need help with sub (words)

[calabama]

Hello All ,
I found this code in the perl cookbook. So I was tyring to understand how to call it as a sub from a main script.


Thanks

cal

sub words{
 my ($item, $cols, $rows, $maxlen);
 my ($xpixel, $ypixel, $mask, @data);

 getwinsize();

 # first gather up every line of input,
 # remembering the longest line length seen
 $maxlen = 1;
 while (<>) {
     my $mylen;
     s/\s+$//;
     $maxlen = $mylen if (($mylen = length) > $maxlen);
     push(@data, $_);
 }

 $maxlen += 1;               # to make extra space

 # determine boundaries of screen
 $cols = int($cols / $maxlen) || 1;
 $rows = int(($#data+$cols) / $cols);

 # pre-create mask for faster computation
 $mask = sprintf(&quot;%%-%ds &quot;, $maxlen-1);

 # subroutine to check whether at last item on line
 sub EOL { ($item+1) % $cols == 0 }

 # now process each item, picking out proper piece for this position
 for ($item = 0; $item < $rows * $cols; $item++) {
     my $target =  ($item % $cols) * $rows + int($item/$cols);
     my $piece = sprintf($mask, $target < @data ? $data[$target] : &quot;&quot;);
     $piece =~ s/\s+$// if EOL();  # don't blank-pad to EOL
     print $piece;
     print &quot;\n&quot; if EOL();
 }

 # finish up if needed
 print &quot;\n&quot; if EOL();

 # not portable -- linux only
 sub getwinsize {
     my $winsize = &quot;\0&quot; x 8;
     my $TIOCGWINSZ = 0x40087468;
     if (ioctl(STDOUT, $TIOCGWINSZ, $winsize)) {
         ($rows, $cols, $xpixel, $ypixel) = unpack('S4', $winsize);
     } else {
         $cols = 80;
     }
 }

}

In the begining
Let us first assume that there was nothing to begin with.

 

[missbarbell]

The following line:

while (<>) {

indicates the input stream is via STDIN. Thus is likely to be run as a command line script. The sub can be called as:

words();

and then when you run your script, just type words then hit control-D to stop.

The output is via a set of Linux specific screen control characters.

Barbie
Leader of Birmingham Perl Mongers

http://birmingham.pm.org