[Chapter 8] 8.92 IO::Handle

8.92 IO::Handle

The base class for all other IO handle classes. Its main purpose is for the other IO classes to inherit from it; programs should not create IO::Handle objects directly. Provides the following methods:

IO::Handle also provides the following methods, which are not described in detail here because they are simply front-ends for the corresponding built-in functions. See Chapter 5, Function Reference, for more information.

Method	Description
`close`	Closes file or pipe
`eof`	Returns 1 if next read will return end-of-file
`fileno`	Returns file descriptor for a filehandle
`getc`	Returns next character from input file
`print`	Prints a string or comma-separated list of strings
`printf`	Prints a formatted string
`read`	Reads data from a filehandle
`stat`	Returns an array of status information for a file
`sysread`	Reads data from a filehandle with system call `read(2)`
`syswrite`	Writes data to a filehandle with system call `write(2)`
`truncate`	Truncates a file to a specified length

Finally, the following methods act on the equivalent Perl variables. See Chapter 4 for more information.

Method	Description
`autoflush`	If nonzero, forces a flush now and after each write or print (default 0)
`format_page_number`	Current page number
`format_lines_per_page`	Current page length (default 60)
`format_lines_left`	Number of lines left on page
`format_name`	Name of current report format
`format_top_name`	Name of current top-of-page format
`format_line_break_characters`	Current set of linebreak chars for a format
`format_formfeed`	Formfeed char used by formats (default `\f`)
`format_write`	Wrapper for `write` function
`input_record_separator`	Input record separator (default newline)
`input_line_number`	Current input line number for last filehandle accessed
`output_field_separator`	Output field separator for print
`output_record_separator`	Output record separator for print


8.91 IO::File		8.93 IO::Pipe