


Text::Wrap(3p)   Perl Programmers Reference Guide  Text::Wrap(3p)


NAME
       Text::Wrap - line wrapping to form simple paragraphs

SYNOPSIS
       Example 1

               use Text::Wrap;

               $initial_tab = "\t";    # Tab before first line
               $subsequent_tab = "";   # All other lines flush left

               print wrap($initial_tab, $subsequent_tab, @text);
               print fill($initial_tab, $subsequent_tab, @text);

               $lines = wrap($initial_tab, $subsequent_tab, @text);

               @paragraphs = fill($initial_tab, $subsequent_tab, @text);

       Example 2

               use Text::Wrap qw(wrap $columns $huge);

               $columns = 132;         # Wrap at 132 characters
               $huge = 'die';
               $huge = 'wrap';
               $huge = 'overflow';

       Example 3

               use Text::Wrap;

               $Text::Wrap::columns = 72;
               print wrap('', '', @text);

DESCRIPTION
       "Text::Wrap::wrap()" is a very simple paragraph formatter.
       It formats a single paragraph at a time by breaking lines
       at word boundaries.  Indentation is controlled for the
       first line ($initial_tab) and all subsequent lines
       ($subsequent_tab) independently.  Please note:
       $initial_tab and $subsequent_tab are the literal strings
       that will be used: it is unlikely you would want to pass
       in a number.

       Text::Wrap::fill() is a simple multi-paragraph formatter.
       It formats each paragraph separately and then joins them
       together when it's done.  It will destroy any whitespace
       in the original text.  It breaks text into paragraphs by
       looking for whitespace after a newline.  In other respects
       it acts like wrap().

       Both "wrap()" and "fill()" return a single string.





perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          1





Text::Wrap(3p)   Perl Programmers Reference Guide  Text::Wrap(3p)


OVERRIDES
       "Text::Wrap::wrap()" has a number of variables that
       control its behavior.  Because other modules might be
       using "Text::Wrap::wrap()" it is suggested that you leave
       these variables alone!  If you can't do that, then use
       "local($Text::Wrap::VARIABLE) = YOURVALUE" when you change
       the values so that the original value is restored.  This
       "local()" trick will not work if you import the variable
       into your own namespace.

       Lines are wrapped at $Text::Wrap::columns columns (default
       value: 76).  $Text::Wrap::columns should be set to the
       full width of your output device.  In fact, every
       resulting line will have length of no more than "$columns
       - 1".

       It is possible to control which characters terminate words
       by modifying $Text::Wrap::break. Set this to a string such
       as '[\s:]' (to break before spaces or colons) or a pre-
       compiled regexp such as "qr/[\s']/" (to break before
       spaces or apostrophes). The default is simply '\s'; that
       is, words are terminated by spaces.  (This means, among
       other things, that trailing punctuation  such as full
       stops or commas stay with the word they are "attached"
       to.)  Setting $Text::Wrap::break to a regular expression
       that doesn't eat any characters (perhaps just a forward
       look-ahead assertion) will cause warnings.

       Beginner note: In example 2, above $columns is imported
       into the local namespace, and set locally.  In example 3,
       $Text::Wrap::columns is set in its own namespace without
       importing it.

       "Text::Wrap::wrap()" starts its work by expanding all the
       tabs in its input into spaces.  The last thing it does it
       to turn spaces back into tabs.  If you do not want tabs in
       your results, set $Text::Wrap::unexpand to a false value.
       Likewise if you do not want to use 8-character tabstops,
       set $Text::Wrap::tabstop to the number of characters you
       do want for your tabstops.

       If you want to separate your lines with something other
       than "\n" then set $Text::Wrap::separator to your
       preference.  This replaces all newlines with
       $Text::Wrap::separator.  If you just want to preserve
       existing newlines but add new breaks with something else,
       set $Text::Wrap::separator2 instead.

       When words that are longer than $columns are encountered,
       they are broken up.  "wrap()" adds a "\n" at column
       $columns.  This behavior can be overridden by setting
       $huge to 'die' or to 'overflow'.  When set to 'die', large
       words will cause "die()" to be called.  When set to
       'overflow', large words will be left intact.



perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          2





Text::Wrap(3p)   Perl Programmers Reference Guide  Text::Wrap(3p)


       Historical notes: 'die' used to be the default value of
       $huge.  Now, 'wrap' is the default value.

EXAMPLES
       Code:

         print wrap("\t","",<<END);
         This is a bit of text that forms
         a normal book-style indented paragraph
         END

       Result:

         "     This is a bit of text that forms
         a normal book-style indented paragraph
         "

       Code:

         $Text::Wrap::columns=20;
         $Text::Wrap::separator="|";
         print wrap("","","This is a bit of text that forms a normal book-style paragraph");

       Result:

         "This is a bit of|text that forms a|normal book-style|paragraph"

SEE ALSO
       For wrapping multi-byte characters: Text::WrapI18N.  For
       more detailed controls: Text::Format.

LICENSE
       David Muir Sharnoff <muir@idiom.org> with help from Tim
       Pierce and many many others.  Copyright (C) 1996-2009
       David Muir Sharnoff.  This module may be modified, used,
       copied, and redistributed at your own risk.  Publicly
       redistributed versions that are modified must use a
       different name.



















perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          3


