NAME

Tie::RegexpHash - Use regular expressions as hash keys

REQUIREMENTS

Tie::RegexpHash is written for and tested on Perl 5.6.0, but should run with Perl 5.005. (Because it uses Regexp variables it cannot run on earlier versions of Perl.)

It uses only standard modules. Serialization is supported through Storable, but Storable is not required for normal operation.

Installation

Installation can be done using the traditional Makefile.PL or the newer Build.PL methods.

Using Makefile.PL:

      perl Makefile.PL
      make test
      make install

(On Windows platforms you should use `nmake' instead.)

Using Build.PL (if you have Module::Build installed):

      perl Build.PL
      perl Build test
      perl Build install

SYNOPSIS

use Tie::RegexpHash;

my %hash;

tie %hash, 'Tie::RegexpHash';

$hash{ qr/^5(\s+|-)?gal(\.|lons?)?/i } = '5-GAL';

      $hash{'5 gal'};     # returns "5-GAL"
      $hash{'5GAL'};      # returns "5-GAL"
      $hash{'5  gallon'}; # also returns "5-GAL"

      my $rehash = Tie::RegexpHash->new();

      $rehash->add( qr/\d+(\.\d+)?/, "contains a number" );
      $rehash->add( qr/s$/,          "ends with an \`s\'" );

      $rehash->match( "foo 123" );  # returns "contains a number"
      $rehash->match( "examples" ); # returns "ends with an `s'"

DESCRIPTION

This module allows one to use regular expressions for hash keys, so that values can be associated with anything that matches the key.

Hashes can be operated on using the standard tied hash interface in Perl, or using an object-oriented interface described below.

REVISION HISTORY

A brief list of changes since the previous release:

0.15 11 Feb 2006

• updated notes on Storable use in documentation
• support serialization with Storable, but do not require Storable
• skip serialization tests if Storable is not available

0.14_03 10 Feb 2006

• noted use of Storable in documentation
• fix for MANIFEST

0.14_02 10 Feb 2006

• fix for freeze subroutine (from Russell Harrison)
• tests for serialization hooks (from Russell Harrison)

0.14_01 9 Feb 2006

• updated test suite to use Test::More
• added serialization hooks with Storable (patch from Russell Harrison)
• README built with Pod::Readme

For a detailed history see the Changes file included in this distribution.

AUTHOR

Robert Rothenberg <rrwo at cpan.org>

LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2001-2002, 2005-2006 Robert Rothenberg. All rights reserved.

Portions Copyright (c) 2006 Russell Harrison. All rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

SEE ALSO

Tie::Hash::Regex is a module with a complimentary function. Rather than a hash with Regexps as keys that match against fetches, it has standard keys that are matched by Regexps in fetches.

Regexp::Match::Any matches many Regexps against a variable.

Regexp::Match::List is similar, but supports callbacks and various optimizations.