Algorithm::IncludeExclude(3)

NAME
Algorithm::IncludeExclude - build and evaluate include/exclude lists

VERSION
Version 0.01

SYNOPSIS
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.

NOTES

•   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

METHODS

  new
Create a new instance. Accepts an optional hashref of arguments. The arguments may be:

join
    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.

AUTHOR
Jonathan Rockway, "<jrockway at cpan.org>"

BUGS
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.

SUPPORT
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>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
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.