PerlIO::via::Unidecode - a perlio layer for Unidecode

  % cat utf8translit
  #!/usr/bin/perl
  use strict;
  use PerlIO::via::Unidecode;
  foreach my $f (@ARGV) {
    open IN, '<:encoding(utf8):via(Unidecode)', $f or die "$f -> $!\n";
    print while <IN>;
    close(IN);
  }
  __END__

  % od -x home_city.txt
  000000:  E5 8C 97 E4 BA B0 0D 0A

that's the the Chinese characters for Beijing, in UTF8

  % utf8translit home_city.txt
  Bei Jing

PerlIO::via::Unidecode implements a PerlIO::via layer that applies Unidecode (Text::Unidecode) to data passed through it.

You can use PerlIO::via::Unidecode on already-Unicode data, as in the example in the SYNOPSIS; or you can combine it with other layers, as in this little program that converts KOI8R text into Unicode and then feeds it to Unidecode, which then outputs an ASCII transliteration:

  % cat transkoi8r
  #!/usr/bin/perl
  use strict;
  use PerlIO::via::Unidecode;
  foreach my $f (@ARGV) {
    open IN, '<:encoding(koi8-r):via(Unidecode)', $f or die $!;
    print while <IN>;
    close(IN);
  }
  __END__

  % cat fet_koi8r.txt

  Когда читала ты мучительные строки,
  Где сердца звучный пыл сиянье льет кругом
  И страсти роковой вздымаются потоки,-
        Не вспомнила ль о чем?

  % transkoi8r fet_koi8r.txt

  Koghda chitala ty muchitiel'nyie stroki,
  Gdie sierdtsa zvuchnyi pyl siian'ie l'iet krughom
  I strasti rokovoi vzdymaiutsia potoki,-
      Nie vspomnila l' o chiem?

Of course, you could do this all by manually calling Text::Unidecode's unidecode(...) function on every line you fetch, but that's just what :via(...) layers do automatically do for you.

Note that you can also use :via(Unidecode) as an output layer too. In that case, add a dummy ":utf8" after it, as below, just to silence some "wide character in print" warnings that you might otherwise see.

  % cat writebei.pl
  use PerlIO::via::Unidecode;
  open OUT, ">:via(Unidecode):utf8", "rombei.txt" or die $!;
  print OUT "\x{5317}\x{4EB0}\n";
    # those are the Chinese characters for Beijing
  close(OUT);

  % perl writebei.pl

  % cat rombei.txt
  Bei Jing 

This module provides no public functions or methods -- everything is done thru the via interface. If you want a function, see Text::Unidecode.

Don't forget the "use PerlIO::via::Unidecode;" line, and be sure to get the case right.

Don't type "Unicode" when you mean "Unidecode", nor vice versa.

Handy modes to remember:

  <:encoding(utf8):via(Unidecode)
  <:encoding(some-other-encoding):via(Unidecode)
  >:via(Unidecode):utf8

Text::Unidecode

PerlIO::via

Encode and Encode::Supported (even though the modes they implement are called as ":encoding(...)").

PerlIO::via::PinyinConvert

Thanks for Jarkko Hietaniemi for help with this module and many other things besides.

Copyright 2003, Sean M. Burke sburke@cpan.org, all rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The programs and documentation in this dist are distributed in the hope that they will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Sean M. Burke sburke&64;cpan.org