File/Random version 0.07
========================
NAME
   File::Random - Perl module for random selecting of a file

SYNOPSIS
     use File::Random qw/random_file/;

     my $fname  = random_file();

     my $fname2 = random_file(-dir => $dir);

     my $random_gif = random_file(-dir       => $dir,
                                  -check     => qr/\.gif$/,
                                                              -recursive => 1);

     my $no_exe     = random_file(-dir   => $dir,
                                  -check => sub {! -x});

     my @jokes_of_the_day = content_of_random_file(-dir => '/usr/lib/jokes');
     my $joke_of_the_day  = content_of_random_file(-dir => '/usr/lib/jokes');

DESCRIPTION
   This module simplifies the routine job of selecting a random file. (As
   you can find at CGI scripts).

   It's done, because it's boring (and errorprone), always to write
   something like

     my @files = (<*.*>);
     my $randf = $files[rand @files];

   or

     opendir DIR, " ... " or die " ... ";
     my @files = grep {-f ...} (readdir DIR);
     closedir DIR;
     my $randf = $files[rand @files];

   It also becomes very boring and very dangerous to write randomly
   selection for subdirectory searching with special check-routines.

 FUNCTION random_file

   Returns a randomly selected file(name) from the specified directory If
   the directory is empty, undef will be returned. There 3 options:

     my $file = random_file(
        -dir         => $dir,
            -check       => qr/.../, # or sub { .... }
            -recursive   => 1        # or 0
     );

   -dir
       Specifies the directory where file has to come from.

       Is the -dir option missing, a random file from the current directory
       will be used. That means '.' is the default for the -dir option.

   -check
       With the -check option you can either define a regex every filename
       has to follow, or a sub routine which gets the filename as argument.
       The filename includes the relative path (from the -dir directory or
       the current directory).

       Note, that -check doesn't accept anything else than a regexp or a
       subroutine. A string like '/.../' won't work. I still work on that.

       The default is no checking (undef).

   -recursive
       Enables, that subdirectories are scanned for files, too. Every file,
       independent from its position in the file tree, has the same chance
       to be choosen. Now the relative path from the given subdirectory or
       the current directory of the randomly choosen file is included to
       the file name.

       Every true value sets recursive behaviour on, every false value
       switches off. The default if false (undef).

       Note, that I programmed the recursive routine very defendly (using
       File::Find). So switching -recursive on, slowers the program a bit
       :-)

 FUNCTION content_of_random_file

       Returns the content of a randomly selected random file. In list
       context it returns an array of the lines of the selected file, in
       scalar context it returns a multiline string with whole the file.
       The lines aren't chomped.

       This function has the same parameter and a similar behaviour to the
       random_file method. Note, that -check still gets the filename and
       not the filecontent.

 EXPORT

   None by default.

   You can export the function random_file with "use File::Random
   qw/random_file/;", "use File::Random qw/content_of_random_file/" or with
   the more simple "use File::Random qw/:all/;".

   I didn't want to pollute namespaces as I could imagine, users write
   methods random_file to create a file with random content. If you think
   I'm paranoid, please tell me, then I'll take it into the export.

TODO
   I think, I'll need to expand the options. Instead of only one directory,
   it should be possible to take a random file from some directories.

   The -check option doesn't except a string looking like a regexp. In
   future versions there should be the possibility of passing a string like
   '/..../' instead of the regexp qr/.../';

   To create some aliases for the params is a good idea, too. I thought to
   make -d == -dir, -r == -recursive and -c == -check. (Only a lazy
   programmer is a good programmer).

   So I want to make it possible to write:

     my $fname = random_file( -dir => '...', -recursive => 1, -check     => '/\.html/' );

   or even:

     my $fname = random_file( -d => [$dir1, $dir2, $dir3, ...], -r => 1, -c => sub {-M < 7} );

   A "-firstline" or "-lines =" [1 .. 10]> option for the
   "content_of_random_file" could be useful. Later something like
   "-randomline" option should be implemented, too. (Making the same as
   "random_line( random_file( ... ) )") "content_of_random_file" is very
   long, perhaps I'll implement a synonym "corf".

   Also speed could be improved, as I tried to write the code very
   readable, but wasted sometimes a little bit speed. (E.g. missing -check
   is translated to something like -check => sub{1}) As Functionality and
   Readability is more important than speed, I'll wait a little bit with
   speeding up :-)

   Using unknown params should bring a warning. At the moment they are
   ignored.

   The next thing, I'll implement is the "random_line" function.

   Please feel free to suggest me anything what could be useful.

BUGS
   Oh, I hope none. I still have more test lines than function code.
   However, it's still BETA code.

   Well, but because I want some random data, it's a little bit hard to
   test. So a test could be wrong, allthough everything is O.K.. To avoid
   it, I let many tests run, so that the chances for misproofing should be
   < 0.0000000001% or so. Even it has the disadvantage that the tests need
   really long :-(

   I'm not definitly sure whether my test routines runs on OS, with path
   seperators different of '/', like in Win with '\\'. Perhaps anybody can
   try it and tell me the result. [But remember Win* is definitly the
   greater bug.]

DEPENDENCIES

This module requires these other modules and libraries:

 Test::More
 Test::Exception
 Test::Class
 Set::Scalar

All these modules are needed only for the tests.
You can work with the module even without them.
These modules are only needed for my test routines,
not by the File::Random itself.
(However, it's a good idea to install the modules anyway).

SEE ALSO
   the Tie::Pick manpage
       the Data::Random manpage

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

This module is free software.
You can change and redistribute it under the same condition as Perl self.

Copyright (C) 2002 Janek Schleicher, <[email protected]>

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