Pod::Escapes -- for resolving Pod EE<lt>...E<gt> sequences

- NAME
- SYNOPSIS
- DESCRIPTION
- GOODIES
- CAVEATS
- SEE ALSO
- COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMERS
- AUTHOR

# NAME

Pod::Escapes -- for resolving Pod E<...> sequences

# SYNOPSIS

      use Pod::Escapes qw(e2char);
      ...la la la, parsing POD, la la la...
      $text = e2char($e_node->label);
      unless(defined $text) {
        print "Unknown E sequence \"", $e_node->label, "\"!";
      }
      ...else print/interpolate $text...

# DESCRIPTION

This module provides things that are useful in decoding Pod E<...> sequences. Presumably, it should be used only by Pod parsers and/or formatters.

By default, Pod::Escapes exports none of its symbols. But you can request any of them to be exported. Either request them individually, as with `use Pod::Escapes qw(symbolname symbolname2...);`, or you can do `use Pod::Escapes qw(:ALL);` to get all exportable symbols.

# GOODIES

e2char($e_content)

  Given a name or number that could appear in a `E<name_or_num>` sequence, this returns the string that it stands for. For example, `e2char('sol')`, `e2char('47')`, `e2char('0x2F')`, and `e2char('057')` all return "/", because `E<sol>`, `E<47>`, `E<0x2f>`, and `E<057>`, all mean "/". If the name has no known value (as with a name of "qacute") or is syntactally invalid (as with a name of "1/4"), this returns undef.

e2charnum($e_content)

  Given a name or number that could appear in a `E<name_or_num>` sequence, this returns the number of the Unicode character that this stands for. For example, `e2char('sol')`, `e2char('47')`, `e2char('0x2F')`, and `e2char('057')` all return 47, because `E<sol>`, `E<47>`, `E<0x2f>`, and `E<057>`, all mean "/", whose Unicode number is 47. If the name has no known value (as with a name of "qacute") or is syntactally invalid (as with a name of "1/4"), this returns undef.

$Name2character{name}

  Maps from names (as in `E<name>`) like "eacute" or "sol" to the string that each stands for. Note that this does not include numerics (like "64" or "x981c"). Under old Perl versions (before 5.7) you get a "?" in place of characters whose Unicode value is over 255.

$Name2character_number{name}

  Maps from names (as in `E<name>`) like "eacute" or "sol" to the Unicode value that each stands for. For example, `$Name2character_number{'eacute'}` is 201, and `$Name2character_number{'eacute'}` is 8364. You get the correct Unicode value, regardless of the version of Perl you're using -- which differs from `%Name2character`'s behavior under pre-5.7 Perls.

  Note that this hash does not include numerics (like "64" or "x981c").

$Latin1Code_to_fallback{integer}

  For numbers in the range 160 (0x00A0) to 255 (0x00FF), this maps from the character code for a Latin-1 character (like 233 for lowercase e-acute) to the US-ASCII character that best aproximates it (like "e"). You may find this useful if you are rendering POD in a format that you think deals well only with US-ASCII characters.

$Latin1Char_to_fallback{character}

  Just as above, but maps from characters (like "\xE9", lowercase e-acute) to characters (like "e").

$Code2USASCII{integer}

  This maps from US-ASCII codes (like 32) to the corresponding character (like space, for 32). Only characters 32 to 126 are defined. This is meant for use by `e2char($x)` when it senses that it's running on a non-ASCII platform (where chr(32) doesn't get you a space -- but $Code2USASCII{32} will). It's documented here just in case you might find it useful.

# CAVEATS

On Perl versions before 5.7, Unicode characters with a value over 255 (like lambda or emdash) can't be conveyed. This module does work under such early Perl versions, but in the place of each such character, you get a "?". Latin-1 characters (characters 160-255) are unaffected.

Under EBCDIC platforms, `e2char($n)` may not always be the same as `chr(e2charnum($n))`, and ditto for `$Name2character{$name}` and `chr($Name2character_number{$name})`.

# SEE ALSO

perlpod

perlpodspec

Text::Unidecode

# COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMERS

Copyright (c) 2001-2004 Sean M. Burke. All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Portions of the data tables in this module are derived from the entity declarations in the W3C XHTML specification.

Currently (October 2001), that's these three:

     http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml-lat1.ent
     http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml-special.ent
     http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml-symbol.ent

# AUTHOR

Sean M. Burke `sburke@cpan.org`

Pod::Escapes -- for resolving Pod EE<lt>...E<gt> sequences