file descriptors 
    maintain an independent read and write file position (and 
    seek(2) resets them both)? 
He also pointed out some issues with his implementation:  
    For example, what does eof or tell return?  The read position or 
    the write position?  (I assumed read position was more important). 
Your opinions on this are most welcome. (Me, I'm just squeamish that this will break some code which depends on the existing behavior, and that attempts to maintain backwards-compatibility will slow down the code. But I'll give it a shot.)
 CHANGE LOG
 CHANGE LOGRemoved not-fully-blank lines from modules; these were causing lots of POD-related warnings. Thanks to Nicolas Joly for the suggestion.
New "TO DO" section, because people who submit patches/ideas should at least know that they're in the system... and that I won't lose their stuff. Please read it.
New entries in AUTHOR. Please read those too.
Nasty bug fixed in IO::Scalar::write().
Apparently, the offset and the number-of-bytes arguments were,
for all practical purposes, reversed.  You were okay if
you did all your writing with print(), but boy was this a stupid bug!  
Thanks to Richard Jones for finding this one.  
For you, Rich, a double-length haiku:
       Newspaper headline
          typeset by dyslexic man
       loses urgency
       BABY EATS FISH is
          simply not equivalent   
       to FISH EATS BABY
New sysread and syswrite methods for IO::Scalar. Thanks again to Richard Jones for this.
 AUTHOR
 AUTHOR
     Richard Jones
     B. K. Oxley (binkley) 
     Doru Petrescu 
Enjoy. Yell if it breaks.