Algorithm::IncludeExclude - build and evaluate include/exclude lists Version 0.01 Algorithm::IncludeExclude lets you define a tree of include / exclude rules and then allows you to determine the best rule for a given path. For example, to include everything, then exclude everything under "bar" or "baz" but then include everything under "foo baz", you could write: my $ie = Algorithm::IncludeExclude->new; # setup rules $ie->include(); # default to include $ie->exclude('foo'); $ie->exclude('bar'); $ie->include(qw/foo baz/); # evaluate candidates $ie->evaluate(qw/foo bar/); # exclude (due to 'foo' rule) $ie->evaluate(qw/bar baz/); # exclude (due to 'bar' rule) $ie->evaluate(qw/quux foo bar/); # include (due to '' rule) $ie->evaluate(qw/foo baz quux/); # include (due to 'foo/baz' rule) You can also match against regexes. Let's imagine you want to exclude everything in the "admin" directory, as well as all files that end with a ".protected" extension. Here's how to implement that: my $ie = Algorithm::IncludeExclude->new; $ie->exclude('admin'); $ie->exclude(qr/[.]protected$/); $ie->evaluate(qw/admin let me in/); # exclude (due to 'admin' rule) $ie->evaluate(qw/a path.protected/); # exclude (due to regex) $ie->evaluate(qw/foo bar/); # undefined (no rule matches) $ie->include(qw/foo bar/); $ie->evaluate(qw/foo bar/); # now it's included If you wanted to include files inside the "admin" path ending in ".ok", you could just add this rule: $ie->include('admin', qr/[.]ok$/); $ie->evaluate(qw/admin super public records.ok/); # included The most specific match always wins -- if there's not an exact match, the nearest match is chosen instead. Regexes can only appear as the last element in a rule: $ie->include(qr/foo/, qr/bar/); $ie->exclude(qr/foo/, qr/bar/); If regexes were allowed anywhere, things could get very confusing, very quickly. Regexes are matched against any remaining path elements when they are first encountered. In the following example: $ie->include('foo', qr/bar/); $ie->evaluate('foo', 'baz', 'quux', 'bar'); # include The match works like this. First, 'foo' (from the include rule) and 'foo' (from the path being evaluated) are compared. Since there's a match, the next element in the path is examined against "foo"'s subtree. The only remaining item in the rule tree is a regex, so the regex is compared to the rest of the path being evaluated, joined by the "join" argument to new (see "METHODS/new"); namely: baz/quux/bar Since the regular expression matches this string, the include rule is matched. Regex rules are checked before non-regex rules. For example: $ie->exclude('foo', 'bar'); $ie->include(qr/bar/); $ie->evaluate('foo', 'bar'); # include, due to regex If two or more regular expressions at the same level match a path, the result is undefined: $ie->include(qr/foo/); $ie->exclude(qr/bar/); $ie->evaluate('foobar'); # undef is returned

new
Create a new instance. Accepts an optional hashref of arguments. The arguments may be: String to join remaining path elements with when matching against a regex. Defaults to "/", which is good for matching against URLs or filesystem paths.

include(@path)
Add an include path to the rule tree. @path may end with a regex.

exclude(@path)
Add an exclude path to the rule tree. @path may end with a regex.

evaluate(@path)
Evaluate whether @path should be included (true) or excluded (false). If the include/exclude status cannot be determined (no rules match, more than one regex matches), "undef" is returned. Jonathan Rockway, "<jrockway at cpan.org>" Please report any bugs or feature requests to "bug-algorithm-includeexclude at rt.cpan.org", or through the web interface at <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Algorithm-IncludeExclude>. I will be notified, and then you'll automatically be notified of progress on your bug as I make changes. You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. perldoc Algorithm::IncludeExclude You can also look for information at: AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation <http://annocpan.org/dist/Algorithm-IncludeExclude> CPAN Ratings <http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Algorithm-IncludeExclude> RT: CPAN's request tracker <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Algorithm-IncludeExclude> Search CPAN <http://search.cpan.org/dist/Algorithm-IncludeExclude> Copyright 2007 Jonathan Rockway, all rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.