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<TITLE>Syntax::Highlight::Perl  -  Highlighting of Perl Syntactical Structures</TITLE>
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<!-- INDEX BEGIN -->

<UL>

	<LI><A HREF="#NAME">NAME</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#VERSION">VERSION</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</A>
	<UL>

		<LI><A HREF="#Constructors">Constructors</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#Formatting">Formatting</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#Setting_and_Getting_Formats">Setting and Getting Formats</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#Checking_and_Setting_the_State">Checking and Setting the State</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#Stable_and_Unstable_Formatting_M">Stable and Unstable Formatting Modes</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#Substitutions">Substitutions</A>
	</UL>

	<LI><A HREF="#FORMAT_TYPES">FORMAT TYPES</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#PROCEDURAL_vs_OBJECT_ORIENTED">PROCEDURAL vs. OBJECT ORIENTED</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#METHODS">METHODS</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#KNOWN_ISSUES_or_LIMITATIONS">KNOWN ISSUES or LIMITATIONS</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#AUTHOR">AUTHOR</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#TO_DO">TO DO</A>
	<LI><A HREF="#REVISIONS">REVISIONS</A>
	<UL>

		<LI><A HREF="#04_04_2001_Cory_Johns">04-04-2001  Cory Johns</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#03_30_2001_Cory_Johns">03-30-2001  Cory Johns</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#03_29_2001_Cory_Johns">03-29-2001  Cory Johns</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#03_27_2001_Cory_Johns">03-27-2001  Cory Johns</A>
		<LI><A HREF="#03_20_2001_Cory_Johns">03-20-2001  Cory Johns</A>
	</UL>

</UL>
<!-- INDEX END -->

<HR>
<P>
<H1><A NAME="NAME">NAME</A></H1>
<P>
Syntax::Highlight::Perl - Highlighting of Perl Syntactical Structures

<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="VERSION">VERSION</A></H1>
<P>
This file documents Syntax::Highlight::Perl version <STRONG>1.0</STRONG>.

<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</A></H1>
<P>
<PRE>    # simple procedural
    use Syntax::Highlight::Perl ':BASIC';  # or ':FULL'
</PRE>
<P>
<PRE>    print format_string($my_string);
</PRE>
<P>
<PRE>    # OO
    use Syntax::Highlight::Perl;
</PRE>
<P>
<PRE>    my $formatter = new Syntax::Highlight::Perl;
    print $formatter-&gt;format_string($my_string);
</PRE>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</A></H1>
<P>
This module provides syntax highlighting for Perl code. The design bias is
roughly line-oriented and streamed (ie, processing a file line-by-line in a
single pass). Provisions <EM>may</EM> be made in the future for tasks related to ``back-tracking'' (ie, re-doing
a single line in the middle of a stream) such as speeding up state copying.

<H2><A NAME="Constructors">Constructors</A></H2>
<P>
The only constructor provided is <A HREF="#item_new">new()</A>. When called on an existing object, <A HREF="#item_new">new()</A> will create a new <EM><STRONG>copy</STRONG></EM> of that object. Otherwise, <A HREF="#item_new">new()</A> creates a new copy of the (internal)
<EM>Default Object</EM>. Note that the use of the procedural syntax modifies the <EM>Default Object</EM>
and that those changes <EM>will</EM> be reflected in any subsequent <A HREF="#item_new">new()</A> calls.

<H2><A NAME="Formatting">Formatting</A></H2>
<P>
Formatting is done using the <A HREF="#item_format_string">format_string()</A> method. Call <A HREF="#item_format_string">format_string()</A> with one or more strings to format, or it will default to using <CODE>$_</CODE>.

<H2><A NAME="Setting_and_Getting_Formats">Setting and Getting Formats</A></H2>
<P>
You can set the text used for formatting a syntax element using <A HREF="#item_set_format">set_format()</A> (or set the start and end format individually using <A HREF="#item_set_start_format">set_start_format()</A> and <A HREF="#item_set_end_format">set_end_format()</A>, respectively).

<P>
You can also retrieve the text used for formatting for an element via <A HREF="#item_get_start_format">get_start_format()</A>
or <A HREF="#item_get_end_format">get_end_format</A>. Bulk retrieval of the names or values of defined formats is possible via <A HREF="#item_get_format_names_list">get_format_names_list()</A> (names), <A HREF="#item_get_start_format_values_list">get_start_format_values_list()</A> and <A HREF="#item_get_end_format_values_list">get_end_format_values_list()</A>.

<P>
See <A HREF="#FORMAT_TYPES">FORMAT TYPES</A> later in this document for information on what format elements can be used.

<H2><A NAME="Checking_and_Setting_the_State">Checking and Setting the State</A></H2>
<P>
You can check certain aspects of the state of the formatter via the
methods: <A HREF="#item_in_heredoc">in_heredoc()</A>,
<A HREF="#item_in_string">in_string()</A>, <A HREF="#item_in_pod">in_pod()</A>, <A HREF="#item_was_pod">was_pod()</A>, <A HREF="#item_in_data">in_data()</A>, and <A HREF="#item_line_count">line_count()</A>.

<P>
You can reset all of the above states (and a few other internal ones) using <A HREF="#item_reset">reset()</A>.

<H2><A NAME="Stable_and_Unstable_Formatting_M">Stable and Unstable Formatting Modes</A></H2>
<P>
You can set or check the stability of formatting via <A HREF="#item_unstable">unstable()</A>.

<P>
In unstable (TRUE) mode, formatting is not considered to be persistent with
nested formats. Or, put another way, when unstable, the formatter can only
``remember'' one format at a time and must reinstate formatting for each
token. An example of unstable formatting is using ANSI color escape
sequences in a terminal.

<P>
In stable (FALSE) mode (the default), formatting is considered persistent
within arbitrarily nested formats. Even in stable mode, however, formatting
is never allowed to span multiple lines; it is always fully closed at the
end of the line and reinstated at the beginning of a new line, if
necessary. This is to ensure properly balanced tags when only formatting a
partial code snippet. An example of stable formatting is HTML.

<H2><A NAME="Substitutions">Substitutions</A></H2>
<P>
Using <A HREF="#item_define_substitution">define_substitution()</A>, you can have the formatter substitute certain strings with others, after
the original string has been parsed (but before formatting is applied).
This is useful for escaping characters special to the output mode (eg, &gt; and &lt; in HTML) without them affecting the way the code is parsed.

<P>
You can retrieve the current substitutions (as a hash-ref) via <A HREF="#item_substitutions">substitutions()</A>.


<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="FORMAT_TYPES">FORMAT TYPES</A></H1>
<P>
The Syntax::Highlight::Perl formatter recognizes and differentiates between
many Perl syntactical elements. Each type of syntactical element has a
Format Type associated with it. There is also a 'DEFAULT' type that is
applied to any element who's Format Type does not have a value.

<P>
Several of the Format Types have underscores in their name. This underscore
is special, and indicates that the Format Type can be ``generalized.'' This
means that you can assign a value to just the first part of the Format Type
name (the part before the underscore) and that value will be applied to all
Format Types with the same first part. For example, the Format Types for
all types of variables begin with ``Variable_''. Thus, if you assign a
value to the Format Type ``Variable'', it will be applied to any type of
variable. Generalized Format Types take precedence over non-generalized
Format Types. So the value assigned to ``Variable'' would be applied to
``Variable_Scalar'', even if ``Variable_Scalar'' had a value explicitly
assigned to it.

<P>
You can also define a ``short-cut'' name for each Format Type that can be
generalized. The short-cut name would be the part of the Format Type name
after the underscore. For example, the short-cut for ``Variable_Scalar''
would be ``Scalar''. Short-cut names have the least precedence and are only
assigned if neither the generalized Type name, nor the full Type name have
values.

<P>
Following is a list of all the syntactical elements that
Syntax::Highlight::Perl currently recognizes, along with a short
description of what each would be applied to.

<DL>
<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Comment_Normal">Comment_Normal</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A normal Perl comment. Starts with '#' and goes until the end of the line.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Comment_POD">Comment_POD</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Inline documentation. Starts with a line beginning with an equal sign ('=')
followed by a word (eg: '=pod') and continuing until a line beginning with
'=cut'.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Directive">Directive</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Either the ``she-bang'' line at the beginning of the file, or a line
directive altering what the compiler thinks the current line and file is.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Label">Label</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A loop or statement label (to be the target of a goto, next, last or redo).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Quote">Quote</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Any string or character that begins or ends a String. Including, but not
necessarily limited to: quote-like regular expression operators (<CODE>m//</CODE>, <CODE>s///</CODE>, <CODE>tr///</CODE>, etc), a Here-Document terminating line, the lone period terminating a
format, and, of course, normal quotes (<CODE>'</CODE>, <CODE>&quot;</CODE>, <CODE>`</CODE>, <CODE>q{}</CODE>,
<CODE>qq{}</CODE>, <CODE>qr{}</CODE>, <CODE>qx{}</CODE>).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_String">String</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Any text within quotes, <CODE>format</CODE>s, Here-Documents, Regular Expressions, and the like.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Subroutine">Subroutine</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
The identifier used to define, identify, or call a subroutine (or method).
Note that Syntax::Highlight::Perl cannot recognize a subroutine if it is
called without using parentheses or an ampersand, or methods called using
the indirect object syntax. It formats those as barewords.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Variable_Scalar">Variable_Scalar</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A scalar variable.

<P>
Note that (theoretically) this format is not applied to non-scalar
variables that are being used as scalars (ie: array or hash lookups, nor
references to anything other than scalars). Syntax::Highlight::Perl figures
out (or at least tries to) the actual <EM>type</EM> of the variable being used (by looking at how you're subscripting it) and
formats it accordingly. The first character of the variable (ie, the <CODE>$</CODE>, <CODE>@</CODE>, <CODE>%</CODE>, or <CODE>*</CODE>) tells you the type of value being used, and the color (hopefully) tells
you the type of variable being used to get that value.

<P>
(See <A HREF="#KNOWN_ISSUES">KNOWN ISSUES</A> for information about when this doesn't work quite right.)

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Variable_Array">Variable_Array</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
An array variable (but not usually a slice; see above).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Variable_Hash">Variable_Hash</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A hash variable.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Variable_Typeglob">Variable_Typeglob</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A typeglob. Note that typeglobs not beginning with an asterisk (*) (eg:
filehandles) are formatted as barewords. This is because, well, they are.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Whitespace">Whitespace</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Whitespace. Not usually formatted but it can be.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Character">Character</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A special, or backslash-escaped, character. For example: <CODE>\n</CODE> (newline), or <CODE>\d</CODE> (digits).

<P>
Only occurs within strings or regular expressions.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Keyword">Keyword</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A Perl keyword. Some examples include: my, local, sub, next.

<P>
Note that Perl does not make any distinction between keywords and built-in
functions (at least not in the documentation). Thus I had to make a
subjective call as to what would be considered keywords and what would be
built-in functions.

<P>
The list of keywords can be found (and overloaded) in the variable
<CODE>$Syntax::Highlight::Perl::keyword_list_re</CODE> as a pre-compiled regular expression.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Builtin_Function">Builtin_Function</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A Perl built-in function, called as a function (ie, using parentheses).

<P>
The list of built-in functions can be found (and overloaded) in the
variable
<CODE>$Syntax::Highlight::Perl::builtin_list_re</CODE> as a pre-compiled regular expression.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Builtin_Operator">Builtin_Operator</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A Perl built-in function, called as a list or unary operator (ie, without
using parentheses).

<P>
The list of built-in functions can be found (and overloaded) in the
variable
<CODE>$Syntax::Highlight::Perl::builtin_list_re</CODE> as a pre-compiled regular expression.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Operator">Operator</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A Perl operator.

<P>
The list of operators can be found (and overloaded) in the variable
<CODE>$Syntax::Highlight::Perl::operator_list_re</CODE> as a pre-compiled regular expression.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Bareword">Bareword</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A bareword. This can be user-defined subroutine called without parentheses,
a typeglob used without an asterisk (*), or just a plain old bareword.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Package">Package</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
The name of a package or pragmatic module.

<P>
Note that this does not apply to the package portion of a fully qualified
variable name.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Number">Number</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A numeric literal.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_Symbol">Symbol</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
A symbol (ie, non-operator punctuation).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_CodeTerm">CodeTerm</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
The special tokens that signal the end of executable code and the begining
of the DATA section. Specifically, '<CODE>__END__</CODE>' and '<CODE>__DATA__</CODE>'.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_DATA">DATA</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Anything in the DATA section (see <A HREF="#item_CodeTerm">CodeTerm</A>).

</DL>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="PROCEDURAL_vs_OBJECT_ORIENTED">PROCEDURAL vs. OBJECT ORIENTED</A></H1>
<P>
Syntax::Highlight::Perl uses OO method-calls internally (and actually
defines a Default Object that is used when the functions are invoked
procedurally) so you will not gain anything (efficiency-wise) by using the
procedural interface. It is just a matter of style.

<P>
It is actually recommended that you use the OO interface, as this allows
you to instantiate multiple, concurrent-yet-separate formatters. Though I
cannot think of <EM>why</EM> you would <EM>need</EM>
multiple formatters instantiated. :-)

<P>
One point to note: the <A HREF="#item_new">new()</A> method uses the Default Object to initialize new objects. This means that
any changes to the state of the Default Object (including Format
definitions) made by using the procedural interface will be reflected in
any subsequently created objects. This can be useful in some cases (eg,
call <A HREF="#item_set_format">set_format()</A> procedurally just before creating a batch of new objects to define default
Formats for them all) but will most likely lead to trouble.

<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="METHODS">METHODS</A></H1>
<DL>
<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_new">new PACKAGE</A></STRONG><DD>
<DT><STRONG>new OBJECT</STRONG><DD>
<P>
Creates a new object. If called on an existing object, creates a new copy
of that object (which is thenceforth totally separate from the original).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_reset">reset</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Resets the object's internal state. This breaks out of strings and
here-docs, ends PODs, resets the line-count, and otherwise gets the object
back into a ``normal'' state to begin processing a new stream.

<P>
Note that this does <STRONG><EM>not</EM></STRONG> reset any user options (including formats and format stability).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_unstable">unstable EXPR</A></STRONG><DD>
<DT><STRONG>unstable</STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns true if the formatter is in unstable mode.

<P>
If called with a non-zero number, puts the formatter into unstable
formatting mode.

<P>
In unstable mode, it is assumed that formatting is not persistent one token
to the next and that each token must be explicitly formatted.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_in_heredoc">in_heredoc</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns true if the next string to be formatted will be inside a
Here-Document.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_in_string">in_string</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns true if the next string to be formatted will be inside a multi-line
string.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_in_pod">in_pod</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns true if the formatter would consider the next string passed to it
as begin within a POD structure. This is false immediately before any POD
instigators (<CODE>=pod</CODE>, <CODE>=head1</CODE>, <CODE>=item</CODE>, etc), true immediately after an instigator, throughout the POD and
immediately before the POD terminator (<CODE>=cut</CODE>), and false immediately after the POD terminator.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_was_pod">was_pod</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns true if the last line of the string just formatted was part of a
POD structure. This includes the <CODE>/^=\w+/</CODE> POD instigators and terminators.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_in_data">in_data</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns true if the next string to be formatted will be inside the DATA
section (ie, follows a <CODE>__DATA__</CODE> or <CODE>__END__</CODE> tag).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_line_count">line_count</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns the number of lines processed by the formatter.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_substitutions">substitutions</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns a reference to the substitution table used. The substitution table
is a hash whose keys are the strings to be replaced, and whose values are
what to replace them with.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_define_substitution">define_substitution HASH_REF</A></STRONG><DD>
<DT><STRONG>define_substitution LIST</STRONG><DD>
<P>
Allows user to define certain characters that will be substituted before
formatting is done (but after they have been processed for meaning).

<P>
If the first parameter is a reference to a hash, the formatter will replace
it's own hash with the given one, and subsequent changes to the hash
outside the formatter will be reflected.

<P>
Otherwise, it will copy the arguments passed into it's own hash, and any
substitutions already defined (but not in the parameter list) will be
preserved. (ie, the new substitutions will be added, without destroying
what was there already.)

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_set_start_format">set_start_format HASH_REF</A></STRONG><DD>
<DT><STRONG>set_start_format LIST</STRONG><DD>
<P>
Given either a list of keys/values, or a reference to a hash of
keys/values, copy them into the object's Formats list.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_set_end_format">set_end_format HASH_REF</A></STRONG><DD>
<DT><STRONG>set_end_format LIST</STRONG><DD>
<P>
Given either a list of keys/values, or a reference to a hash of
keys/values, copy them into the object's Formats list.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_set_format">set_format LIST</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Sets the formatting string for one or more formats.

<P>
You should pass a list of keys/values where the keys are the format names
and the values are references to arrays containing the starting and ending
formatting strings (in that order) for that format.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_get_start_format">get_start_format LIST</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Retrieve the string that is inserted to begin a given format type (starting
format string).

<P>
The names are looked for in the following order:

<P>
<STRONG>First:</STRONG> Prefer the names joined by underscore, from most general to least. For
example, given (``Variable'', ``Scalar''): ``Variable'' then
``Variable_Scalar''.

<P>
<STRONG>Second:</STRONG> Then try each name singly, in reverse order. For example, ``Scalar'' then
``Variable''.

<P>
See <A HREF="#FORMAT_TYPES">FORMAT TYPES</A> for more information.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_get_end_format">get_end_format LIST</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Retrieve the string that is inserted to end a given format type (ending
format string).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_get_format_names_list">get_format_names_list</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns a list of the <EM>names</EM> of all the Formats defined.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_get_start_format_values_list">get_start_format_values_list</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns a list of the <EM>values</EM> of all the start Formats defined (in the same order as the names returned
by <A HREF="#item_get_format_names_list">get_format_names_list()</A>).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_get_end_format_values_list">get_end_format_values_list</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns a list of the <EM>values</EM> of all the end Formats defined (in the same order as the names returned by <A HREF="#item_get_format_names_list">get_format_names_list()</A>).

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_format_string">format_string LIST</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Formats one or more strings of Perl code. If no strings are specified,
defaults to <CODE>$_</CODE>. Returns the list of formatted strings (or the first string formatted if
called in scalar context).

<P>
<STRONG>Note:</STRONG>  The end of the string is considered to be the end of a line, regardless of
whether or not there is a trailing line-break (but trailing line-breaks
will <EM>not</EM> cause an extra, empty line).

<P>
<STRONG>Another Note:</STRONG>  The function actually uses <CODE>$/</CODE> to determine line-breaks, unless <CODE>$/</CODE> is set to <CODE>\n</CODE> (newline). If <CODE>$/</CODE>  <EM>is</EM>  <CODE>\n</CODE>, then it looks for the first match of <CODE>m/\r?\n|\n?\r/</CODE> in the string and uses that to determine line-breaks. This is to make it
easy to handle non-unix text. Whatever characters it ends up using as
line-breaks are preserved.

<DT><STRONG><A NAME="item_format_token">format_token TOKEN, LIST</A></STRONG><DD>
<P>
Returns TOKEN wrapped in the start and end Formats corresponding to LIST
(as would be returned by <A HREF="#item_get_start_format">get_start_format( LIST )</A> and <A HREF="#item_get_end_format">get_end_format( LIST )</A>, respectively).

<P>
No syntax checking is done on TOKEN but substitutions defined with <A HREF="#item_define_substitution">define_substitution()</A>
are performed.

</DL>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="KNOWN_ISSUES_or_LIMITATIONS">KNOWN ISSUES or LIMITATIONS</A></H1>
<UL>
<LI>
<P>
Barewords used as keys to a hash are formatted as strings. This is Good.
They should not be, however, if they are not the only thing within the
curly braces. That can be fixed.

<LI>
<P>
This version does not handle formats (see <a target="_top" href="http://www.perl.com/pub/doc/manual/html/pod/perlform.html">perlform(1)</a>) very well. It treats them as Here-Documents and ignores the rules for
comment lines, as well as the fact that picture lines are not supposed to
be interpolated. Thus, your picture lines will look strange with the '@'s
being formatted as array variables (albeit, invalid ones). Ideally, it
would also treat value lines as normal Perl code and format accordingly. I
think I'll get to the comment lines and non-interpolating picture lines
first. If/When I do get this fixed, I will most likely add a format type of
'Format' or something, so that they can be formatted differently, if so
desired.

<LI>
<P>
This version does not handle Regular Expression significant characters. It
simply treats Regular Expressions as interpolated strings.

<LI>
<P>
User-defined subroutines, called without parentheses, are formatted as
barewords. This is because there is no way to tell them apart from
barewords without parsing the code, and would require us to go as far as
perl does when doing the <CODE>-c</CODE> check (ie, executing BEGIN and END blocks and the like). That's not going
to happen.

<LI>
<P>
If you are indexing (subscripting) an array or hash, the formatter tries to
figure out the ``real'' variable class by looking at how you index the
variable. However, if you do something funky (but legal in Perl) and put
line-breaks or comments between the variable class character ($) and your
identifier, the formatter will get confused and treat your variable as a
scalar. Until it finds the index character. Then it will format the scalar
class character ($) as a scalar and your identifier as the ``correct''
class.

<LI>
<P>
If you put a line-break between your variable identifier and it's indexing
character (see above), which is also legal in Perl, the formatter will
never find it and treat your variable as a scalar.

<LI>
<P>
If you put a line-break between a bareword hash-subscript and the hash
variable, or between a bareword and its associated <CODE>=&gt;</CODE> operator, the bareword will not be formatted correctly (as a string).  <EM>(Noticing a pattern here?)</EM>



</UL>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="AUTHOR">AUTHOR</A></H1>
<P>
Cory Johns <STRONG>darkness@yossman.net</STRONG>



<P>
Copyright (c) 2001 Cory Johns. This library is free software; you can
redistribute and/or modify it under the same conditions as Perl itself.

<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="TO_DO">TO DO</A></H1>
<OL>
<LI>
<P>
Improve handling of regular expressions. Add support for regexp-special
characters. Recognize the /e option to the substitution operator (maybe).

<LI>
<P>
Improve handling of formats. Don't treat format definitions as
interpolating. Handle format-comments. Possibly format value lines as
normal Perl code.

<LI>
<P>
Create in-memory deep-copy routine to replace <CODE>eval(Data::Dumper)</CODE> deep-copy.

<LI>
<P>
Generalize state transitions (<A HREF="#item_reset">reset()</A> and, in the future, <CODE>copy_state()</CODE>) to use non-hard-coded keys and values for state variables. Probably will
extrapolate them into an overloadable hash, and use the aforementioned
deep-copy to assign them.

<LI>
<P>
Create a method to save or copy states between objects (<CODE>copy_state()</CODE>). Would be useful for using this module in an editor.

<LI>
<P>
Add support for greater-than-one length special characters. Specifically,
octal, hexidecimal, and control character codes. For example, <CODE>\644</CODE>, <CODE>\x1a4</CODE> or <CODE>\c[</CODE>.

</OL>
<P>
<HR>
<H1><A NAME="REVISIONS">REVISIONS</A></H1>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="04_04_2001_Cory_Johns">04-04-2001  Cory Johns</A></H2>
<UL>
<LI>
<P>
Fixed problem with special characters not formatting inside of
Here-Documents.

<LI>
<P>
Fixed bug causing hash variables to format inside of Here-Documents.

</UL>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="03_30_2001_Cory_Johns">03-30-2001  Cory Johns</A></H2>
<UL>
<LI>
<P>
Fixed bug where quote-terminators were checked for inside of
Here-Documents.

</UL>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="03_29_2001_Cory_Johns">03-29-2001  Cory Johns</A></H2>
<UL>
<LI>
<P>
Moved token processing tests from <CODE>_format_line()</CODE> into
<CODE>_process_token()</CODE> (where they should've been all along),
generally making <CODE>_format_line()</CODE> more logical. Contemplating
extrapolating the tokenizing and token loop into its own subroutine to
avoid all the recursive calls.

<LI>
<P>
Fixed bug that caused special characters to be recognized outside of
strings.

<LI>
<P>
Added <CODE>$VERSION</CODE> variable.

<LI>
<P>
Added support for different types of literal numbers: floating point,
exponential notation (eg: 1.3e10), hexidecimal, and underscore-separated.

<LI>
<P>
Added the <A HREF="#item_CodeTerm">CodeTerm</A> and <A HREF="#item_DATA">DATA</A> Formats.

</UL>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="03_27_2001_Cory_Johns">03-27-2001  Cory Johns</A></H2>
<UL>
<LI>
<P>
Added <CODE>was_pod()</CODE> and updated the documentation for
<CODE>in_pod().</CODE>

</UL>
<P>
<HR>
<H2><A NAME="03_20_2001_Cory_Johns">03-20-2001  Cory Johns</A></H2>
<UL>
<LI>
<P>
Added support for Perl formats (ie, `<CODE>format = ...</CODE>').

</UL>
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