IO::Pipe(3)

NAME
     IO::pipe - supply object methods for pipes

SYNOPSIS
             use IO::Pipe;

             $pipe = new IO::Pipe;

             if($pid = fork()) { # Parent
                 $pipe->reader();

                 while(<$pipe> {
                     ....
                 }

             }
             elsif(defined $pid) { # Child
                 $pipe->writer();

                 print $pipe ....
             }

             or

             $pipe = new IO::Pipe;

             $pipe->reader(qw(ls -l));

             while(<$pipe>) {
                 ....
             }


DESCRIPTION
     IO::Pipe provides an interface to createing pipes between processes.

CONSTRCUTOR
     new ( [READER, WRITER] )
         Creates a IO::Pipe, which is a reference to a newly created symbol
         (see the Symbol package). IO::Pipe::new optionally takes two
         arguments, which should be objects blessed into IO::Handle, or a
         subclass thereof. These two objects will be used for the system call
         to pipe. If no arguments are given then method handles is called on
         the new IO::Pipe object.

         These two handles are held in the array part of the GLOB until either
         reader or writer is called.

METHODS
     reader ([ARGS])
         The object is re-blessed into a sub-class of IO::Handle, and becomes
         a handle at the reading end of the pipe. If ARGS are given then fork
         is called and ARGS are passed to exec.

     writer ([ARGS])
         The object is re-blessed into a sub-class of IO::Handle, and becomes
         a handle at the writing end of the pipe. If ARGS are given then fork
         is called and ARGS are passed to exec.

     handles ()
         This method is called during construction by IO::Pipe::new on the
         newly created IO::Pipe object. It returns an array of two objects
         blessed into IO::Pipe::End, or a subclass thereof.

SEE ALSO
     the IO::Handle manpage

AUTHOR
     Graham Barr <bodg@tiuk.ti.com>

COPYRIGHT
     Copyright (c) 1996 Graham Barr. All rights reserved. This program is free
     software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms
     as Perl itself.