NAME Data::Dump::Ruby VERSION version 0.02 SYNOPSIS use Data::Dump::Ruby qw(dump_ruby ddx_ruby); # in Perl $str = dump_ruby($var); # in Ruby var = eval str # or use it for easy debug printout ddx_ruby localtime; DESCRIPTION This module provide functions that takes a list of values as their argument and produces a string as its result. The string contains Ruby code that, when "eval"ed, produces a deep copy of the original arguments. The main feature of the module is that it strives to produce output that is easy to read. Example: @a = (1, [2, 3], {4 => 5}); dump_ruby(@a); Produces: [1, [2, 3], {4 => 5}] If you dump just a little data, it is output on a single line. If you dump data that is more complex or there is a lot of it, line breaks are automatically added to keep it easy to read. The following functions are provided (only the dd* functions are exported by default): dump_ruby( ... ) pp_ruby( ... ) Returns a string containing a Ruby expression/code. If you pass this string to Ruby's eval(), it should return a copy of the arguments you passed to dump_ruby(). If you call the function with multiple arguments then the output will be wrapped in an outer array [ ..., ..., ... ]. If you call the function with a single argument the output will not have the wrapping. If you call the function with a single scalar (non-reference) argument it will just return the scalar quoted if needed, but never break it into multiple lines. If you pass multiple arguments or references to arrays of hashes then the return value might contain line breaks to format it for easier reading. The returned string will never be "\n" terminated, even if contains multiple lines. This allows Ruby code like this to place the semicolon in the expected place: print 'obj = ', $res, "\n;" If dump_ruby() is called in void context, then the dump is printed on STDERR and then "\n" terminated. You might find this useful for quick debug printouts, but the dd*() functions might be better alternatives for this. There is no difference between dump_ruby() and pp_ruby(). quote_ruby( $string ) Returns a quoted version of the provided string. It differs from "dd_ruby($string)" in that it will quote even numbers and not try to come up with clever expressions that might shorten the output. dd_ruby( ... ) ddx_ruby( ... ) These functions will call dump_ruby() on their argument and print the result to STDOUT (actually, it's the currently selected output handle, but STDOUT is the default for that). The difference between them is only that ddx_ruby() will prefix the lines it prints with "# " and mark the first line with the file and line number where it was called. This is meant to be useful for debug printouts of state within programs. NAME Data::Dump::Ruby - Pretty printing of data structures as Ruby code BUGS/LIMITATIONS Code references will be displayed as simply "(Proc.new {})" when dumped. Thus, "eval"ing them will not reproduce the original routine. Regexes in Ruby by default are multilines (e.g. /^foo/ in Perl means /\Afoo/ in Ruby and /^foo/m in Perl means /^foo/ in Ruby), this is not adjusted yet. SEE ALSO Data::Dump and Data::Dump::PHP (from which this codebase is based) JSON, YAML - Another alternative to exchange data with Ruby (and other languages) is to export/import via YAML and JSON. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Data::Dump::Ruby is a quick hack. I simply copied the code from Data::Dump::PHP, which was copied from Gisle Ass' wonderful "Data::Dump" and changed only whatever is necessary. AUTHORS The "Data::Dump::Ruby" module is written by Steven Haryanto , based on "Data::Dump" by Gisle Aas , based on "Data::Dumper" by Gurusamy Sarathy . Copyright 2011 Steven Haryanto. Copyright 1998-2000,2003-2004,2008 Gisle Aas. Copyright 1996-1998 Gurusamy Sarathy. This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. AUTHOR Steven Haryanto COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2013 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.