This is the README file for Data::Dumper, the Perl data-structure printing/stringification module. This is version 2.101. See the CHANGES section below for details on the new features and fixes in this release. Perl version 5.004 or later is required to build and use this module. ---NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE---NOTE--- | | | Data-Dumper comes standard with perl from version 5.004_71. | | | | Building the XSUB version *requires* a C compiler that groks ANSI | | prototypes. You may install the non-XSUB version if you're not so | | lucky. See the INSTALLATION section below. | | | ---NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE----NOTE---NOTE--- You may find this module useful if you: * are writing an application that must display perl data structures. * want to store some data structures to disk, in either a compact or perl readable format (Dumper outputs pure perl, so you don't have to invent your own portable data format, or parse it; simply "do FILE" or read the data back in with perl and eval() it). See the MLDBM module for an example of one such use. * want a simple, yet powerful, persistence engine that can be quickly integrated into your application, and is a breeze to debug. * want a facility to make copies of data, or quickly find differences between data structures. Dumper can be efficient if you are on a system supported by MakeMaker and xsubpp, the perl extension building tools. In this case, Dumper will build a XSUB extension that will be much faster than its perl counterpart (in my tests, about 4 to 5 times). In either case, you should be able to use this module without loss of functionality. See the embedded documentation in the module for more details. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. - Sarathy. gsar@umich.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------- INSTALLATION Installation requires a functional Makemaker and perl 5.004 or later. Do either of these: a. If your platform has a C compiler AND is supported by xsubpp: gzip -c -d Data-Dumper-2.101.tar.gz | tar xvf - cd Data-Dumper-2.101 perl Makefile.PL make test make install b. If you have no C compiler OR if you don't want the XSUB extension (no loss of functionality, only speed): gzip -c -d Data-Dumper-2.101.tar.gz | tar xvf - cd Data-Dumper-2.101 perl Makefile.PL noxs # flips to non-xsub version make test make install If you decide to go back to compiling the XSUB extension after this, just do: make distclean perl Makefile.PL xs # flips to non-xsub version make test make install --------------------------------------------------------------------- CHANGES 2.101 (30 Apr 1999) Minor release to sync with version in 5.005_03. Fixes dump of dummy coderefs. 2.10 (31 Oct 1998) Bugfixes for dumping related undef values, globs, and better double quoting: three patches suggested by Gisle Aas . Escaping of single quotes in the XS version could get tripped up by the presence of nulls in the string. Fix suggested by Slaven Rezic . Rather large scale reworking of the logic in how seen values are stashed. Anonymous scalars that may be encountered while traversing the structure are properly tracked, in case they become used in data dumped in a later pass. There used to be a problem with the previous logic that prevented such structures from being dumped correctly. Various additions to the testsuite. 2.09 (9 July 1998) Implement $Data::Dumper::Bless, suggested by Mark Daku . 2.081 (15 January 1998) Minor release to fix Makefile.PL not accepting MakeMaker args.