+ my $self = shift; # is a dxchan
+ my $ref = shift; # is a thingy with field_prompt and fields methods defined
+ my @out;
+ my @fields = $ref->fields;
+ my $field;
+ my $width = $self->width - 1;
+ $width ||= 80;
+
+ foreach $field (sort {_sort_fields($ref, $a, $b)} @fields) {
+ if (defined $ref->{$field}) {
+ my ($priv, $ans) = promptf($ref->field_prompt($field), $ref->{$field});
+ my @tmp;
+ if (length $ans > $width) {
+ my ($p, $a) = split /: /, $ans, 2;
+ my $l = (length $p) + 2;
+ my $al = ($width - 1) - $l;
+ my $bit;
+ while (length $a > $al ) {
+ ($bit, $a) = unpack "A$al A*", $a;
+ push @tmp, "$p: $bit";
+ $p = ' ' x ($l - 2);
+ }
+ push @tmp, "$p: $a" if length $a;
+ } else {
+ push @tmp, $ans;
+ }
+ push @out, @tmp if ($self->priv >= $priv);
+ }
+ }
+ return @out;
+}
+
+# generate a regex from a shell type expression
+# see 'perl cookbook' 6.9
+sub shellregex
+{
+ my $in = shift;
+ $in =~ s{(.)} { $patmap{$1} || "\Q$1" }ge;
+ return '^' . $in . "\$";
+}
+
+# read in a file into a string and return it.
+# the filename can be split into a dir and file and the
+# file can be in upper or lower case.
+# there can also be a suffix
+sub readfilestr
+{
+ my ($dir, $file, $suffix) = @_;
+ my $fn;
+ my $f;
+ if ($suffix) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$f.$suffix";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file.$suffix";
+ }
+ } elsif ($file) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ }
+ } else {
+ $fn = $dir;
+ }
+
+ my $fh = new IO::File $fn;
+ my $s = undef;
+ if ($fh) {
+ local $/ = undef;
+ $s = <$fh>;
+ $fh->close;
+ }
+ return $s;
+}
+
+# write out a file in the format required for reading
+# in via readfilestr, it expects the same arguments
+# and a reference to an object
+sub writefilestr
+{
+ my $dir = shift;
+ my $file = shift;
+ my $suffix = shift;
+ my $obj = shift;
+ my $fn;
+ my $f;
+
+ confess('no object to write in writefilestr') unless $obj;
+ confess('object not a reference in writefilestr') unless ref $obj;
+
+ if ($suffix) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$f.$suffix";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file.$suffix";
+ }
+ } elsif ($file) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ }
+ } else {
+ $fn = $dir;
+ }
+
+ my $fh = new IO::File ">$fn";
+ if ($fh) {
+ my $dd = new Data::Dumper([ $obj ]);
+ $dd->Indent(1);
+ $dd->Terse(1);
+ $dd->Quotekeys(0);
+ # $fh->print(@_) if @_ > 0; # any header comments, lines etc
+ $fh->print($dd->Dumpxs);
+ $fh->close;
+ }
+}
+
+sub filecopy
+{
+ copy(@_) or return $!;
+}