dictionary using perl

[islayer]

i am trying to write a dictionary using perl, the program would use a primary .pl file, and a text file, designated .dat

i have no programing background, and am trying to teach myself perl, and c++, so excuse my ignorance.

i have experimented with some scripts, i have figured out why my last one didn't work, but i have no idea what to do. this was my last attempt:

dictionary.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl
 
$data_file="bionicle.dat";
 
$input=<STDIN>;
 
open(DAT, $data_file) || die("Could not open file!");
@raw_data=<DAT>;
close(DAT);
 
foreach $word (@raw_data)
{
 chop($word);
 ($name,$def)=split(/\|/,$word);
 if ($name=$input) {
  print "$name: $def";
  sleep(10);
  } else {
  print "sorry, word not found";
  sleep(3);
  }
}
 

and dictionary.dat

word1|definition1
word2|definition2
word3|definition3
 

so i that my script was nothing like what i wanted, but what did i want?

thanks in advance,

ian

[KevinADC]

beginner mistake:

if ($name=$input) {

'=' is the assignment operator so the above is always true because you are assigning the value of $input to $name. Probably you want to use 'eq':

if ($name eq $input) {

look up perls string operators when you get a chance.

[islayer]

beginner mistake:

if ($name=$input) {

'=' is the assignment operator so the above is always true because you are assigning the value of $input to $name. Probably you want to use 'eq':

if ($name eq $input) {

look up perls string operators when you get a chance.

oops actually i think i meant to use "==", i knew that. isn't "eq" used for numeric equallity?

[islayer]

by the way, my intended result was for the script to print the word originally typed, and the definition supplied by the dictionary.dat file. actually there were quite a few problems with that script.

basically my question is how can i make perl read from another file, such as the one i supplied, search for a word found before the pipe divider, and print the text following the pipe.

[eWish]

perlop Equality Operators.

--Kevin

[islayer]

ok thanks, i guess i shouldn't question people more experienced than me lol. i got that completely backward.

however upon using the "eq" operator, my script just ran indefinitely, without ever printing an indication of true or false. i believe if it was working correctly, although this is not what i wanted, wouldn't it print "word not found", for each line in the dictionary.dat file? but when i run it, it never prints anything.

[KevinADC]

ok thanks, i guess i shouldn't question people more experienced than me lol. i got that completely backward.

however upon using the "eq" operator, my script just ran indefinitely, without ever printing an indication of true or false. i believe if it was working correctly, although this is not what i wanted, wouldn't it print "word not found", for each line in the dictionary.dat file? but when i run it, it never prints anything.

post a few (2 or 3) sample lines from the dictionary file and show what input you give your script.

[islayer]

post a few (2 or 3) sample lines from the dictionary file and show what input you give your script.

the dictionary is a dictionary of maori words.

dictionary.dat:

 
kopaka|ice
pohatu|stone
tahu|burn
 

this is just an example there are a lot of words before, after, and in between.

input into dictionary.pl:

"tahu" without quotes

it then runs infinitely without printing, and obviously not ending.

(edit) actually after some time it does end. so i guess it is going through my entire dictionary.dat file.

[eWish]

After you get your input into the $input variable use chomp.

my $file_name = 'f:/test_file.txt';
 
print 'Please enter a word?';
 
my $input = <STDIN>;
chomp($input);
 
open (my $FILE, '<', $file_name) || die "Can't open file $file_name: $!\n";
while (<$FILE>) {
    chomp;
    my ($name, $def) = split(/\|/);
 
    if ($name eq $input) {
        print "$name means $def\n";
        exit;
 
    ..rest of code here...
 
}
close($FILE);

--Kevin

[islayer]

After you get your input into the $input variable use chomp.

my $file_name = 'f:/test_file.txt';
 
print 'Please enter a word?';
 
my $input = <STDIN>;
chomp($input);
 
open (my $FILE, '<', $file_name) || die "Can't open file $file_name: $!\n";
while (<$FILE>) {
    chomp;
    my ($name, $def) = split(/\|/);
 
    if ($name eq $input) {
        print "$name means $def\n";
        exit;
 
    ..rest of code here...
 
}
close($FILE);

--Kevin

ok, thank you very much! most of the code make sense to me, but like i said, im a n00b. the parts i don't understand are '<' and < and > around $FILE

thanks a lot,

ian

[eWish]

It is the same as witting the following.

open FILEHANDLE,MODE,EXPR

In theory it is a more secure way to open a file. That is according to 'Perl Best Practices'.

--Kevin