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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "DB_File 3"
.TH DB_File 3 "2020-04-14" "perl v5.30.2" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification. Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
.if n .ad l
.nh
.SH "NAME"
DB_File \- Perl5 access to Berkeley DB version 1.x
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 1
\& use DB_File;
\&
\& [$X =] tie %hash, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, [$filename, $flags, $mode, $DB_HASH] ;
\& [$X =] tie %hash, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, $filename, $flags, $mode, $DB_BTREE ;
\& [$X =] tie @array, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, $filename, $flags, $mode, $DB_RECNO ;
\&
\& $status = $X\->del($key [, $flags]) ;
\& $status = $X\->put($key, $value [, $flags]) ;
\& $status = $X\->get($key, $value [, $flags]) ;
\& $status = $X\->seq($key, $value, $flags) ;
\& $status = $X\->sync([$flags]) ;
\& $status = $X\->fd ;
\&
\& # BTREE only
\& $count = $X\->get_dup($key) ;
\& @list = $X\->get_dup($key) ;
\& %list = $X\->get_dup($key, 1) ;
\& $status = $X\->find_dup($key, $value) ;
\& $status = $X\->del_dup($key, $value) ;
\&
\& # RECNO only
\& $a = $X\->length;
\& $a = $X\->pop ;
\& $X\->push(list);
\& $a = $X\->shift;
\& $X\->unshift(list);
\& @r = $X\->splice(offset, length, elements);
\&
\& # DBM Filters
\& $old_filter = $db\->filter_store_key ( sub { ... } ) ;
\& $old_filter = $db\->filter_store_value( sub { ... } ) ;
\& $old_filter = $db\->filter_fetch_key ( sub { ... } ) ;
\& $old_filter = $db\->filter_fetch_value( sub { ... } ) ;
\&
\& untie %hash ;
\& untie @array ;
.Ve
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
\&\fBDB_File\fR is a module which allows Perl programs to make use of the
facilities provided by Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 version 1.x (if you have a newer
version of \s-1DB,\s0 see \*(L"Using DB_File with Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 version 2 or greater\*(R").
It is assumed that you have a copy of the Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 manual pages at
hand when reading this documentation. The interface defined here
mirrors the Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 interface closely.
.PP
Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 is a C library which provides a consistent interface to a
number of database formats. \fBDB_File\fR provides an interface to all
three of the database types currently supported by Berkeley \s-1DB.\s0
.PP
The file types are:
.IP "\fB\s-1DB_HASH\s0\fR" 5
.IX Item "DB_HASH"
This database type allows arbitrary key/value pairs to be stored in data
files. This is equivalent to the functionality provided by other
hashing packages like \s-1DBM, NDBM, ODBM, GDBM,\s0 and \s-1SDBM.\s0 Remember though,
the files created using \s-1DB_HASH\s0 are not compatible with any of the
other packages mentioned.
.Sp
A default hashing algorithm, which will be adequate for most
applications, is built into Berkeley \s-1DB.\s0 If you do need to use your own
hashing algorithm it is possible to write your own in Perl and have
\&\fBDB_File\fR use it instead.
.IP "\fB\s-1DB_BTREE\s0\fR" 5
.IX Item "DB_BTREE"
The btree format allows arbitrary key/value pairs to be stored in a
sorted, balanced binary tree.
.Sp
As with the \s-1DB_HASH\s0 format, it is possible to provide a user defined
Perl routine to perform the comparison of keys. By default, though, the
keys are stored in lexical order.
.IP "\fB\s-1DB_RECNO\s0\fR" 5
.IX Item "DB_RECNO"
\&\s-1DB_RECNO\s0 allows both fixed-length and variable-length flat text files
to be manipulated using the same key/value pair interface as in \s-1DB_HASH\s0
and \s-1DB_BTREE.\s0 In this case the key will consist of a record (line)
number.
.SS "Using DB_File with Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 version 2 or greater"
.IX Subsection "Using DB_File with Berkeley DB version 2 or greater"
Although \fBDB_File\fR is intended to be used with Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 version 1,
it can also be used with version 2, 3 or 4. In this case the interface is
limited to the functionality provided by Berkeley \s-1DB 1\s0.x. Anywhere the
version 2 or greater interface differs, \fBDB_File\fR arranges for it to work
like version 1. This feature allows \fBDB_File\fR scripts that were built
with version 1 to be migrated to version 2 or greater without any changes.
.PP
If you want to make use of the new features available in Berkeley \s-1DB
2\s0.x or greater, use the Perl module \fBBerkeleyDB\fR instead.
.PP
\&\fBNote:\fR The database file format has changed multiple times in Berkeley
\&\s-1DB\s0 version 2, 3 and 4. If you cannot recreate your databases, you
must dump any existing databases with either the \f(CW\*(C`db_dump\*(C'\fR or the
\&\f(CW\*(C`db_dump185\*(C'\fR utility that comes with Berkeley \s-1DB.\s0
Once you have rebuilt DB_File to use Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 version 2 or greater,
your databases can be recreated using \f(CW\*(C`db_load\*(C'\fR. Refer to the Berkeley \s-1DB\s0
documentation for further details.
.PP
Please read \*(L"\s-1COPYRIGHT\*(R"\s0 before using version 2.x or greater of Berkeley
\&\s-1DB\s0 with DB_File.
.SS "Interface to Berkeley \s-1DB\s0"
.IX Subsection "Interface to Berkeley DB"
\&\fBDB_File\fR allows access to Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 files using the \fBtie()\fR mechanism
in Perl 5 (for full details, see \*(L"\fBtie()\fR\*(R" in perlfunc). This facility
allows \fBDB_File\fR to access Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 files using either an
associative array (for \s-1DB_HASH & DB_BTREE\s0 file types) or an ordinary
array (for the \s-1DB_RECNO\s0 file type).
.PP
In addition to the \fBtie()\fR interface, it is also possible to access most
of the functions provided in the Berkeley \s-1DB API\s0 directly.
See \*(L"\s-1THE API INTERFACE\*(R"\s0.
.SS "Opening a Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 Database File"
.IX Subsection "Opening a Berkeley DB Database File"
Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 uses the function \fBdbopen()\fR to open or create a database.
Here is the C prototype for \fBdbopen()\fR:
.PP
.Vb 3
\& DB*
\& dbopen (const char * file, int flags, int mode,
\& DBTYPE type, const void * openinfo)
.Ve
.PP
The parameter \f(CW\*(C`type\*(C'\fR is an enumeration which specifies which of the 3
interface methods (\s-1DB_HASH, DB_BTREE\s0 or \s-1DB_RECNO\s0) is to be used.
Depending on which of these is actually chosen, the final parameter,
\&\fIopeninfo\fR points to a data structure which allows tailoring of the
specific interface method.
.PP
This interface is handled slightly differently in \fBDB_File\fR. Here is
an equivalent call using \fBDB_File\fR:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& tie %array, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, $filename, $flags, $mode, $DB_HASH ;
.Ve
.PP
The \f(CW\*(C`filename\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`flags\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`mode\*(C'\fR parameters are the direct
equivalent of their \fBdbopen()\fR counterparts. The final parameter \f(CW$DB_HASH\fR
performs the function of both the \f(CW\*(C`type\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`openinfo\*(C'\fR parameters in
\&\fBdbopen()\fR.
.PP
In the example above \f(CW$DB_HASH\fR is actually a pre-defined reference to a
hash object. \fBDB_File\fR has three of these pre-defined references.
Apart from \f(CW$DB_HASH\fR, there is also \f(CW$DB_BTREE\fR and \f(CW$DB_RECNO\fR.
.PP
The keys allowed in each of these pre-defined references is limited to
the names used in the equivalent C structure. So, for example, the
\&\f(CW$DB_HASH\fR reference will only allow keys called \f(CW\*(C`bsize\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`cachesize\*(C'\fR,
\&\f(CW\*(C`ffactor\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`hash\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`lorder\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`nelem\*(C'\fR.
.PP
To change one of these elements, just assign to it like this:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& $DB_HASH\->{\*(Aqcachesize\*(Aq} = 10000 ;
.Ve
.PP
The three predefined variables \f(CW$DB_HASH\fR, \f(CW$DB_BTREE\fR and \f(CW$DB_RECNO\fR are
usually adequate for most applications. If you do need to create extra
instances of these objects, constructors are available for each file
type.
.PP
Here are examples of the constructors and the valid options available
for \s-1DB_HASH, DB_BTREE\s0 and \s-1DB_RECNO\s0 respectively.
.PP
.Vb 7
\& $a = new DB_File::HASHINFO ;
\& $a\->{\*(Aqbsize\*(Aq} ;
\& $a\->{\*(Aqcachesize\*(Aq} ;
\& $a\->{\*(Aqffactor\*(Aq};
\& $a\->{\*(Aqhash\*(Aq} ;
\& $a\->{\*(Aqlorder\*(Aq} ;
\& $a\->{\*(Aqnelem\*(Aq} ;
\&
\& $b = new DB_File::BTREEINFO ;
\& $b\->{\*(Aqflags\*(Aq} ;
\& $b\->{\*(Aqcachesize\*(Aq} ;
\& $b\->{\*(Aqmaxkeypage\*(Aq} ;
\& $b\->{\*(Aqminkeypage\*(Aq} ;
\& $b\->{\*(Aqpsize\*(Aq} ;
\& $b\->{\*(Aqcompare\*(Aq} ;
\& $b\->{\*(Aqprefix\*(Aq} ;
\& $b\->{\*(Aqlorder\*(Aq} ;
\&
\& $c = new DB_File::RECNOINFO ;
\& $c\->{\*(Aqbval\*(Aq} ;
\& $c\->{\*(Aqcachesize\*(Aq} ;
\& $c\->{\*(Aqpsize\*(Aq} ;
\& $c\->{\*(Aqflags\*(Aq} ;
\& $c\->{\*(Aqlorder\*(Aq} ;
\& $c\->{\*(Aqreclen\*(Aq} ;
\& $c\->{\*(Aqbfname\*(Aq} ;
.Ve
.PP
The values stored in the hashes above are mostly the direct equivalent
of their C counterpart. Like their C counterparts, all are set to a
default values \- that means you don't have to set \fIall\fR of the
values when you only want to change one. Here is an example:
.PP
.Vb 3
\& $a = new DB_File::HASHINFO ;
\& $a\->{\*(Aqcachesize\*(Aq} = 12345 ;
\& tie %y, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, "filename", $flags, 0777, $a ;
.Ve
.PP
A few of the options need extra discussion here. When used, the C
equivalent of the keys \f(CW\*(C`hash\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`compare\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`prefix\*(C'\fR store pointers
to C functions. In \fBDB_File\fR these keys are used to store references
to Perl subs. Below are templates for each of the subs:
.PP
.Vb 7
\& sub hash
\& {
\& my ($data) = @_ ;
\& ...
\& # return the hash value for $data
\& return $hash ;
\& }
\&
\& sub compare
\& {
\& my ($key, $key2) = @_ ;
\& ...
\& # return 0 if $key1 eq $key2
\& # \-1 if $key1 lt $key2
\& # 1 if $key1 gt $key2
\& return (\-1 , 0 or 1) ;
\& }
\&
\& sub prefix
\& {
\& my ($key, $key2) = @_ ;
\& ...
\& # return number of bytes of $key2 which are
\& # necessary to determine that it is greater than $key1
\& return $bytes ;
\& }
.Ve
.PP
See \*(L"Changing the \s-1BTREE\s0 sort order\*(R" for an example of using the
\&\f(CW\*(C`compare\*(C'\fR template.
.PP
If you are using the \s-1DB_RECNO\s0 interface and you intend making use of
\&\f(CW\*(C`bval\*(C'\fR, you should check out \*(L"The 'bval' Option\*(R".
.SS "Default Parameters"
.IX Subsection "Default Parameters"
It is possible to omit some or all of the final 4 parameters in the
call to \f(CW\*(C`tie\*(C'\fR and let them take default values. As \s-1DB_HASH\s0 is the most
common file format used, the call:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& tie %A, "DB_File", "filename" ;
.Ve
.PP
is equivalent to:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& tie %A, "DB_File", "filename", O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0666, $DB_HASH ;
.Ve
.PP
It is also possible to omit the filename parameter as well, so the
call:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& tie %A, "DB_File" ;
.Ve
.PP
is equivalent to:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& tie %A, "DB_File", undef, O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0666, $DB_HASH ;
.Ve
.PP
See \*(L"In Memory Databases\*(R" for a discussion on the use of \f(CW\*(C`undef\*(C'\fR
in place of a filename.
.SS "In Memory Databases"
.IX Subsection "In Memory Databases"
Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 allows the creation of in-memory databases by using \s-1NULL\s0
(that is, a \f(CW\*(C`(char *)0\*(C'\fR in C) in place of the filename. \fBDB_File\fR
uses \f(CW\*(C`undef\*(C'\fR instead of \s-1NULL\s0 to provide this functionality.
.SH "DB_HASH"
.IX Header "DB_HASH"
The \s-1DB_HASH\s0 file format is probably the most commonly used of the three
file formats that \fBDB_File\fR supports. It is also very straightforward
to use.
.SS "A Simple Example"
.IX Subsection "A Simple Example"
This example shows how to create a database, add key/value pairs to the
database, delete keys/value pairs and finally how to enumerate the
contents of the database.
.PP
.Vb 4
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\& our (%h, $k, $v) ;
\&
\& unlink "fruit" ;
\& tie %h, "DB_File", "fruit", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_HASH
\& or die "Cannot open file \*(Aqfruit\*(Aq: $!\en";
\&
\& # Add a few key/value pairs to the file
\& $h{"apple"} = "red" ;
\& $h{"orange"} = "orange" ;
\& $h{"banana"} = "yellow" ;
\& $h{"tomato"} = "red" ;
\&
\& # Check for existence of a key
\& print "Banana Exists\en\en" if $h{"banana"} ;
\&
\& # Delete a key/value pair.
\& delete $h{"apple"} ;
\&
\& # print the contents of the file
\& while (($k, $v) = each %h)
\& { print "$k \-> $v\en" }
\&
\& untie %h ;
.Ve
.PP
here is the output:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& Banana Exists
\&
\& orange \-> orange
\& tomato \-> red
\& banana \-> yellow
.Ve
.PP
Note that the like ordinary associative arrays, the order of the keys
retrieved is in an apparently random order.
.SH "DB_BTREE"
.IX Header "DB_BTREE"
The \s-1DB_BTREE\s0 format is useful when you want to store data in a given
order. By default the keys will be stored in lexical order, but as you
will see from the example shown in the next section, it is very easy to
define your own sorting function.
.SS "Changing the \s-1BTREE\s0 sort order"
.IX Subsection "Changing the BTREE sort order"
This script shows how to override the default sorting algorithm that
\&\s-1BTREE\s0 uses. Instead of using the normal lexical ordering, a case
insensitive compare function will be used.
.PP
.Vb 3
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\&
\& my %h ;
\&
\& sub Compare
\& {
\& my ($key1, $key2) = @_ ;
\& "\eL$key1" cmp "\eL$key2" ;
\& }
\&
\& # specify the Perl sub that will do the comparison
\& $DB_BTREE\->{\*(Aqcompare\*(Aq} = \e&Compare ;
\&
\& unlink "tree" ;
\& tie %h, "DB_File", "tree", O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot open file \*(Aqtree\*(Aq: $!\en" ;
\&
\& # Add a key/value pair to the file
\& $h{\*(AqWall\*(Aq} = \*(AqLarry\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(AqSmith\*(Aq} = \*(AqJohn\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(Aqmouse\*(Aq} = \*(Aqmickey\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(Aqduck\*(Aq} = \*(Aqdonald\*(Aq ;
\&
\& # Delete
\& delete $h{"duck"} ;
\&
\& # Cycle through the keys printing them in order.
\& # Note it is not necessary to sort the keys as
\& # the btree will have kept them in order automatically.
\& foreach (keys %h)
\& { print "$_\en" }
\&
\& untie %h ;
.Ve
.PP
Here is the output from the code above.
.PP
.Vb 3
\& mouse
\& Smith
\& Wall
.Ve
.PP
There are a few point to bear in mind if you want to change the
ordering in a \s-1BTREE\s0 database:
.IP "1." 5
The new compare function must be specified when you create the database.
.IP "2." 5
You cannot change the ordering once the database has been created. Thus
you must use the same compare function every time you access the
database.
.IP "3." 5
Duplicate keys are entirely defined by the comparison function.
In the case-insensitive example above, the keys: '\s-1KEY\s0' and 'key'
would be considered duplicates, and assigning to the second one
would overwrite the first. If duplicates are allowed for (with the
R_DUP flag discussed below), only a single copy of duplicate keys
is stored in the database \-\-\- so (again with example above) assigning
three values to the keys: '\s-1KEY\s0', 'Key', and 'key' would leave just
the first key: '\s-1KEY\s0' in the database with three values. For some
situations this results in information loss, so care should be taken
to provide fully qualified comparison functions when necessary.
For example, the above comparison routine could be modified to
additionally compare case-sensitively if two keys are equal in the
case insensitive comparison:
.Sp
.Vb 5
\& sub compare {
\& my($key1, $key2) = @_;
\& lc $key1 cmp lc $key2 ||
\& $key1 cmp $key2;
\& }
.Ve
.Sp
And now you will only have duplicates when the keys themselves
are truly the same. (note: in versions of the db library prior to
about November 1996, such duplicate keys were retained so it was
possible to recover the original keys in sets of keys that
compared as equal).
.SS "Handling Duplicate Keys"
.IX Subsection "Handling Duplicate Keys"
The \s-1BTREE\s0 file type optionally allows a single key to be associated
with an arbitrary number of values. This option is enabled by setting
the flags element of \f(CW$DB_BTREE\fR to R_DUP when creating the database.
.PP
There are some difficulties in using the tied hash interface if you
want to manipulate a \s-1BTREE\s0 database with duplicate keys. Consider this
code:
.PP
.Vb 3
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\&
\& my ($filename, %h) ;
\&
\& $filename = "tree" ;
\& unlink $filename ;
\&
\& # Enable duplicate records
\& $DB_BTREE\->{\*(Aqflags\*(Aq} = R_DUP ;
\&
\& tie %h, "DB_File", $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\en";
\&
\& # Add some key/value pairs to the file
\& $h{\*(AqWall\*(Aq} = \*(AqLarry\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(AqWall\*(Aq} = \*(AqBrick\*(Aq ; # Note the duplicate key
\& $h{\*(AqWall\*(Aq} = \*(AqBrick\*(Aq ; # Note the duplicate key and value
\& $h{\*(AqSmith\*(Aq} = \*(AqJohn\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(Aqmouse\*(Aq} = \*(Aqmickey\*(Aq ;
\&
\& # iterate through the associative array
\& # and print each key/value pair.
\& foreach (sort keys %h)
\& { print "$_ \-> $h{$_}\en" }
\&
\& untie %h ;
.Ve
.PP
Here is the output:
.PP
.Vb 5
\& Smith \-> John
\& Wall \-> Larry
\& Wall \-> Larry
\& Wall \-> Larry
\& mouse \-> mickey
.Ve
.PP
As you can see 3 records have been successfully created with key \f(CW\*(C`Wall\*(C'\fR
\&\- the only thing is, when they are retrieved from the database they
\&\fIseem\fR to have the same value, namely \f(CW\*(C`Larry\*(C'\fR. The problem is caused
by the way that the associative array interface works. Basically, when
the associative array interface is used to fetch the value associated
with a given key, it will only ever retrieve the first value.
.PP
Although it may not be immediately obvious from the code above, the
associative array interface can be used to write values with duplicate
keys, but it cannot be used to read them back from the database.
.PP
The way to get around this problem is to use the Berkeley \s-1DB API\s0 method
called \f(CW\*(C`seq\*(C'\fR. This method allows sequential access to key/value
pairs. See \*(L"\s-1THE API INTERFACE\*(R"\s0 for details of both the \f(CW\*(C`seq\*(C'\fR method
and the \s-1API\s0 in general.
.PP
Here is the script above rewritten using the \f(CW\*(C`seq\*(C'\fR \s-1API\s0 method.
.PP
.Vb 3
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\&
\& my ($filename, $x, %h, $status, $key, $value) ;
\&
\& $filename = "tree" ;
\& unlink $filename ;
\&
\& # Enable duplicate records
\& $DB_BTREE\->{\*(Aqflags\*(Aq} = R_DUP ;
\&
\& $x = tie %h, "DB_File", $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\en";
\&
\& # Add some key/value pairs to the file
\& $h{\*(AqWall\*(Aq} = \*(AqLarry\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(AqWall\*(Aq} = \*(AqBrick\*(Aq ; # Note the duplicate key
\& $h{\*(AqWall\*(Aq} = \*(AqBrick\*(Aq ; # Note the duplicate key and value
\& $h{\*(AqSmith\*(Aq} = \*(AqJohn\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(Aqmouse\*(Aq} = \*(Aqmickey\*(Aq ;
\&
\& # iterate through the btree using seq
\& # and print each key/value pair.
\& $key = $value = 0 ;
\& for ($status = $x\->seq($key, $value, R_FIRST) ;
\& $status == 0 ;
\& $status = $x\->seq($key, $value, R_NEXT) )
\& { print "$key \-> $value\en" }
\&
\& undef $x ;
\& untie %h ;
.Ve
.PP
that prints:
.PP
.Vb 5
\& Smith \-> John
\& Wall \-> Brick
\& Wall \-> Brick
\& Wall \-> Larry
\& mouse \-> mickey
.Ve
.PP
This time we have got all the key/value pairs, including the multiple
values associated with the key \f(CW\*(C`Wall\*(C'\fR.
.PP
To make life easier when dealing with duplicate keys, \fBDB_File\fR comes with
a few utility methods.
.SS "The \fBget_dup()\fP Method"
.IX Subsection "The get_dup() Method"
The \f(CW\*(C`get_dup\*(C'\fR method assists in
reading duplicate values from \s-1BTREE\s0 databases. The method can take the
following forms:
.PP
.Vb 3
\& $count = $x\->get_dup($key) ;
\& @list = $x\->get_dup($key) ;
\& %list = $x\->get_dup($key, 1) ;
.Ve
.PP
In a scalar context the method returns the number of values associated
with the key, \f(CW$key\fR.
.PP
In list context, it returns all the values which match \f(CW$key\fR. Note
that the values will be returned in an apparently random order.
.PP
In list context, if the second parameter is present and evaluates
\&\s-1TRUE,\s0 the method returns an associative array. The keys of the
associative array correspond to the values that matched in the \s-1BTREE\s0
and the values of the array are a count of the number of times that
particular value occurred in the \s-1BTREE.\s0
.PP
So assuming the database created above, we can use \f(CW\*(C`get_dup\*(C'\fR like
this:
.PP
.Vb 3
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\&
\& my ($filename, $x, %h) ;
\&
\& $filename = "tree" ;
\&
\& # Enable duplicate records
\& $DB_BTREE\->{\*(Aqflags\*(Aq} = R_DUP ;
\&
\& $x = tie %h, "DB_File", $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\en";
\&
\& my $cnt = $x\->get_dup("Wall") ;
\& print "Wall occurred $cnt times\en" ;
\&
\& my %hash = $x\->get_dup("Wall", 1) ;
\& print "Larry is there\en" if $hash{\*(AqLarry\*(Aq} ;
\& print "There are $hash{\*(AqBrick\*(Aq} Brick Walls\en" ;
\&
\& my @list = sort $x\->get_dup("Wall") ;
\& print "Wall => [@list]\en" ;
\&
\& @list = $x\->get_dup("Smith") ;
\& print "Smith => [@list]\en" ;
\&
\& @list = $x\->get_dup("Dog") ;
\& print "Dog => [@list]\en" ;
.Ve
.PP
and it will print:
.PP
.Vb 6
\& Wall occurred 3 times
\& Larry is there
\& There are 2 Brick Walls
\& Wall => [Brick Brick Larry]
\& Smith => [John]
\& Dog => []
.Ve
.SS "The \fBfind_dup()\fP Method"
.IX Subsection "The find_dup() Method"
.Vb 1
\& $status = $X\->find_dup($key, $value) ;
.Ve
.PP
This method checks for the existence of a specific key/value pair. If the
pair exists, the cursor is left pointing to the pair and the method
returns 0. Otherwise the method returns a non-zero value.
.PP
Assuming the database from the previous example:
.PP
.Vb 3
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\&
\& my ($filename, $x, %h, $found) ;
\&
\& $filename = "tree" ;
\&
\& # Enable duplicate records
\& $DB_BTREE\->{\*(Aqflags\*(Aq} = R_DUP ;
\&
\& $x = tie %h, "DB_File", $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\en";
\&
\& $found = ( $x\->find_dup("Wall", "Larry") == 0 ? "" : "not") ;
\& print "Larry Wall is $found there\en" ;
\&
\& $found = ( $x\->find_dup("Wall", "Harry") == 0 ? "" : "not") ;
\& print "Harry Wall is $found there\en" ;
\&
\& undef $x ;
\& untie %h ;
.Ve
.PP
prints this
.PP
.Vb 2
\& Larry Wall is there
\& Harry Wall is not there
.Ve
.SS "The \fBdel_dup()\fP Method"
.IX Subsection "The del_dup() Method"
.Vb 1
\& $status = $X\->del_dup($key, $value) ;
.Ve
.PP
This method deletes a specific key/value pair. It returns
0 if they exist and have been deleted successfully.
Otherwise the method returns a non-zero value.
.PP
Again assuming the existence of the \f(CW\*(C`tree\*(C'\fR database
.PP
.Vb 3
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\&
\& my ($filename, $x, %h, $found) ;
\&
\& $filename = "tree" ;
\&
\& # Enable duplicate records
\& $DB_BTREE\->{\*(Aqflags\*(Aq} = R_DUP ;
\&
\& $x = tie %h, "DB_File", $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\en";
\&
\& $x\->del_dup("Wall", "Larry") ;
\&
\& $found = ( $x\->find_dup("Wall", "Larry") == 0 ? "" : "not") ;
\& print "Larry Wall is $found there\en" ;
\&
\& undef $x ;
\& untie %h ;
.Ve
.PP
prints this
.PP
.Vb 1
\& Larry Wall is not there
.Ve
.SS "Matching Partial Keys"
.IX Subsection "Matching Partial Keys"
The \s-1BTREE\s0 interface has a feature which allows partial keys to be
matched. This functionality is \fIonly\fR available when the \f(CW\*(C`seq\*(C'\fR method
is used along with the R_CURSOR flag.
.PP
.Vb 1
\& $x\->seq($key, $value, R_CURSOR) ;
.Ve
.PP
Here is the relevant quote from the dbopen man page where it defines
the use of the R_CURSOR flag with seq:
.PP
.Vb 4
\& Note, for the DB_BTREE access method, the returned key is not
\& necessarily an exact match for the specified key. The returned key
\& is the smallest key greater than or equal to the specified key,
\& permitting partial key matches and range searches.
.Ve
.PP
In the example script below, the \f(CW\*(C`match\*(C'\fR sub uses this feature to find
and print the first matching key/value pair given a partial key.
.PP
.Vb 4
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\& use Fcntl ;
\&
\& my ($filename, $x, %h, $st, $key, $value) ;
\&
\& sub match
\& {
\& my $key = shift ;
\& my $value = 0;
\& my $orig_key = $key ;
\& $x\->seq($key, $value, R_CURSOR) ;
\& print "$orig_key\et\-> $key\et\-> $value\en" ;
\& }
\&
\& $filename = "tree" ;
\& unlink $filename ;
\&
\& $x = tie %h, "DB_File", $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\en";
\&
\& # Add some key/value pairs to the file
\& $h{\*(Aqmouse\*(Aq} = \*(Aqmickey\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(AqWall\*(Aq} = \*(AqLarry\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(AqWalls\*(Aq} = \*(AqBrick\*(Aq ;
\& $h{\*(AqSmith\*(Aq} = \*(AqJohn\*(Aq ;
\&
\&
\& $key = $value = 0 ;
\& print "IN ORDER\en" ;
\& for ($st = $x\->seq($key, $value, R_FIRST) ;
\& $st == 0 ;
\& $st = $x\->seq($key, $value, R_NEXT) )
\&
\& { print "$key \-> $value\en" }
\&
\& print "\enPARTIAL MATCH\en" ;
\&
\& match "Wa" ;
\& match "A" ;
\& match "a" ;
\&
\& undef $x ;
\& untie %h ;
.Ve
.PP
Here is the output:
.PP
.Vb 5
\& IN ORDER
\& Smith \-> John
\& Wall \-> Larry
\& Walls \-> Brick
\& mouse \-> mickey
\&
\& PARTIAL MATCH
\& Wa \-> Wall \-> Larry
\& A \-> Smith \-> John
\& a \-> mouse \-> mickey
.Ve
.SH "DB_RECNO"
.IX Header "DB_RECNO"
\&\s-1DB_RECNO\s0 provides an interface to flat text files. Both variable and
fixed length records are supported.
.PP
In order to make \s-1RECNO\s0 more compatible with Perl, the array offset for
all \s-1RECNO\s0 arrays begins at 0 rather than 1 as in Berkeley \s-1DB.\s0
.PP
As with normal Perl arrays, a \s-1RECNO\s0 array can be accessed using
negative indexes. The index \-1 refers to the last element of the array,
\&\-2 the second last, and so on. Attempting to access an element before
the start of the array will raise a fatal run-time error.
.SS "The 'bval' Option"
.IX Subsection "The 'bval' Option"
The operation of the bval option warrants some discussion. Here is the
definition of bval from the Berkeley \s-1DB 1.85\s0 recno manual page:
.PP
.Vb 6
\& The delimiting byte to be used to mark the end of a
\& record for variable\-length records, and the pad charac\-
\& ter for fixed\-length records. If no value is speci\-
\& fied, newlines (\`\`\en\*(Aq\*(Aq) are used to mark the end of
\& variable\-length records and fixed\-length records are
\& padded with spaces.
.Ve
.PP
The second sentence is wrong. In actual fact bval will only default to
\&\f(CW"\en"\fR when the openinfo parameter in dbopen is \s-1NULL.\s0 If a non-NULL
openinfo parameter is used at all, the value that happens to be in bval
will be used. That means you always have to specify bval when making
use of any of the options in the openinfo parameter. This documentation
error will be fixed in the next release of Berkeley \s-1DB.\s0
.PP
That clarifies the situation with regards Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 itself. What
about \fBDB_File\fR? Well, the behavior defined in the quote above is
quite useful, so \fBDB_File\fR conforms to it.
.PP
That means that you can specify other options (e.g. cachesize) and
still have bval default to \f(CW"\en"\fR for variable length records, and
space for fixed length records.
.PP
Also note that the bval option only allows you to specify a single byte
as a delimiter.
.SS "A Simple Example"
.IX Subsection "A Simple Example"
Here is a simple example that uses \s-1RECNO\s0 (if you are using a version
of Perl earlier than 5.004_57 this example won't work \*(-- see
\&\*(L"Extra \s-1RECNO\s0 Methods\*(R" for a workaround).
.PP
.Vb 3
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\&
\& my $filename = "text" ;
\& unlink $filename ;
\&
\& my @h ;
\& tie @h, "DB_File", $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_RECNO
\& or die "Cannot open file \*(Aqtext\*(Aq: $!\en" ;
\&
\& # Add a few key/value pairs to the file
\& $h[0] = "orange" ;
\& $h[1] = "blue" ;
\& $h[2] = "yellow" ;
\&
\& push @h, "green", "black" ;
\&
\& my $elements = scalar @h ;
\& print "The array contains $elements entries\en" ;
\&
\& my $last = pop @h ;
\& print "popped $last\en" ;
\&
\& unshift @h, "white" ;
\& my $first = shift @h ;
\& print "shifted $first\en" ;
\&
\& # Check for existence of a key
\& print "Element 1 Exists with value $h[1]\en" if $h[1] ;
\&
\& # use a negative index
\& print "The last element is $h[\-1]\en" ;
\& print "The 2nd last element is $h[\-2]\en" ;
\&
\& untie @h ;
.Ve
.PP
Here is the output from the script:
.PP
.Vb 6
\& The array contains 5 entries
\& popped black
\& shifted white
\& Element 1 Exists with value blue
\& The last element is green
\& The 2nd last element is yellow
.Ve
.SS "Extra \s-1RECNO\s0 Methods"
.IX Subsection "Extra RECNO Methods"
If you are using a version of Perl earlier than 5.004_57, the tied
array interface is quite limited. In the example script above
\&\f(CW\*(C`push\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`pop\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`shift\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`unshift\*(C'\fR
or determining the array length will not work with a tied array.
.PP
To make the interface more useful for older versions of Perl, a number
of methods are supplied with \fBDB_File\fR to simulate the missing array
operations. All these methods are accessed via the object returned from
the tie call.
.PP
Here are the methods:
.IP "\fB\f(CB$X\fB\->push(list) ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$X->push(list) ;"
Pushes the elements of \f(CW\*(C`list\*(C'\fR to the end of the array.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$value\fB = \f(CB$X\fB\->pop ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$value = $X->pop ;"
Removes and returns the last element of the array.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$X\fB\->shift\fR" 5
.IX Item "$X->shift"
Removes and returns the first element of the array.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$X\fB\->unshift(list) ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$X->unshift(list) ;"
Pushes the elements of \f(CW\*(C`list\*(C'\fR to the start of the array.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$X\fB\->length\fR" 5
.IX Item "$X->length"
Returns the number of elements in the array.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$X\fB\->splice(offset, length, elements);\fR" 5
.IX Item "$X->splice(offset, length, elements);"
Returns a splice of the array.
.SS "Another Example"
.IX Subsection "Another Example"
Here is a more complete example that makes use of some of the methods
described above. It also makes use of the \s-1API\s0 interface directly (see
\&\*(L"\s-1THE API INTERFACE\*(R"\s0).
.PP
.Vb 5
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& my (@h, $H, $file, $i) ;
\& use DB_File ;
\& use Fcntl ;
\&
\& $file = "text" ;
\&
\& unlink $file ;
\&
\& $H = tie @h, "DB_File", $file, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0666, $DB_RECNO
\& or die "Cannot open file $file: $!\en" ;
\&
\& # first create a text file to play with
\& $h[0] = "zero" ;
\& $h[1] = "one" ;
\& $h[2] = "two" ;
\& $h[3] = "three" ;
\& $h[4] = "four" ;
\&
\&
\& # Print the records in order.
\& #
\& # The length method is needed here because evaluating a tied
\& # array in a scalar context does not return the number of
\& # elements in the array.
\&
\& print "\enORIGINAL\en" ;
\& foreach $i (0 .. $H\->length \- 1) {
\& print "$i: $h[$i]\en" ;
\& }
\&
\& # use the push & pop methods
\& $a = $H\->pop ;
\& $H\->push("last") ;
\& print "\enThe last record was [$a]\en" ;
\&
\& # and the shift & unshift methods
\& $a = $H\->shift ;
\& $H\->unshift("first") ;
\& print "The first record was [$a]\en" ;
\&
\& # Use the API to add a new record after record 2.
\& $i = 2 ;
\& $H\->put($i, "Newbie", R_IAFTER) ;
\&
\& # and a new record before record 1.
\& $i = 1 ;
\& $H\->put($i, "New One", R_IBEFORE) ;
\&
\& # delete record 3
\& $H\->del(3) ;
\&
\& # now print the records in reverse order
\& print "\enREVERSE\en" ;
\& for ($i = $H\->length \- 1 ; $i >= 0 ; \-\- $i)
\& { print "$i: $h[$i]\en" }
\&
\& # same again, but use the API functions instead
\& print "\enREVERSE again\en" ;
\& my ($s, $k, $v) = (0, 0, 0) ;
\& for ($s = $H\->seq($k, $v, R_LAST) ;
\& $s == 0 ;
\& $s = $H\->seq($k, $v, R_PREV))
\& { print "$k: $v\en" }
\&
\& undef $H ;
\& untie @h ;
.Ve
.PP
and this is what it outputs:
.PP
.Vb 6
\& ORIGINAL
\& 0: zero
\& 1: one
\& 2: two
\& 3: three
\& 4: four
\&
\& The last record was [four]
\& The first record was [zero]
\&
\& REVERSE
\& 5: last
\& 4: three
\& 3: Newbie
\& 2: one
\& 1: New One
\& 0: first
\&
\& REVERSE again
\& 5: last
\& 4: three
\& 3: Newbie
\& 2: one
\& 1: New One
\& 0: first
.Ve
.PP
Notes:
.IP "1." 5
Rather than iterating through the array, \f(CW@h\fR like this:
.Sp
.Vb 1
\& foreach $i (@h)
.Ve
.Sp
it is necessary to use either this:
.Sp
.Vb 1
\& foreach $i (0 .. $H\->length \- 1)
.Ve
.Sp
or this:
.Sp
.Vb 3
\& for ($a = $H\->get($k, $v, R_FIRST) ;
\& $a == 0 ;
\& $a = $H\->get($k, $v, R_NEXT) )
.Ve
.IP "2." 5
Notice that both times the \f(CW\*(C`put\*(C'\fR method was used the record index was
specified using a variable, \f(CW$i\fR, rather than the literal value
itself. This is because \f(CW\*(C`put\*(C'\fR will return the record number of the
inserted line via that parameter.
.SH "THE API INTERFACE"
.IX Header "THE API INTERFACE"
As well as accessing Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 using a tied hash or array, it is also
possible to make direct use of most of the \s-1API\s0 functions defined in the
Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 documentation.
.PP
To do this you need to store a copy of the object returned from the tie.
.PP
.Vb 1
\& $db = tie %hash, "DB_File", "filename" ;
.Ve
.PP
Once you have done that, you can access the Berkeley \s-1DB API\s0 functions
as \fBDB_File\fR methods directly like this:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& $db\->put($key, $value, R_NOOVERWRITE) ;
.Ve
.PP
\&\fBImportant:\fR If you have saved a copy of the object returned from
\&\f(CW\*(C`tie\*(C'\fR, the underlying database file will \fInot\fR be closed until both
the tied variable is untied and all copies of the saved object are
destroyed.
.PP
.Vb 6
\& use DB_File ;
\& $db = tie %hash, "DB_File", "filename"
\& or die "Cannot tie filename: $!" ;
\& ...
\& undef $db ;
\& untie %hash ;
.Ve
.PP
See \*(L"The \fBuntie()\fR Gotcha\*(R" for more details.
.PP
All the functions defined in dbopen are available except for
\&\fBclose()\fR and \fBdbopen()\fR itself. The \fBDB_File\fR method interface to the
supported functions have been implemented to mirror the way Berkeley \s-1DB\s0
works whenever possible. In particular note that:
.IP "\(bu" 5
The methods return a status value. All return 0 on success.
All return \-1 to signify an error and set \f(CW$!\fR to the exact
error code. The return code 1 generally (but not always) means that the
key specified did not exist in the database.
.Sp
Other return codes are defined. See below and in the Berkeley \s-1DB\s0
documentation for details. The Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 documentation should be used
as the definitive source.
.IP "\(bu" 5
Whenever a Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 function returns data via one of its parameters,
the equivalent \fBDB_File\fR method does exactly the same.
.IP "\(bu" 5
If you are careful, it is possible to mix \s-1API\s0 calls with the tied
hash/array interface in the same piece of code. Although only a few of
the methods used to implement the tied interface currently make use of
the cursor, you should always assume that the cursor has been changed
any time the tied hash/array interface is used. As an example, this
code will probably not do what you expect:
.Sp
.Vb 2
\& $X = tie %x, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0777, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot tie $filename: $!" ;
\&
\& # Get the first key/value pair and set the cursor
\& $X\->seq($key, $value, R_FIRST) ;
\&
\& # this line will modify the cursor
\& $count = scalar keys %x ;
\&
\& # Get the second key/value pair.
\& # oops, it didn\*(Aqt, it got the last key/value pair!
\& $X\->seq($key, $value, R_NEXT) ;
.Ve
.Sp
The code above can be rearranged to get around the problem, like this:
.Sp
.Vb 2
\& $X = tie %x, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, $filename, O_RDWR|O_CREAT, 0777, $DB_BTREE
\& or die "Cannot tie $filename: $!" ;
\&
\& # this line will modify the cursor
\& $count = scalar keys %x ;
\&
\& # Get the first key/value pair and set the cursor
\& $X\->seq($key, $value, R_FIRST) ;
\&
\& # Get the second key/value pair.
\& # worked this time.
\& $X\->seq($key, $value, R_NEXT) ;
.Ve
.PP
All the constants defined in dbopen for use in the flags parameters
in the methods defined below are also available. Refer to the Berkeley
\&\s-1DB\s0 documentation for the precise meaning of the flags values.
.PP
Below is a list of the methods available.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$status\fB = \f(CB$X\fB\->get($key, \f(CB$value\fB [, \f(CB$flags\fB]) ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$status = $X->get($key, $value [, $flags]) ;"
Given a key (\f(CW$key\fR) this method reads the value associated with it
from the database. The value read from the database is returned in the
\&\f(CW$value\fR parameter.
.Sp
If the key does not exist the method returns 1.
.Sp
No flags are currently defined for this method.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$status\fB = \f(CB$X\fB\->put($key, \f(CB$value\fB [, \f(CB$flags\fB]) ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$status = $X->put($key, $value [, $flags]) ;"
Stores the key/value pair in the database.
.Sp
If you use either the R_IAFTER or R_IBEFORE flags, the \f(CW$key\fR parameter
will have the record number of the inserted key/value pair set.
.Sp
Valid flags are R_CURSOR, R_IAFTER, R_IBEFORE, R_NOOVERWRITE and
R_SETCURSOR.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$status\fB = \f(CB$X\fB\->del($key [, \f(CB$flags\fB]) ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$status = $X->del($key [, $flags]) ;"
Removes all key/value pairs with key \f(CW$key\fR from the database.
.Sp
A return code of 1 means that the requested key was not in the
database.
.Sp
R_CURSOR is the only valid flag at present.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$status\fB = \f(CB$X\fB\->fd ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$status = $X->fd ;"
Returns the file descriptor for the underlying database.
.Sp
See \*(L"Locking: The Trouble with fd\*(R" for an explanation for why you should
not use \f(CW\*(C`fd\*(C'\fR to lock your database.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$status\fB = \f(CB$X\fB\->seq($key, \f(CB$value\fB, \f(CB$flags\fB) ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$status = $X->seq($key, $value, $flags) ;"
This interface allows sequential retrieval from the database. See
dbopen for full details.
.Sp
Both the \f(CW$key\fR and \f(CW$value\fR parameters will be set to the key/value
pair read from the database.
.Sp
The flags parameter is mandatory. The valid flag values are R_CURSOR,
R_FIRST, R_LAST, R_NEXT and R_PREV.
.IP "\fB\f(CB$status\fB = \f(CB$X\fB\->sync([$flags]) ;\fR" 5
.IX Item "$status = $X->sync([$flags]) ;"
Flushes any cached buffers to disk.
.Sp
R_RECNOSYNC is the only valid flag at present.
.SH "DBM FILTERS"
.IX Header "DBM FILTERS"
A \s-1DBM\s0 Filter is a piece of code that is be used when you \fIalways\fR want to
make the same transformation to all keys and/or values in a \s-1DBM\s0 database.
An example is when you need to encode your data in \s-1UTF\-8\s0 before writing to
the database and then decode the \s-1UTF\-8\s0 when reading from the database file.
.PP
There are two ways to use a \s-1DBM\s0 Filter.
.IP "1." 5
Using the low-level \s-1API\s0 defined below.
.IP "2." 5
Using the DBM_Filter module.
This module hides the complexity of the \s-1API\s0 defined below and comes
with a number of \*(L"canned\*(R" filters that cover some of the common use-cases.
.PP
Use of the DBM_Filter module is recommended.
.SS "\s-1DBM\s0 Filter Low-level \s-1API\s0"
.IX Subsection "DBM Filter Low-level API"
There are four methods associated with \s-1DBM\s0 Filters. All work identically,
and each is used to install (or uninstall) a single \s-1DBM\s0 Filter. Each
expects a single parameter, namely a reference to a sub. The only
difference between them is the place that the filter is installed.
.PP
To summarise:
.IP "\fBfilter_store_key\fR" 5
.IX Item "filter_store_key"
If a filter has been installed with this method, it will be invoked
every time you write a key to a \s-1DBM\s0 database.
.IP "\fBfilter_store_value\fR" 5
.IX Item "filter_store_value"
If a filter has been installed with this method, it will be invoked
every time you write a value to a \s-1DBM\s0 database.
.IP "\fBfilter_fetch_key\fR" 5
.IX Item "filter_fetch_key"
If a filter has been installed with this method, it will be invoked
every time you read a key from a \s-1DBM\s0 database.
.IP "\fBfilter_fetch_value\fR" 5
.IX Item "filter_fetch_value"
If a filter has been installed with this method, it will be invoked
every time you read a value from a \s-1DBM\s0 database.
.PP
You can use any combination of the methods, from none, to all four.
.PP
All filter methods return the existing filter, if present, or \f(CW\*(C`undef\*(C'\fR
in not.
.PP
To delete a filter pass \f(CW\*(C`undef\*(C'\fR to it.
.SS "The Filter"
.IX Subsection "The Filter"
When each filter is called by Perl, a local copy of \f(CW$_\fR will contain
the key or value to be filtered. Filtering is achieved by modifying
the contents of \f(CW$_\fR. The return code from the filter is ignored.
.SS "An Example \*(-- the \s-1NULL\s0 termination problem."
.IX Subsection "An Example the NULL termination problem."
Consider the following scenario. You have a \s-1DBM\s0 database
that you need to share with a third-party C application. The C application
assumes that \fIall\fR keys and values are \s-1NULL\s0 terminated. Unfortunately
when Perl writes to \s-1DBM\s0 databases it doesn't use \s-1NULL\s0 termination, so
your Perl application will have to manage \s-1NULL\s0 termination itself. When
you write to the database you will have to use something like this:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& $hash{"$key\e0"} = "$value\e0" ;
.Ve
.PP
Similarly the \s-1NULL\s0 needs to be taken into account when you are considering
the length of existing keys/values.
.PP
It would be much better if you could ignore the \s-1NULL\s0 terminations issue
in the main application code and have a mechanism that automatically
added the terminating \s-1NULL\s0 to all keys and values whenever you write to
the database and have them removed when you read from the database. As I'm
sure you have already guessed, this is a problem that \s-1DBM\s0 Filters can
fix very easily.
.PP
.Vb 3
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\&
\& my %hash ;
\& my $filename = "filt" ;
\& unlink $filename ;
\&
\& my $db = tie %hash, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, $filename, O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0666, $DB_HASH
\& or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\en" ;
\&
\& # Install DBM Filters
\& $db\->filter_fetch_key ( sub { s/\e0$// } ) ;
\& $db\->filter_store_key ( sub { $_ .= "\e0" } ) ;
\& $db\->filter_fetch_value( sub { s/\e0$// } ) ;
\& $db\->filter_store_value( sub { $_ .= "\e0" } ) ;
\&
\& $hash{"abc"} = "def" ;
\& my $a = $hash{"ABC"} ;
\& # ...
\& undef $db ;
\& untie %hash ;
.Ve
.PP
Hopefully the contents of each of the filters should be
self-explanatory. Both \*(L"fetch\*(R" filters remove the terminating \s-1NULL,\s0
and both \*(L"store\*(R" filters add a terminating \s-1NULL.\s0
.SS "Another Example \*(-- Key is a C int."
.IX Subsection "Another Example Key is a C int."
Here is another real-life example. By default, whenever Perl writes to
a \s-1DBM\s0 database it always writes the key and value as strings. So when
you use this:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& $hash{12345} = "something" ;
.Ve
.PP
the key 12345 will get stored in the \s-1DBM\s0 database as the 5 byte string
\&\*(L"12345\*(R". If you actually want the key to be stored in the \s-1DBM\s0 database
as a C int, you will have to use \f(CW\*(C`pack\*(C'\fR when writing, and \f(CW\*(C`unpack\*(C'\fR
when reading.
.PP
Here is a \s-1DBM\s0 Filter that does it:
.PP
.Vb 6
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\& my %hash ;
\& my $filename = "filt" ;
\& unlink $filename ;
\&
\&
\& my $db = tie %hash, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, $filename, O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0666, $DB_HASH
\& or die "Cannot open $filename: $!\en" ;
\&
\& $db\->filter_fetch_key ( sub { $_ = unpack("i", $_) } ) ;
\& $db\->filter_store_key ( sub { $_ = pack ("i", $_) } ) ;
\& $hash{123} = "def" ;
\& # ...
\& undef $db ;
\& untie %hash ;
.Ve
.PP
This time only two filters have been used \*(-- we only need to manipulate
the contents of the key, so it wasn't necessary to install any value
filters.
.SH "HINTS AND TIPS"
.IX Header "HINTS AND TIPS"
.SS "Locking: The Trouble with fd"
.IX Subsection "Locking: The Trouble with fd"
Until version 1.72 of this module, the recommended technique for locking
\&\fBDB_File\fR databases was to flock the filehandle returned from the \*(L"fd\*(R"
function. Unfortunately this technique has been shown to be fundamentally
flawed (Kudos to David Harris for tracking this down). Use it at your own
peril!
.PP
The locking technique went like this.
.PP
.Vb 12
\& $db = tie(%db, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, \*(Aqfoo.db\*(Aq, O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0644)
\& || die "dbcreat foo.db $!";
\& $fd = $db\->fd;
\& open(DB_FH, "+<&=$fd") || die "dup $!";
\& flock (DB_FH, LOCK_EX) || die "flock: $!";
\& ...
\& $db{"Tom"} = "Jerry" ;
\& ...
\& flock(DB_FH, LOCK_UN);
\& undef $db;
\& untie %db;
\& close(DB_FH);
.Ve
.PP
In simple terms, this is what happens:
.IP "1." 5
Use \*(L"tie\*(R" to open the database.
.IP "2." 5
Lock the database with fd & flock.
.IP "3." 5
Read & Write to the database.
.IP "4." 5
Unlock and close the database.
.PP
Here is the crux of the problem. A side-effect of opening the \fBDB_File\fR
database in step 2 is that an initial block from the database will get
read from disk and cached in memory.
.PP
To see why this is a problem, consider what can happen when two processes,
say \*(L"A\*(R" and \*(L"B\*(R", both want to update the same \fBDB_File\fR database
using the locking steps outlined above. Assume process \*(L"A\*(R" has already
opened the database and has a write lock, but it hasn't actually updated
the database yet (it has finished step 2, but not started step 3 yet). Now
process \*(L"B\*(R" tries to open the same database \- step 1 will succeed,
but it will block on step 2 until process \*(L"A\*(R" releases the lock. The
important thing to notice here is that at this point in time both
processes will have cached identical initial blocks from the database.
.PP
Now process \*(L"A\*(R" updates the database and happens to change some of the
data held in the initial buffer. Process \*(L"A\*(R" terminates, flushing
all cached data to disk and releasing the database lock. At this point
the database on disk will correctly reflect the changes made by process
\&\*(L"A\*(R".
.PP
With the lock released, process \*(L"B\*(R" can now continue. It also updates the
database and unfortunately it too modifies the data that was in its
initial buffer. Once that data gets flushed to disk it will overwrite
some/all of the changes process \*(L"A\*(R" made to the database.
.PP
The result of this scenario is at best a database that doesn't contain
what you expect. At worst the database will corrupt.
.PP
The above won't happen every time competing process update the same
\&\fBDB_File\fR database, but it does illustrate why the technique should
not be used.
.SS "Safe ways to lock a database"
.IX Subsection "Safe ways to lock a database"
Starting with version 2.x, Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 has internal support for locking.
The companion module to this one, \fBBerkeleyDB\fR, provides an interface
to this locking functionality. If you are serious about locking
Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 databases, I strongly recommend using \fBBerkeleyDB\fR.
.PP
If using \fBBerkeleyDB\fR isn't an option, there are a number of modules
available on \s-1CPAN\s0 that can be used to implement locking. Each one
implements locking differently and has different goals in mind. It is
therefore worth knowing the difference, so that you can pick the right
one for your application. Here are the three locking wrappers:
.IP "\fBTie::DB_Lock\fR" 5
.IX Item "Tie::DB_Lock"
A \fBDB_File\fR wrapper which creates copies of the database file for
read access, so that you have a kind of a multiversioning concurrent read
system. However, updates are still serial. Use for databases where reads
may be lengthy and consistency problems may occur.
.IP "\fBTie::DB_LockFile\fR" 5
.IX Item "Tie::DB_LockFile"
A \fBDB_File\fR wrapper that has the ability to lock and unlock the database
while it is being used. Avoids the tie-before-flock problem by simply
re-tie-ing the database when you get or drop a lock. Because of the
flexibility in dropping and re-acquiring the lock in the middle of a
session, this can be massaged into a system that will work with long
updates and/or reads if the application follows the hints in the \s-1POD\s0
documentation.
.IP "\fBDB_File::Lock\fR" 5
.IX Item "DB_File::Lock"
An extremely lightweight \fBDB_File\fR wrapper that simply flocks a lockfile
before tie-ing the database and drops the lock after the untie. Allows
one to use the same lockfile for multiple databases to avoid deadlock
problems, if desired. Use for databases where updates are reads are
quick and simple flock locking semantics are enough.
.SS "Sharing Databases With C Applications"
.IX Subsection "Sharing Databases With C Applications"
There is no technical reason why a Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 database cannot be
shared by both a Perl and a C application.
.PP
The vast majority of problems that are reported in this area boil down
to the fact that C strings are \s-1NULL\s0 terminated, whilst Perl strings are
not. See \*(L"\s-1DBM FILTERS\*(R"\s0 for a generic way to work around this problem.
.PP
Here is a real example. Netscape 2.0 keeps a record of the locations you
visit along with the time you last visited them in a \s-1DB_HASH\s0 database.
This is usually stored in the file \fI~/.netscape/history.db\fR. The key
field in the database is the location string and the value field is the
time the location was last visited stored as a 4 byte binary value.
.PP
If you haven't already guessed, the location string is stored with a
terminating \s-1NULL.\s0 This means you need to be careful when accessing the
database.
.PP
Here is a snippet of code that is loosely based on Tom Christiansen's
\&\fIggh\fR script (available from your nearest \s-1CPAN\s0 archive in
\&\fIauthors/id/TOMC/scripts/nshist.gz\fR).
.PP
.Vb 4
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\& use Fcntl ;
\&
\& my ($dotdir, $HISTORY, %hist_db, $href, $binary_time, $date) ;
\& $dotdir = $ENV{HOME} || $ENV{LOGNAME};
\&
\& $HISTORY = "$dotdir/.netscape/history.db";
\&
\& tie %hist_db, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, $HISTORY
\& or die "Cannot open $HISTORY: $!\en" ;;
\&
\& # Dump the complete database
\& while ( ($href, $binary_time) = each %hist_db ) {
\&
\& # remove the terminating NULL
\& $href =~ s/\ex00$// ;
\&
\& # convert the binary time into a user friendly string
\& $date = localtime unpack("V", $binary_time);
\& print "$date $href\en" ;
\& }
\&
\& # check for the existence of a specific key
\& # remember to add the NULL
\& if ( $binary_time = $hist_db{"http://mox.perl.com/\ex00"} ) {
\& $date = localtime unpack("V", $binary_time) ;
\& print "Last visited mox.perl.com on $date\en" ;
\& }
\& else {
\& print "Never visited mox.perl.com\en"
\& }
\&
\& untie %hist_db ;
.Ve
.SS "The \fBuntie()\fP Gotcha"
.IX Subsection "The untie() Gotcha"
If you make use of the Berkeley \s-1DB API,\s0 it is \fIvery\fR strongly
recommended that you read \*(L"The untie Gotcha\*(R" in perltie.
.PP
Even if you don't currently make use of the \s-1API\s0 interface, it is still
worth reading it.
.PP
Here is an example which illustrates the problem from a \fBDB_File\fR
perspective:
.PP
.Vb 2
\& use DB_File ;
\& use Fcntl ;
\&
\& my %x ;
\& my $X ;
\&
\& $X = tie %x, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, \*(Aqtst.fil\*(Aq , O_RDWR|O_TRUNC
\& or die "Cannot tie first time: $!" ;
\&
\& $x{123} = 456 ;
\&
\& untie %x ;
\&
\& tie %x, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, \*(Aqtst.fil\*(Aq , O_RDWR|O_CREAT
\& or die "Cannot tie second time: $!" ;
\&
\& untie %x ;
.Ve
.PP
When run, the script will produce this error message:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& Cannot tie second time: Invalid argument at bad.file line 14.
.Ve
.PP
Although the error message above refers to the second \fBtie()\fR statement
in the script, the source of the problem is really with the \fBuntie()\fR
statement that precedes it.
.PP
Having read perltie you will probably have already guessed that the
error is caused by the extra copy of the tied object stored in \f(CW$X\fR.
If you haven't, then the problem boils down to the fact that the
\&\fBDB_File\fR destructor, \s-1DESTROY,\s0 will not be called until \fIall\fR
references to the tied object are destroyed. Both the tied variable,
\&\f(CW%x\fR, and \f(CW$X\fR above hold a reference to the object. The call to
\&\fBuntie()\fR will destroy the first, but \f(CW$X\fR still holds a valid
reference, so the destructor will not get called and the database file
\&\fItst.fil\fR will remain open. The fact that Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 then reports the
attempt to open a database that is already open via the catch-all
\&\*(L"Invalid argument\*(R" doesn't help.
.PP
If you run the script with the \f(CW\*(C`\-w\*(C'\fR flag the error message becomes:
.PP
.Vb 2
\& untie attempted while 1 inner references still exist at bad.file line 12.
\& Cannot tie second time: Invalid argument at bad.file line 14.
.Ve
.PP
which pinpoints the real problem. Finally the script can now be
modified to fix the original problem by destroying the \s-1API\s0 object
before the untie:
.PP
.Vb 2
\& ...
\& $x{123} = 456 ;
\&
\& undef $X ;
\& untie %x ;
\&
\& $X = tie %x, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, \*(Aqtst.fil\*(Aq , O_RDWR|O_CREAT
\& ...
.Ve
.SH "COMMON QUESTIONS"
.IX Header "COMMON QUESTIONS"
.SS "Why is there Perl source in my database?"
.IX Subsection "Why is there Perl source in my database?"
If you look at the contents of a database file created by DB_File,
there can sometimes be part of a Perl script included in it.
.PP
This happens because Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 uses dynamic memory to allocate
buffers which will subsequently be written to the database file. Being
dynamic, the memory could have been used for anything before \s-1DB\s0
malloced it. As Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 doesn't clear the memory once it has been
allocated, the unused portions will contain random junk. In the case
where a Perl script gets written to the database, the random junk will
correspond to an area of dynamic memory that happened to be used during
the compilation of the script.
.PP
Unless you don't like the possibility of there being part of your Perl
scripts embedded in a database file, this is nothing to worry about.
.SS "How do I store complex data structures with DB_File?"
.IX Subsection "How do I store complex data structures with DB_File?"
Although \fBDB_File\fR cannot do this directly, there is a module which
can layer transparently over \fBDB_File\fR to accomplish this feat.
.PP
Check out the \s-1MLDBM\s0 module, available on \s-1CPAN\s0 in the directory
\&\fImodules/by\-module/MLDBM\fR.
.ie n .SS "What does ""wide character in subroutine entry"" mean?"
.el .SS "What does ``wide character in subroutine entry'' mean?"
.IX Subsection "What does wide character in subroutine entry mean?"
You will usually get this message if you are working with \s-1UTF\-8\s0 data and
want to read/write it from/to a Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 database file.
.PP
The easist way to deal with this issue is to use the pre-defined \*(L"utf8\*(R"
\&\fBDBM_Filter\fR (see DBM_Filter) that was designed to deal with this
situation.
.PP
The example below shows what you need if \fIboth\fR the key and value are
expected to be in \s-1UTF\-8.\s0
.PP
.Vb 2
\& use DB_File;
\& use DBM_Filter;
\&
\& my $db = tie %h, \*(AqDB_File\*(Aq, \*(Aq/tmp/try.db\*(Aq, O_CREAT|O_RDWR, 0666, $DB_BTREE;
\& $db\->Filter_Key_Push(\*(Aqutf8\*(Aq);
\& $db\->Filter_Value_Push(\*(Aqutf8\*(Aq);
\&
\& my $key = "\eN{LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH ACUTE}";
\& my $value = "\eN{LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE}";
\& $h{ $key } = $value;
.Ve
.ie n .SS "What does ""Invalid Argument"" mean?"
.el .SS "What does ``Invalid Argument'' mean?"
.IX Subsection "What does Invalid Argument mean?"
You will get this error message when one of the parameters in the
\&\f(CW\*(C`tie\*(C'\fR call is wrong. Unfortunately there are quite a few parameters to
get wrong, so it can be difficult to figure out which one it is.
.PP
Here are a couple of possibilities:
.IP "1." 5
Attempting to reopen a database without closing it.
.IP "2." 5
Using the O_WRONLY flag.
.ie n .SS "What does ""Bareword 'DB_File' not allowed"" mean?"
.el .SS "What does ``Bareword 'DB_File' not allowed'' mean?"
.IX Subsection "What does Bareword 'DB_File' not allowed mean?"
You will encounter this particular error message when you have the
\&\f(CW\*(C`strict \*(Aqsubs\*(Aq\*(C'\fR pragma (or the full strict pragma) in your script.
Consider this script:
.PP
.Vb 5
\& use warnings ;
\& use strict ;
\& use DB_File ;
\& my %x ;
\& tie %x, DB_File, "filename" ;
.Ve
.PP
Running it produces the error in question:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& Bareword "DB_File" not allowed while "strict subs" in use
.Ve
.PP
To get around the error, place the word \f(CW\*(C`DB_File\*(C'\fR in either single or
double quotes, like this:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& tie %x, "DB_File", "filename" ;
.Ve
.PP
Although it might seem like a real pain, it is really worth the effort
of having a \f(CW\*(C`use strict\*(C'\fR in all your scripts.
.SH "REFERENCES"
.IX Header "REFERENCES"
Articles that are either about \fBDB_File\fR or make use of it.
.IP "1." 5
\&\fIFull-Text Searching in Perl\fR, Tim Kientzle (tkientzle@ddj.com),
Dr. Dobb's Journal, Issue 295, January 1999, pp 34\-41
.SH "HISTORY"
.IX Header "HISTORY"
Moved to the Changes file.
.SH "BUGS"
.IX Header "BUGS"
Some older versions of Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 had problems with fixed length
records using the \s-1RECNO\s0 file format. This problem has been fixed since
version 1.85 of Berkeley \s-1DB.\s0
.PP
I am sure there are bugs in the code. If you do find any, or can
suggest any enhancements, I would welcome your comments.
.SH "AVAILABILITY"
.IX Header "AVAILABILITY"
\&\fBDB_File\fR comes with the standard Perl source distribution. Look in
the directory \fIext/DB_File\fR. Given the amount of time between releases
of Perl the version that ships with Perl is quite likely to be out of
date, so the most recent version can always be found on \s-1CPAN\s0 (see
\&\*(L"\s-1CPAN\*(R"\s0 in perlmodlib for details), in the directory
\&\fImodules/by\-module/DB_File\fR.
.PP
This version of \fBDB_File\fR will work with either version 1.x, 2.x or
3.x of Berkeley \s-1DB,\s0 but is limited to the functionality provided by
version 1.
.PP
The official web site for Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 is \fIhttp://www.oracle.com/technology/products/berkeley\-db/db/index.html\fR.
All versions of Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 are available there.
.PP
Alternatively, Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 version 1 is available at your nearest \s-1CPAN\s0
archive in \fIsrc/misc/db.1.85.tar.gz\fR.
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright (c) 1995\-2016 Paul Marquess. All rights reserved. This program
is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
same terms as Perl itself.
.PP
Although \fBDB_File\fR is covered by the Perl license, the library it
makes use of, namely Berkeley \s-1DB,\s0 is not. Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 has its own
copyright and its own license. Please take the time to read it.
.PP
Here are a few words taken from the Berkeley \s-1DB FAQ\s0 (at
\&\fIhttp://www.oracle.com/technology/products/berkeley\-db/db/index.html\fR) regarding the license:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& Do I have to license DB to use it in Perl scripts?
\&
\& No. The Berkeley DB license requires that software that uses
\& Berkeley DB be freely redistributable. In the case of Perl, that
\& software is Perl, and not your scripts. Any Perl scripts that you
\& write are your property, including scripts that make use of
\& Berkeley DB. Neither the Perl license nor the Berkeley DB license
\& place any restriction on what you may do with them.
.Ve
.PP
If you are in any doubt about the license situation, contact either the
Berkeley \s-1DB\s0 authors or the author of DB_File. See \*(L"\s-1AUTHOR\*(R"\s0 for details.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
perl, \fBdbopen\fR\|(3), \fBhash\fR\|(3), \fBrecno\fR\|(3), \fBbtree\fR\|(3),
perldbmfilter, DBM_Filter
.SH "AUTHOR"
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
The DB_File interface was written by Paul Marquess
<pmqs@cpan.org>.