| =head1 NAME |
| |
| perlclib - Internal replacements for standard C library functions |
| |
| =head1 DESCRIPTION |
| |
| One thing Perl porters should note is that F<perl> doesn't tend to use that |
| much of the C standard library internally; you'll see very little use of, |
| for example, the F<ctype.h> functions in there. This is because Perl |
| tends to reimplement or abstract standard library functions, so that we |
| know exactly how they're going to operate. |
| |
| This is a reference card for people who are familiar with the C library |
| and who want to do things the Perl way; to tell them which functions |
| they ought to use instead of the more normal C functions. |
| |
| =head2 Conventions |
| |
| In the following tables: |
| |
| =over 3 |
| |
| =item C<t> |
| |
| is a type. |
| |
| =item C<p> |
| |
| is a pointer. |
| |
| =item C<n> |
| |
| is a number. |
| |
| =item C<s> |
| |
| is a string. |
| |
| =back |
| |
| C<sv>, C<av>, C<hv>, etc. represent variables of their respective types. |
| |
| =head2 File Operations |
| |
| Instead of the F<stdio.h> functions, you should use the Perl abstraction |
| layer. Instead of C<FILE*> types, you need to be handling C<PerlIO*> |
| types. Don't forget that with the new PerlIO layered I/O abstraction |
| C<FILE*> types may not even be available. See also the C<perlapio> |
| documentation for more information about the following functions: |
| |
| Instead Of: Use: |
| |
| stdin PerlIO_stdin() |
| stdout PerlIO_stdout() |
| stderr PerlIO_stderr() |
| |
| fopen(fn, mode) PerlIO_open(fn, mode) |
| freopen(fn, mode, stream) PerlIO_reopen(fn, mode, perlio) (Deprecated) |
| fflush(stream) PerlIO_flush(perlio) |
| fclose(stream) PerlIO_close(perlio) |
| |
| =head2 File Input and Output |
| |
| Instead Of: Use: |
| |
| fprintf(stream, fmt, ...) PerlIO_printf(perlio, fmt, ...) |
| |
| [f]getc(stream) PerlIO_getc(perlio) |
| [f]putc(stream, n) PerlIO_putc(perlio, n) |
| ungetc(n, stream) PerlIO_ungetc(perlio, n) |
| |
| Note that the PerlIO equivalents of C<fread> and C<fwrite> are slightly |
| different from their C library counterparts: |
| |
| fread(p, size, n, stream) PerlIO_read(perlio, buf, numbytes) |
| fwrite(p, size, n, stream) PerlIO_write(perlio, buf, numbytes) |
| |
| fputs(s, stream) PerlIO_puts(perlio, s) |
| |
| There is no equivalent to C<fgets>; one should use C<sv_gets> instead: |
| |
| fgets(s, n, stream) sv_gets(sv, perlio, append) |
| |
| =head2 File Positioning |
| |
| Instead Of: Use: |
| |
| feof(stream) PerlIO_eof(perlio) |
| fseek(stream, n, whence) PerlIO_seek(perlio, n, whence) |
| rewind(stream) PerlIO_rewind(perlio) |
| |
| fgetpos(stream, p) PerlIO_getpos(perlio, sv) |
| fsetpos(stream, p) PerlIO_setpos(perlio, sv) |
| |
| ferror(stream) PerlIO_error(perlio) |
| clearerr(stream) PerlIO_clearerr(perlio) |
| |
| =head2 Memory Management and String Handling |
| |
| Instead Of: Use: |
| |
| t* p = malloc(n) Newx(id, p, n, t) |
| t* p = calloc(n, s) Newxz(id, p, n, t) |
| p = realloc(p, n) Renew(p, n, t) |
| memcpy(dst, src, n) Copy(src, dst, n, t) |
| memmove(dst, src, n) Move(src, dst, n, t) |
| memcpy(dst, src, sizeof(t)) StructCopy(src, dst, t) |
| memset(dst, 0, n * sizeof(t)) Zero(dst, n, t) |
| memzero(dst, 0) Zero(dst, n, char) |
| free(p) Safefree(p) |
| |
| strdup(p) savepv(p) |
| strndup(p, n) savepvn(p, n) (Hey, strndup doesn't exist!) |
| |
| strstr(big, little) instr(big, little) |
| strcmp(s1, s2) strLE(s1, s2) / strEQ(s1, s2) / strGT(s1,s2) |
| strncmp(s1, s2, n) strnNE(s1, s2, n) / strnEQ(s1, s2, n) |
| |
| Notice the different order of arguments to C<Copy> and C<Move> than used |
| in C<memcpy> and C<memmove>. |
| |
| Most of the time, though, you'll want to be dealing with SVs internally |
| instead of raw C<char *> strings: |
| |
| strlen(s) sv_len(sv) |
| strcpy(dt, src) sv_setpv(sv, s) |
| strncpy(dt, src, n) sv_setpvn(sv, s, n) |
| strcat(dt, src) sv_catpv(sv, s) |
| strncat(dt, src) sv_catpvn(sv, s) |
| sprintf(s, fmt, ...) sv_setpvf(sv, fmt, ...) |
| |
| Note also the existence of C<sv_catpvf> and C<sv_vcatpvfn>, combining |
| concatenation with formatting. |
| |
| Sometimes instead of zeroing the allocated heap by using Newxz() you |
| should consider "poisoning" the data. This means writing a bit |
| pattern into it that should be illegal as pointers (and floating point |
| numbers), and also hopefully surprising enough as integers, so that |
| any code attempting to use the data without forethought will break |
| sooner rather than later. Poisoning can be done using the Poison() |
| macros, which have similar arguments to Zero(): |
| |
| PoisonWith(dst, n, t, b) scribble memory with byte b |
| PoisonNew(dst, n, t) equal to PoisonWith(dst, n, t, 0xAB) |
| PoisonFree(dst, n, t) equal to PoisonWith(dst, n, t, 0xEF) |
| Poison(dst, n, t) equal to PoisonFree(dst, n, t) |
| |
| =head2 Character Class Tests |
| |
| There are two types of character class tests that Perl implements: one |
| type deals in C<char>s and are thus B<not> Unicode aware (and hence |
| deprecated unless you B<know> you should use them) and the other type |
| deal in C<UV>s and know about Unicode properties. In the following |
| table, C<c> is a C<char>, and C<u> is a Unicode codepoint. |
| |
| Instead Of: Use: But better use: |
| |
| isalnum(c) isALNUM(c) isALNUM_uni(u) |
| isalpha(c) isALPHA(c) isALPHA_uni(u) |
| iscntrl(c) isCNTRL(c) isCNTRL_uni(u) |
| isdigit(c) isDIGIT(c) isDIGIT_uni(u) |
| isgraph(c) isGRAPH(c) isGRAPH_uni(u) |
| islower(c) isLOWER(c) isLOWER_uni(u) |
| isprint(c) isPRINT(c) isPRINT_uni(u) |
| ispunct(c) isPUNCT(c) isPUNCT_uni(u) |
| isspace(c) isSPACE(c) isSPACE_uni(u) |
| isupper(c) isUPPER(c) isUPPER_uni(u) |
| isxdigit(c) isXDIGIT(c) isXDIGIT_uni(u) |
| |
| tolower(c) toLOWER(c) toLOWER_uni(u) |
| toupper(c) toUPPER(c) toUPPER_uni(u) |
| |
| =head2 F<stdlib.h> functions |
| |
| Instead Of: Use: |
| |
| atof(s) Atof(s) |
| atol(s) Atol(s) |
| strtod(s, &p) Nothing. Just don't use it. |
| strtol(s, &p, n) Strtol(s, &p, n) |
| strtoul(s, &p, n) Strtoul(s, &p, n) |
| |
| Notice also the C<grok_bin>, C<grok_hex>, and C<grok_oct> functions in |
| F<numeric.c> for converting strings representing numbers in the respective |
| bases into C<NV>s. |
| |
| In theory C<Strtol> and C<Strtoul> may not be defined if the machine perl is |
| built on doesn't actually have strtol and strtoul. But as those 2 |
| functions are part of the 1989 ANSI C spec we suspect you'll find them |
| everywhere by now. |
| |
| int rand() double Drand01() |
| srand(n) { seedDrand01((Rand_seed_t)n); |
| PL_srand_called = TRUE; } |
| |
| exit(n) my_exit(n) |
| system(s) Don't. Look at pp_system or use my_popen |
| |
| getenv(s) PerlEnv_getenv(s) |
| setenv(s, val) my_putenv(s, val) |
| |
| =head2 Miscellaneous functions |
| |
| You should not even B<want> to use F<setjmp.h> functions, but if you |
| think you do, use the C<JMPENV> stack in F<scope.h> instead. |
| |
| For C<signal>/C<sigaction>, use C<rsignal(signo, handler)>. |
| |
| =head1 SEE ALSO |
| |
| L<perlapi>, L<perlapio>, L<perlguts> |
| |