+
+# read in a file into a string and return it.
+# the filename can be split into a dir and file and the
+# file can be in upper or lower case.
+# there can also be a suffix
+sub readfilestr
+{
+ my ($dir, $file, $suffix) = @_;
+ my $fn;
+ my $f;
+ if ($suffix) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$f.$suffix";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file.$suffix";
+ }
+ } elsif ($file) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ }
+ } else {
+ $fn = $dir;
+ }
+
+ my $fh = new IO::File $fn;
+ my $s = undef;
+ if ($fh) {
+ local $/ = undef;
+ $s = <$fh>;
+ $fh->close;
+ }
+ return $s;
+}
+
+# write out a file in the format required for reading
+# in via readfilestr, it expects the same arguments
+# and a reference to an object
+sub writefilestr
+{
+ my $dir = shift;
+ my $file = shift;
+ my $suffix = shift;
+ my $obj = shift;
+ my $fn;
+ my $f;
+
+ confess('no object to write in writefilestr') unless $obj;
+ confess('object not a reference in writefilestr') unless ref $obj;
+
+ if ($suffix) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$f.$suffix";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file.$suffix";
+ }
+ } elsif ($file) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ }
+ } else {
+ $fn = $dir;
+ }
+
+ my $fh = new IO::File ">$fn";
+ if ($fh) {
+ my $dd = new Data::Dumper([ $obj ]);
+ $dd->Indent(1);
+ $dd->Terse(1);
+ $dd->Quotekeys(0);
+ # $fh->print(@_) if @_ > 0; # any header comments, lines etc
+ $fh->print($dd->Dumpxs);
+ $fh->close;
+ }
+}
+
+# remove leading and trailing spaces from an input string
+sub unpad
+{
+ my $s = shift;
+ $s =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//;
+ return $s;
+}
+
+
+
+
+