NAME

IO::pipe - supply object methods for pipes

SYNOPSIS

use IO::Pipe;

$pipe = new IO::Pipe;

if($pid = fork()) { # Parent
    $pipe->reader();

    while(<$pipe> {
	....
    }

}
elsif(defined $pid) { # Child
    $pipe->writer();

    print $pipe ....
}

or

$pipe = new IO::Pipe;

$pipe->reader(qw(ls -l));

while(<$pipe>) {
    ....
}

DESCRIPTION

IO::Pipe provides an interface to createing pipes between processes.

CONSTRCUTOR

new ( [READER, WRITER] )

Creates a IO::Pipe, which is a reference to a newly created symbol (see the Symbol package). IO::Pipe::new optionally takes two arguments, which should be objects blessed into IO::Handle, or a subclass thereof. These two objects will be used for the system call to pipe. If no arguments are given then then method handles is called on the new IO::Pipe object.

These two handles are held in the array part of the GLOB until either reader or writer is called.

METHODS

reader ([ARGS])

The object is re-blessed into a sub-class of IO::Handle, and becomes a handle at the reading end of the pipe. If ARGS are given then fork is called and ARGS are passed to exec.

writer ([ARGS])

The object is re-blessed into a sub-class of IO::Handle, and becomes a handle at the writing end of the pipe. If ARGS are given then fork is called and ARGS are passed to exec.

handles ()

This method is called during construction by IO::Pipe::new on the newly created IO::Pipe object. It returns an array of two objects blessed into IO::Pipe::End, or a subclass thereof.

SEE ALSO

IO::Handle

AUTHOR

Graham Barr <bodg@tiuk.ti.com>

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 1996 Graham Barr. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.