From: Tim Hammerquist <tim@...>
Date: 2002-05-09T06:59:10+09:00
Subject: Re: Want application to read file or from pipe

Jim Freeze graced us by uttering:
> Does anyone have a sample application that can read
> a file given on the commandline or read from a pipe. 
> I am interested in how one would recognize the difference 
> from the command-line and how the internal file handling
> would change.

This perl-like example should work:

$ cat filter.rb
#!/usr/local/bin/ruby -w

while gets
  # each line given in $_ for each iteration
  puts "you gave me: #$_"
end

$ ls | filter.rb
you gave me: Mail
you gave me: News
you gave me: bin
you gave me: build
you gave me: lib
you gave me: public_html
$ filter.rb .gvimrc
you gave me: " GVim 6.1
you gave me: set background=dark
you gave me: set columns=80 lines=64
$ filter.rb < /dev/bollocks
you gave me: orchestrate bricks-and-clicks metrics
$

Is that what you had in mind?

Tim Hammerquist
-- 
guru, n: a computer owner who can read the manual.