NAME
Geography::States - Map states and provinces to their codes, and vica
versa.
SYNOPSIS
use Geography::States;
my $obj = Geography::States -> new (COUNTRY [, STRICT]);
EXAMPLES
my $canada = Geography::States -> new ('Canada');
my $name = $canada -> state ('NF'); # Newfoundland.
my $code = $canada -> state ('Ontario'); # ON.
my ($code, $name) = $canada -> state ('BC'); # BC, British Columbia.
my @all_states = $canada -> state; # List code/name pairs.
DESCRIPTION
This module lets you map states and provinces to their codes, and codes
to names of provinces and states.
The "Geography::States -" new ()> call takes 1 or 2 arguments. The
first, required, argument is the country we are interested in. Current
supported countries are *USA*, *Brazil*, *Canada*, *The Netherlands*,
and *Australia*. If a second non-false argument is given, we use *strict
mode*. In non-strict mode, we will map territories and alternative codes
as well, while we do not do that in strict mode. For example, if the
country is USA, in non-strict mode, we will map GU to Guam, while in
strict mode, neither GU and Guam will be found.
The state() method
All queries are done by calling the "state" method in the object. This
method takes an optional argument. If an argument is given, then in
scalar context, it will return the name of the state if a code of a
state is given, and the code of a state, if the argument of the method
is a name of a state. In list context, both the code and the state will
be returned.
If no argument is given, then the "state" method in list context will
return a list of all code/name pairs for that country. In scalar
context, it will return the number of code/name pairs. Each code/name
pair is a 2 element anonymous array.
Arguments can be given in a case insensitive way; if a name consists of
multiple parts, the number of spaces does not matter, as long as there
is some whitespace. (That is "NewYork" is wrong, but "new YORK" is
fine.)
ODDITIES AND OPEN QUESTIONS
I found conflicting abbreviations for the US *Northern Mariana Islands*,
listed as *NI* and *MP*. I picked *MP* from the USPS site.
One site listed *Midway Islands* as having code *MD*. It is not listed
by the USPS site, and because it conflicts with *Maryland*, it is not
put in this listing.
The USPS also has so-called *Military "States"*, with non-unique codes.
Those are not listed here.
Canada's *Quebec* has two codes, the older *PQ* and the modern *QC*.
Both *PQ* and *QC* will map to *Quebec*, but *Quebec* will only map to
*QC*. With strict mode, *PQ* will not be listed. Similary, Newfoundland
has an old code *NF*, and a new code *NL* (the province is now called
*Newfoundland and Labrador*).
DEVELOPMENT
The current sources of this module are found on github,
<git://github.com/Abigail/geography--states.git>.
AUTHOR
Abigail <mailto:
[email protected]>.
COPYRIGHT and LICENSE
Copyright (C) 1999 - 2001, 2009 by Abigail.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
"Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included
in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
