Pod::Text(3) Perl Programmers Reference Guide Pod::Text(3)
NAME
Pod::Text - Convert POD data to formatted ASCII text
SYNOPSIS
use Pod::Text;
my $parser = Pod::Text->new (sentence => 0, width => 78);
# Read POD from STDIN and write to STDOUT.
$parser->parse_from_filehandle;
# Read POD from file.pod and write to file.txt.
$parser->parse_from_file ('file.pod', 'file.txt');
DESCRIPTION
Pod::Text is a module that can convert documentation in the POD format (the preferred lan-
guage for documenting Perl) into formatted ASCII. It uses no special formatting controls
or codes whatsoever, and its output is therefore suitable for nearly any device.
As a derived class from Pod::Parser, Pod::Text supports the same methods and interfaces.
See Pod::Parser for all the details; briefly, one creates a new parser with
"Pod::Text->new()" and then calls either parse_from_filehandle() or parse_from_file().
new() can take options, in the form of key/value pairs, that control the behavior of the
parser. The currently recognized options are:
alt If set to a true value, selects an alternate output format that, among other things,
uses a different heading style and marks "=item" entries with a colon in the left mar-
gin. Defaults to false.
code
If set to a true value, the non-POD parts of the input file will be included in the
output. Useful for viewing code documented with POD blocks with the POD rendered and
the code left intact.
indent
The number of spaces to indent regular text, and the default indentation for "=over"
blocks. Defaults to 4.
loose
If set to a true value, a blank line is printed after a "=head1" heading. If set to
false (the default), no blank line is printed after "=head1", although one is still
printed after "=head2". This is the default because it's the expected formatting for
manual pages; if you're formatting arbitrary text documents, setting this to true may
result in more pleasing output.
margin
The width of the left margin in spaces. Defaults to 0. This is the margin for all
text, including headings, not the amount by which regular text is indented; for the
latter, see the indent option. To set the right margin, see the width option.
quotes
Sets the quote marks used to surround C<> text. If the value is a single character,
it is used as both the left and right quote; if it is two characters, the first char-
acter is used as the left quote and the second as the right quoted; and if it is four
characters, the first two are used as the left quote and the second two as the right
quote.
This may also be set to the special value "none", in which case no quote marks are
added around C<> text.
sentence
If set to a true value, Pod::Text will assume that each sentence ends in two spaces,
and will try to preserve that spacing. If set to false, all consecutive whitespace in
non-verbatim paragraphs is compressed into a single space. Defaults to true.
width
The column at which to wrap text on the right-hand side. Defaults to 76.
The standard Pod::Parser method parse_from_filehandle() takes up to two arguments, the
first being the file handle to read POD from and the second being the file handle to write
the formatted output to. The first defaults to STDIN if not given, and the second
defaults to STDOUT. The method parse_from_file() is almost identical, except that its two
arguments are the input and output disk files instead. See Pod::Parser for the specific
details.
DIAGNOSTICS
Bizarre space in item
Item called without tag
(W) Something has gone wrong in internal "=item" processing. These messages indicate
a bug in Pod::Text; you should never see them.
Can't open %s for reading: %s
(F) Pod::Text was invoked via the compatibility mode pod2text() interface and the
input file it was given could not be opened.
Invalid quote specification "%s"
(F) The quote specification given (the quotes option to the constructor) was invalid.
A quote specification must be one, two, or four characters long.
%s:%d: Unknown command paragraph: %s
(W) The POD source contained a non-standard command paragraph (something of the form
"=command args") that Pod::Man didn't know about. It was ignored.
%s:%d: Unknown escape: %s
(W) The POD source contained an "E<>" escape that Pod::Text didn't know about.
%s:%d: Unknown formatting code: %s
(W) The POD source contained a non-standard formatting code (something of the form
"X<>") that Pod::Text didn't know about.
%s:%d: Unmatched =back
(W) Pod::Text encountered a "=back" command that didn't correspond to an "=over" com-
mand.
RESTRICTIONS
Embedded Ctrl-As (octal 001) in the input will be mapped to spaces on output, due to an
internal implementation detail.
NOTES
This is a replacement for an earlier Pod::Text module written by Tom Christiansen. It has
a revamped interface, since it now uses Pod::Parser, but an interface roughly compatible
with the old Pod::Text::pod2text() function is still available. Please change to the new
calling convention, though.
The original Pod::Text contained code to do formatting via termcap sequences, although it
wasn't turned on by default and it was problematic to get it to work at all. This rewrite
doesn't even try to do that, but a subclass of it does. Look for Pod::Text::Termcap.
SEE ALSO
Pod::Parser, Pod::Text::Termcap, pod2text(1)
The current version of this module is always available from its web site at
<http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/podlators/>. It is also part of the Perl core dis-
tribution as of 5.6.0.
AUTHOR
Russ Allbery <>, based very heavily on the original Pod::Text by Tom
Christiansen <> and its conversion to Pod::Parser by Brad Appleton
<>.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Russ Allbery <>.
This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
terms as Perl itself.
perl v5.8.8 2001-09-21 Pod::Text(3)
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