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   1  
   2  =head1 NAME
   3  
   4  Pod::Simple - framework for parsing Pod
   5  
   6  =head1 SYNOPSIS
   7  
   8   TODO
   9  
  10  =head1 DESCRIPTION
  11  
  12  Pod::Simple is a Perl library for parsing text in the Pod ("plain old
  13  documentation") markup language that is typically used for writing
  14  documentation for Perl and for Perl modules. The Pod format is explained
  15  in the L<perlpod|perlpod> man page; the most common formatter is called
  16  "perldoc".
  17  
  18  Pod formatters can use Pod::Simple to parse Pod documents into produce
  19  renderings of them in plain ASCII, in HTML, or in any number of other
  20  formats. Typically, such formatters will be subclasses of Pod::Simple,
  21  and so they will inherit its methods, like C<parse_file>.
  22  
  23  If you're reading this document just because you have a Pod-processing
  24  subclass that you want to use, this document (plus the documentation for
  25  the subclass) is probably all you'll need to read.
  26  
  27  If you're reading this document because you want to write a formatter
  28  subclass, continue reading this document, and then read
  29  L<Pod::Simple::Subclassing>, and then possibly even read L<perlpodspec>
  30  (some of which is for parser-writers, but much of which is notes to
  31  formatter-writers).
  32  
  33  
  34  =head1 MAIN METHODS
  35  
  36  
  37  
  38  =over
  39  
  40  =item C<< $parser = I<SomeClass>->new(); >>
  41  
  42  This returns a new parser object, where I<C<SomeClass>> is a subclass
  43  of Pod::Simple.
  44  
  45  =item C<< $parser->output_fh( *OUT ); >>
  46  
  47  This sets the filehandle that C<$parser>'s output will be written to.
  48  You can pass C<*STDOUT>, otherwise you should probably do something
  49  like this:
  50  
  51      my $outfile = "output.txt";
  52      open TXTOUT, ">$outfile" or die "Can't write to $outfile: $!";
  53      $parser->output_fh(*TXTOUT);
  54  
  55  ...before you call one of the C<< $parser->parse_I<whatever> >> methods.
  56  
  57  =item C<< $parser->output_string( \$somestring ); >>
  58  
  59  This sets the string that C<$parser>'s output will be sent to,
  60  instead of any filehandle.
  61  
  62  
  63  =item C<< $parser->parse_file( I<$some_filename> ); >>
  64  
  65  =item C<< $parser->parse_file( *INPUT_FH ); >>
  66  
  67  This reads the Pod content of the file (or filehandle) that you specify,
  68  and processes it with that C<$parser> object, according to however
  69  C<$parser>'s class works, and according to whatever parser options you
  70  have set up for this C<$parser> object.
  71  
  72  =item C<< $parser->parse_string_document( I<$all_content> ); >>
  73  
  74  This works just like C<parse_file> except that it reads the Pod
  75  content not from a file, but from a string that you have already
  76  in memory.
  77  
  78  =item C<< $parser->parse_lines( I<...@lines...>, undef ); >>
  79  
  80  This processes the lines in C<@lines> (where each list item must be a
  81  defined value, and must contain exactly one line of content -- so no
  82  items like C<"foo\nbar"> are allowed).  The final C<undef> is used to
  83  indicate the end of document being parsed.
  84  
  85  The other C<parser_I<whatever>> methods are meant to be called only once
  86  per C<$parser> object; but C<parse_lines> can be called as many times per
  87  C<$parser> object as you want, as long as the last call (and only
  88  the last call) ends with an C<undef> value.
  89  
  90  
  91  =item C<< $parser->content_seen >>
  92  
  93  This returns true only if there has been any real content seen
  94  for this document.
  95  
  96  
  97  =item C<< I<SomeClass>->filter( I<$filename> ); >>
  98  
  99  =item C<< I<SomeClass>->filter( I<*INPUT_FH> ); >>
 100  
 101  =item C<< I<SomeClass>->filter( I<\$document_content> ); >>
 102  
 103  This is a shortcut method for creating a new parser object, setting the
 104  output handle to STDOUT, and then processing the specified file (or
 105  filehandle, or in-memory document). This is handy for one-liners like
 106  this:
 107  
 108    perl -MPod::Simple::Text -e "Pod::Simple::Text->filter('thingy.pod')"
 109  
 110  =back
 111  
 112  
 113  
 114  =head1 SECONDARY METHODS
 115  
 116  Some of these methods might be of interest to general users, as
 117  well as of interest to formatter-writers.
 118  
 119  Note that the general pattern here is that the accessor-methods
 120  read the attribute's value with C<< $value = $parser->I<attribute> >>
 121  and set the attribute's value with
 122  C<< $parser->I<attribute>(I<newvalue>) >>.  For each accessor, I typically
 123  only mention one syntax or another, based on which I think you are actually
 124  most likely to use.
 125  
 126  
 127  =over
 128  
 129  =item C<< $parser->no_whining( I<SOMEVALUE> ) >>
 130  
 131  If you set this attribute to a true value, you will suppress the
 132  parser's complaints about irregularities in the Pod coding. By default,
 133  this attribute's value is false, meaning that irregularities will
 134  be reported.
 135  
 136  Note that turning this attribute to true won't suppress one or two kinds
 137  of complaints about rarely occurring unrecoverable errors.
 138  
 139  
 140  =item C<< $parser->no_errata_section( I<SOMEVALUE> ) >>
 141  
 142  If you set this attribute to a true value, you will stop the parser from
 143  generating a "POD ERRORS" section at the end of the document. By
 144  default, this attribute's value is false, meaning that an errata section
 145  will be generated, as necessary.
 146  
 147  
 148  =item C<< $parser->complain_stderr( I<SOMEVALUE> ) >>
 149  
 150  If you set this attribute to a true value, it will send reports of
 151  parsing errors to STDERR. By default, this attribute's value is false,
 152  meaning that no output is sent to STDERR.
 153  
 154  Note that errors can be noted in an errata section, or sent to STDERR,
 155  or both, or neither. So don't think that turning on C<complain_stderr>
 156  will turn off C<no_errata_section> or vice versa -- these are
 157  independent attributes.
 158  
 159  
 160  =item C<< $parser->source_filename >>
 161  
 162  This returns the filename that this parser object was set to read from.
 163  
 164  
 165  =item C<< $parser->doc_has_started >>
 166  
 167  This returns true if C<$parser> has read from a source, and has seen
 168  Pod content in it.
 169  
 170  
 171  =item C<< $parser->source_dead >>
 172  
 173  This returns true if C<$parser> has read from a source, and come to the
 174  end of that source.
 175  
 176  =back
 177  
 178  
 179  =head1 CAVEATS
 180  
 181  This is just a beta release -- there are a good number of things still
 182  left to do.  Notably, support for EBCDIC platforms is still half-done,
 183  an untested.
 184  
 185  
 186  =head1 SEE ALSO
 187  
 188  L<Pod::Simple::Subclassing>
 189  
 190  L<perlpod|perlpod>
 191  
 192  L<perlpodspec|perlpodspec>
 193  
 194  L<Pod::Escapes|Pod::Escapes>
 195  
 196  L<perldoc>
 197  
 198  
 199  =head1 COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMERS
 200  
 201  Copyright (c) 2002 Sean M. Burke.  All rights reserved.
 202  
 203  This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
 204  under the same terms as Perl itself.
 205  
 206  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
 207  without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of
 208  merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
 209  
 210  =head1 AUTHOR
 211  
 212  Original author: Sean M. Burke C<sburke@cpan.org>
 213  
 214  Maintained by: Allison Randal C<allison@perl.org>
 215  
 216  =cut
 217  
 218