pod::text(3)
NAME
Pod::Text - Convert POD data to formatted ASCII text
SYNOPSIS
use Pod::Text;
my $parser = Pod::Text->new (sentence => 0, width =>
78);
# Read POD from STDIN and write to STDOUT.
$parser->parse_from_filehandle;
# Read POD from file.pod and write to file.txt.
$parser->parse_from_file ('file.pod', 'file.txt');
DESCRIPTION
Pod::Text is a module that can convert documentation in
the POD format (the preferred language for documenting
Perl) into formatted ASCII. It uses no special formatting
controls or codes whatsoever, and its output is therefore
suitable for nearly any device.
As a derived class from Pod::Parser, Pod::Text supports
the same methods and interfaces. See Pod::Parser for all
the details; briefly, one creates a new parser with
"Pod::Text->new()" and then calls either parse_from_file_
handle() or parse_from_file().
new() can take options, in the form of key/value pairs,
that control the behavior of the parser. The currently
recognized options are:
- alt If set to a true value, selects an alternate output
- format that, among other things, uses a different
heading style and marks "=item" entries with a colon
in the left margin. Defaults to false. - code
- If set to a true value, the non-POD parts of the input
file will be included in the output. Useful for view
ing code documented with POD blocks with the POD ren
dered and the code left intact. - indent
- The number of spaces to indent regular text, and the
default indentation for "=over" blocks. Defaults to
4. - loose
- If set to a true value, a blank line is printed after
a "=head1" heading. If set to false (the default), no
blank line is printed after "=head1", although one is
still printed after "=head2". This is the default
because it's the expected formatting for manual pages;
if you're formatting arbitrary text documents, setting
this to true may result in more pleasing output. - quotes
- Sets the quote marks used to surround C<> text. If
the value is a single character, it is used as both
the left and right quote; if it is two characters, the
first character is used as the left quote and the sec
ond as the right quoted; and if it is four characters,
the first two are used as the left quote and the
second two as the right quote. - This may also be set to the special value "none", in
which case no quote marks are added around C<> text. - sentence
- If set to a true value, Pod::Text will assume that
each sentence ends in two spaces, and will try to pre
serve that spacing. If set to false, all consecutive
whitespace in non-verbatim paragraphs is compressed
into a single space. Defaults to true. - width
- The column at which to wrap text on the right-hand
side. Defaults to 76. - The standard Pod::Parser method parse_from_filehandle()
takes up to two arguments, the first being the file handle
to read POD from and the second being the file handle to
write the formatted output to. The first defaults to
STDIN if not given, and the second defaults to STDOUT.
The method parse_from_file() is almost identical, except that its two arguments are the input and output disk files
instead. See Pod::Parser for the specific details.
DIAGNOSTICS
- Bizarre space in item
Item called without tag - (W) Something has gone wrong in internal "=item" pro
cessing. These messages indicate a bug in Pod::Text;
you should never see them. - Can't open %s for reading: %s
- (F) Pod::Text was invoked via the compatibility mode
pod2text() interface and the input file it was given could not be opened. - Invalid quote specification "%s"
- (F) The quote specification given (the quotes option
to the constructor) was invalid. A quote specifica
tion must be one, two, or four characters long. - %s:%d: Unknown command paragraph: %s
- (W) The POD source contained a non-standard command
paragraph (something of the form "=command args") that
Pod::Man didn't know about. It was ignored. - %s:%d: Unknown escape: %s
- (W) The POD source contained an "E<>" escape that
Pod::Text didn't know about. - %s:%d: Unknown formatting code: %s
- (W) The POD source contained a non-standard formatting
code (something of the form "X<>") that Pod::Text
didn't know about. - %s:%d: Unmatched =back
- (W) Pod::Text encountered a "=back" command that
didn't correspond to an "=over" command.
RESTRICTIONS
Embedded Ctrl-As (octal 001) in the input will be mapped
to spaces on output, due to an internal implementation
detail.
NOTES
This is a replacement for an earlier Pod::Text module
written by Tom Christiansen. It has a revamped interface,
since it now uses Pod::Parser, but an interface roughly
compatible with the old Pod::Text::pod2text() function is
still available. Please change to the new calling conven
tion, though.
The original Pod::Text contained code to do formatting via
termcap sequences, although it wasn't turned on by default
and it was problematic to get it to work at all. This
rewrite doesn't even try to do that, but a subclass of it
does. Look for Pod::Text::Termcap.
SEE ALSO
Pod::Parser, Pod::Text::Termcap, pod2text(1)
The current version of this module is always available
from its web site at <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/soft
ware/podlators/>. It is also part of the Perl core dis
tribution as of 5.6.0.
AUTHOR
Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>, based very heavily on the
original Pod::Text by Tom Christiansen
<tchrist@mox.perl.com> and its conversion to Pod::Parser
by Brad Appleton <bradapp@enteract.com>.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Russ Allbery
<rra@stanford.edu>.
- This program is free software; you may redistribute it
and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.