NAME Array::Find - Find items in array, with several options VERSION version 0.03 SYNOPSIS use Array::Find qw(find_in_array); use Data::Dump; # returns [STATUSCODE, ERRMSG, DATA] my $res = find_in_array( items => [qw/a x/], array => [qw/a b d a y x/], max_result => 2, ); die $res->[1] if $res->[1] != 200; dd $res->[2]; # ['a', 'a'] # find by prefix (or suffix, with/without word separator), in multiple arrays dd find_in_array( item => 'a.b', mode => 'prefix', word_sep => '.', arrays => [ [qw/a a.b. a.b a.bb/], [qw/a.b.c b.c.d/], ], )->[2]; # ['a.b.', 'a.b', 'a.b.c'] DESCRIPTION This module provides one subroutine: "find_in_array" to find items in array. This module's subroutines follow Sub::Spec convention, which explains the rather weird [STATUSCODE, ERRMSG, DATA] return value. Sub::Spec allows your subroutines to be straightforwardly accessed via HTTP REST API and command-line (complete with options parsing, help message, and bash completion), as well as provide other features. FUNCTIONS None of the functions are exported by default, but they are exportable. find_in_array(%args) -> [STATUSCODE, ERRMSG, RESULT] Find items in array, with several options. find_in_array looks for one or more items in one or more arrays and return an array containing all or some results (empty arrayref if no results found). You can specify several options, like maximum number of results, maximum number of comparisons, searching by suffix/prefix, case sensitivity, etc. Consult the list of arguments for more details. Currently, items are compared using the Perl's eq operator, meaning they only work with scalars and compare things asciibetically. Returns a 3-element arrayref. STATUSCODE is 200 on success, or an error code between 3xx-5xx (just like in HTTP). ERRMSG is a string containing error message, RESULT is the actual result. Arguments ("*" denotes required arguments): * item => *str* Item to find. Currently can only be scalar. See also 'items' if you want to find several items at once. * array => *array* Array to find items in. See also 'arrays' if you want to find in several arrays. Array elements can be undef and will only match undef. * arrays => *array* Just like 'array', except several. Use this to find several items at once. Example: find_in_array(item => "a", arrays => [["b", "a"], ["c", "a"]]) will return result ["a", "a"]. * ci => *bool* (default 0) Set case insensitive. * items => *array* Just like 'item', except several. Use this to find several items at once. Elements can be undef if you want to search for undef. Example: find_in_array(items => ["a", "b"], array => ["b", "a", "c", "a"]) will return result ["b", "a", "a"]. * max_compare => *int* Set maximum number of comparison. Maximum number of elements in array(s) to look for, 0 means unlimited. Finding will stop as soon as this limit is reached, regardless of max_result. Example: find(item=>'a', array=>['q', 'w', 'e', 'a'], max_compare=>3) will not return result. * max_result => *int* Set maximum number of results. 0 means unlimited (find in all elements of all arrays). +N means find until results have N items. Example: find_in_array(item=>'a', array=>['a', 'b', 'a', 'a'], max_result=>2) will return result ['a', 'a']. -N is useful when looking for multiple items (see 'items' argument). It means find until N items to look for have been found. Example: find_in_array(items=>['a','b'], array=>['a', 'a', 'b', 'b'], max_results=>-2) will return result ['a', 'a', 'b']. As soon as 2 items to look for have been found it will stop. * mode => *str* (default "exact") Value must be one of: [ "exact", "prefix", "suffix", "infix", "prefix|infix", "prefix|suffix", "prefix|infix|suffix", "infix|suffix", "regex", ] Comparison mode. Exact match is the default, will only match 'ap' with 'ap'. Prefix matching will also match 'ap' with 'ap', 'apple', and 'apricot'. Suffix matching will match 'le' with 'le' and 'apple'. Infix will only match 'ap' with 'claps' and not with 'ap', 'clap', or 'apple'. Regex will regard item as a regex and perform a regex match on each element of array. See also 'word_sep' which affects prefix/suffix/infix matching. * shuffle => *bool* Shuffle result. * word_sep => *str* Aliases: ws Define word separator. If set, item and array element will be regarded as a separated words. This will affect prefix/suffix/infix matching. Example, with '.' as the word separator and 'a.b' as the item, prefix matching will 'a.b', 'a.b.', and 'a.b.c' (but not 'a.bc'). Suffix matching will match 'a.b', '.a.b', 'c.a.b' (but not 'ca.b'). Infix matching will match 'c.a.b.c' and won't match 'a.b', 'a.b.c', or 'c.a.b'. SEE ALSO List::Util, List::MoreUtils Sub::Spec AUTHOR Steven Haryanto COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2011 by Steven Haryanto. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.