


PerlIO(3p)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      PerlIO(3p)


NAME
       PerlIO - On demand loader for PerlIO layers and root of
       PerlIO::* name space

SYNOPSIS
         open($fh,"<:crlf", "my.txt"); # support platform-native and CRLF text files

         open($fh,"<","his.jpg");      # portably open a binary file for reading
         binmode($fh);

         Shell:
           PERLIO=perlio perl ....

DESCRIPTION
       When an undefined layer 'foo' is encountered in an "open"
       or "binmode" layer specification then C code performs the
       equivalent of:

         use PerlIO 'foo';

       The perl code in PerlIO.pm then attempts to locate a layer
       by doing

         require PerlIO::foo;

       Otherwise the "PerlIO" package is a place holder for
       additional PerlIO related functions.

       The following layers are currently defined:

       :unix
           Lowest level layer which provides basic PerlIO
           operations in terms of UNIX/POSIX numeric file
           descriptor calls (open(), read(), write(), lseek(),
           close()).

       :stdio
           Layer which calls "fread", "fwrite" and
           "fseek"/"ftell" etc.  Note that as this is "real"
           stdio it will ignore any layers beneath it and go
           straight to the operating system via the C library as
           usual.

       :perlio
           A from scratch implementation of buffering for PerlIO.
           Provides fast access to the buffer for "sv_gets" which
           implements perl's readline/<> and in general attempts
           to minimize data copying.

           ":perlio" will insert a ":unix" layer below itself to
           do low level IO.

       :crlf
           A layer that implements DOS/Windows like CRLF line



perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          1





PerlIO(3p)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      PerlIO(3p)


           endings.  On read converts pairs of CR,LF to a single
           "\n" newline character.  On write converts each "\n"
           to a CR,LF pair.  Note that this layer likes to be one
           of its kind: it silently ignores attempts to be pushed
           into the layer stack more than once.

           It currently does not mimic MS-DOS as far as treating
           of Control-Z as being an end-of-file marker.

           (Gory details follow) To be more exact what happens is
           this: after pushing itself to the stack, the ":crlf"
           layer checks all the layers below itself to find the
           first layer that is capable of being a CRLF layer but
           is not yet enabled to be a CRLF layer.  If it finds
           such a layer, it enables the CRLFness of that other
           deeper layer, and then pops itself off the stack.  If
           not, fine, use the one we just pushed.

           The end result is that a ":crlf" means "please enable
           the first CRLF layer you can find, and if you can't
           find one, here would be a good spot to place a new
           one."

           Based on the ":perlio" layer.

       :mmap
           A layer which implements "reading" of files by using
           "mmap()" to make a (whole) file appear in the
           process's address space, and then using that as
           PerlIO's "buffer". This may be faster in certain
           circumstances for large files, and may result in less
           physical memory use when multiple processes are
           reading the same file.

           Files which are not "mmap()"-able revert to behaving
           like the ":perlio" layer. Writes also behave like the
           ":perlio" layer, as "mmap()" for write needs extra
           house-keeping (to extend the file) which negates any
           advantage.

           The ":mmap" layer will not exist if the platform does
           not support "mmap()".

       :utf8
           Declares that the stream accepts perl's internal
           encoding of characters.  (Which really is UTF-8 on
           ASCII machines, but is UTF-EBCDIC on EBCDIC machines.)
           This allows any character perl can represent to be
           read from or written to the stream. The UTF-X encoding
           is chosen to render simple text parts (i.e.  non-
           accented letters, digits and common punctuation) human
           readable in the encoded file.

           Here is how to write your native data out using UTF-8



perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          2





PerlIO(3p)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      PerlIO(3p)


           (or UTF-EBCDIC) and then read it back in.

                   open(F, ">:utf8", "data.utf");
                   print F $out;
                   close(F);

                   open(F, "<:utf8", "data.utf");
                   $in = <F>;
                   close(F);

           Note that this layer does not validate byte sequences.
           For reading input, using ":encoding(utf8)" instead of
           bare ":utf8" is strongly recommended.

       :bytes
           This is the inverse of the ":utf8" layer. It turns off
           the flag on the layer below so that data read from it
           is considered to be "octets" i.e. characters in the
           range 0..255 only. Likewise on output perl will warn
           if a "wide" character is written to a such a stream.

       :raw
           The ":raw" layer is defined as being identical to
           calling "binmode($fh)" - the stream is made suitable
           for passing binary data, i.e. each byte is passed as-
           is. The stream will still be buffered.

           In Perl 5.6 and some books the ":raw" layer
           (previously sometimes also referred to as a
           "discipline") is documented as the inverse of the
           ":crlf" layer. That is no longer the case - other
           layers which would alter the binary nature of the
           stream are also disabled.  If you want UNIX line
           endings on a platform that normally does CRLF
           translation, but still want UTF-8 or encoding
           defaults, the appropriate thing to do is to add
           ":perlio" to the PERLIO environment variable.

           The implementation of ":raw" is as a pseudo-layer
           which when "pushed" pops itself and then any layers
           which do not declare themselves as suitable for binary
           data. (Undoing :utf8 and :crlf are implemented by
           clearing flags rather than popping layers but that is
           an implementation detail.)

           As a consequence of the fact that ":raw" normally pops
           layers, it usually only makes sense to have it as the
           only or first element in a layer specification.  When
           used as the first element it provides a known base on
           which to build e.g.

               open($fh,":raw:utf8",...)

           will construct a "binary" stream, but then enable



perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          3





PerlIO(3p)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      PerlIO(3p)


           UTF-8 translation.

       :pop
           A pseudo layer that removes the top-most layer. Gives
           perl code a way to manipulate the layer stack. Should
           be considered as experimental. Note that ":pop" only
           works on real layers and will not undo the effects of
           pseudo layers like ":utf8".  An example of a possible
           use might be:

               open($fh,...)
               ...
               binmode($fh,":encoding(...)");  # next chunk is encoded
               ...
               binmode($fh,":pop");            # back to un-encoded

           A more elegant (and safer) interface is needed.

       :win32
           On Win32 platforms this experimental layer uses the
           native "handle" IO rather than the unix-like numeric
           file descriptor layer. Known to be buggy as of perl
           5.8.2.

   Custom Layers
       It is possible to write custom layers in addition to the
       above builtin ones, both in C/XS and Perl.  Two such
       layers (and one example written in Perl using the latter)
       come with the Perl distribution.

       :encoding
           Use ":encoding(ENCODING)" either in open() or
           binmode() to install a layer that transparently does
           character set and encoding transformations, for
           example from Shift-JIS to Unicode.  Note that under
           "stdio" an ":encoding" also enables ":utf8".  See
           PerlIO::encoding for more information.

       :via
           Use ":via(MODULE)" either in open() or binmode() to
           install a layer that does whatever transformation (for
           example compression / decompression, encryption /
           decryption) to the filehandle.  See PerlIO::via for
           more information.

   Alternatives to raw
       To get a binary stream an alternate method is to use:

           open($fh,"whatever")
           binmode($fh);

       this has the advantage of being backward compatible with
       how such things have had to be coded on some platforms for
       years.



perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          4





PerlIO(3p)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      PerlIO(3p)


       To get an unbuffered stream specify an unbuffered layer
       (e.g. ":unix") in the open call:

           open($fh,"<:unix",$path)

   Defaults and how to override them
       If the platform is MS-DOS like and normally does CRLF to
       "\n" translation for text files then the default layers
       are :

         unix crlf

       (The low level "unix" layer may be replaced by a platform
       specific low level layer.)

       Otherwise if "Configure" found out how to do "fast" IO
       using the system's stdio, then the default layers are:

         unix stdio

       Otherwise the default layers are

         unix perlio

       These defaults may change once perlio has been better
       tested and tuned.

       The default can be overridden by setting the environment
       variable PERLIO to a space separated list of layers
       ("unix" or platform low level layer is always pushed
       first).

       This can be used to see the effect of/bugs in the various
       layers e.g.

         cd .../perl/t
         PERLIO=stdio  ./perl harness
         PERLIO=perlio ./perl harness

       For the various values of PERLIO see "PERLIO" in perlrun.

   Querying the layers of filehandles
       The following returns the names of the PerlIO layers on a
       filehandle.

          my @layers = PerlIO::get_layers($fh); # Or FH, *FH, "FH".

       The layers are returned in the order an open() or
       binmode() call would use them.  Note that the "default
       stack" depends on the operating system and on the Perl
       version, and both the compile-time and runtime
       configurations of Perl.

       The following table summarizes the default layers on UNIX-



perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          5





PerlIO(3p)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      PerlIO(3p)


       like and DOS-like platforms and depending on the setting
       of $ENV{PERLIO}:

        PERLIO     UNIX-like                   DOS-like
        ------     ---------                   --------
        unset / "" unix perlio / stdio [1]     unix crlf
        stdio      unix perlio / stdio [1]     stdio
        perlio     unix perlio                 unix perlio
        mmap       unix mmap                   unix mmap

        # [1] "stdio" if Configure found out how to do "fast stdio" (depends
        # on the stdio implementation) and in Perl 5.8, otherwise "unix perlio"

       By default the layers from the input side of the
       filehandle are returned; to get the output side, use the
       optional "output" argument:

          my @layers = PerlIO::get_layers($fh, output => 1);

       (Usually the layers are identical on either side of a
       filehandle but for example with sockets there may be
       differences, or if you have been using the "open" pragma.)

       There is no set_layers(), nor does get_layers() return a
       tied array mirroring the stack, or anything fancy like
       that.  This is not accidental or unintentional.  The
       PerlIO layer stack is a bit more complicated than just a
       stack (see for example the behaviour of ":raw").  You are
       supposed to use open() and binmode() to manipulate the
       stack.

       Implementation details follow, please close your eyes.

       The arguments to layers are by default returned in
       parentheses after the name of the layer, and certain
       layers (like "utf8") are not real layers but instead flags
       on real layers; to get all of these returned separately,
       use the optional "details" argument:

          my @layer_and_args_and_flags = PerlIO::get_layers($fh, details => 1);

       The result will be up to be three times the number of
       layers: the first element will be a name, the second
       element the arguments (unspecified arguments will be
       "undef"), the third element the flags, the fourth element
       a name again, and so forth.

       You may open your eyes now.

AUTHOR
       Nick Ing-Simmons <nick@ing-simmons.net>

SEE ALSO
       "binmode" in perlfunc, "open" in perlfunc, perlunicode,



perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          6





PerlIO(3p)       Perl Programmers Reference Guide      PerlIO(3p)


       perliol, Encode
























































perl v5.10.1                2009-10-12                          7


