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Re: perltoc.pod issues

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From:
Michael G Schwern
Date:
November 3, 2003 01:17
Subject:
Re: perltoc.pod issues
Message ID:
20031103091638.GC14507@localhost.comcast.net
On Mon, Nov 03, 2003 at 07:57:34AM +0100, Rafael Garcia-Suarez wrote:
> Stas Bekman wrote:
> > I've glanced at perltoc.pod and noticed that it:
> 
> <rant>
> I personally don't even see the point of perltoc.pod.
> </rant>

Ya know, I was about to say the same thing but then I read the explaination
in perltoc itself

       This page provides a brief table of contents for the rest
       of the Perl documentation set.  It is meant to be scanned
       quickly or grepped through to locate the proper section
       you're looking for.

and thought, ya know there's really no good way to do that.  

Grepping /path/to/perl/pod/*.pod is one way, if the user has grep, knows
how to use it, is aware of the pod directory and thinks to do it.  But
even then you're grepping the entire documentation, not just the headers.

Things like perldoc.com have the same problem, you're grepping the whole
text, with the additional problem of having to be online to get at it.

So yeah, it still serves a purpose.  I wouldn't mind seeing it replaced, but
we don't have anything to replace it.  Until someone enhances perldoc to
do an efficient perl core doc header search, I guess.


-- 
Michael G Schwern        schwern@pobox.com  http://www.pobox.com/~schwern/
It's Paint Chip Eating time!

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