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329 lines
9.7 KiB
329 lines
9.7 KiB
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# This is a .pm just to (try to) make some CPAN document converters
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# convert it happily as part of the dist's documentation tree.
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package HTML::Element::traverse;
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# Time-stamp: "2001-03-10 21:32:23 MST"
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use HTML::Element ();
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$VERSION = $VERSION = $HTML::Element::VERSION;
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1;
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__END__
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=head1 NAME
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HTML::Element traverse - discussion of HTML::Element's traverse method
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=head1 SYNOPSIS
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# $element->traverse is unnecessary and obscure.
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# Don't use it in new code.
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=head1 DESCRIPTION
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C<HTML::Element> provides a method C<traverse> that traverses the tree
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and calls user-specified callbacks for each node, in pre- or
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post-order. However, use of the method is quite superfluous: if you
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want to recursively visit every node in the tree, it's almost always
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simpler to write a subroutine does just that, than it is to bundle up
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the pre- and/or post-order code in callbacks for the C<traverse>
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method.
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=head1 EXAMPLES
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Suppose you want to traverse at/under a node $tree and give elements
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an 'id' attribute unless they already have one.
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You can use the C<traverse> method:
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{
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my $counter = 'x0000';
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$start_node->traverse(
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[ # Callbacks;
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# pre-order callback:
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sub {
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my $x = $_[0];
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$x->attr('id', $counter++) unless defined $x->attr('id');
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return HTML::Element::OK; # keep traversing
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},
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# post-order callback:
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undef
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],
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1, # don't call the callbacks for text nodes
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);
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}
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or you can just be simple and clear (and not have to understand the
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calling format for C<traverse>) by writing a sub that traverses the
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tree by just calling itself:
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{
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my $counter = 'x0000';
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sub give_id {
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my $x = $_[0];
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$x->attr('id', $counter++) unless defined $x->attr('id');
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foreach my $c ($x->content_list) {
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give_id($c) if ref $c; # ignore text nodes
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}
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};
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give_id($start_node);
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}
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See, isn't that nice and clear?
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But, if you really need to know:
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=head1 THE TRAVERSE METHOD
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The C<traverse()> method is a general object-method for traversing a
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tree or subtree and calling user-specified callbacks. It accepts the
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following syntaxes:
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=over
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=item $h->traverse(\&callback)
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=item or $h->traverse(\&callback, $ignore_text)
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=item or $h->traverse( [\&pre_callback,\&post_callback] , $ignore_text)
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=back
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These all mean to traverse the element and all of its children. That
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is, this method starts at node $h, "pre-order visits" $h, traverses its
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children, and then will "post-order visit" $h. "Visiting" means that
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the callback routine is called, with these arguments:
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$_[0] : the node (element or text segment),
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$_[1] : a startflag, and
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$_[2] : the depth
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If the $ignore_text parameter is given and true, then the pre-order
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call I<will not> be happen for text content.
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The startflag is 1 when we enter a node (i.e., in pre-order calls) and
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0 when we leave the node (in post-order calls).
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Note, however, that post-order calls don't happen for nodes that are
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text segments or are elements that are prototypically empty (like "br",
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"hr", etc.).
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If we visit text nodes (i.e., unless $ignore_text is given and true),
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then when text nodes are visited, we will also pass two extra
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arguments to the callback:
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$_[3] : the element that's the parent
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of this text node
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$_[4] : the index of this text node
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in its parent's content list
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Note that you can specify that the pre-order routine can
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be a different routine from the post-order one:
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$h->traverse( [\&pre_callback,\&post_callback], ...);
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You can also specify that no post-order calls are to be made,
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by providing a false value as the post-order routine:
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$h->traverse([ \&pre_callback,0 ], ...);
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And similarly for suppressing pre-order callbacks:
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$h->traverse([ 0,\&post_callback ], ...);
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Note that these two syntaxes specify the same operation:
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$h->traverse([\&foo,\&foo], ...);
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$h->traverse( \&foo , ...);
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The return values from calls to your pre- or post-order
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routines are significant, and are used to control recursion
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into the tree.
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These are the values you can return, listed in descending order
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of my estimation of their usefulness:
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=over
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=item HTML::Element::OK, 1, or any other true value
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...to keep on traversing.
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Note that C<HTML::Element::OK> et
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al are constants. So if you're running under C<use strict>
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(as I hope you are), and you say:
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C<return HTML::Element::PRUEN>
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the compiler will flag this as an error (an unallowable
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bareword, specifically), whereas if you spell PRUNE correctly,
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the compiler will not complain.
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=item undef, 0, '0', '', or HTML::Element::PRUNE
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...to block traversing under the current element's content.
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(This is ignored if received from a post-order callback,
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since by then the recursion has already happened.)
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If this is returned by a pre-order callback, no
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post-order callback for the current node will happen.
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(Recall that if your callback exits with just C<return;>,
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it is returning undef -- at least in scalar context, and
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C<traverse> always calls your callbacks in scalar context.)
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=item HTML::Element::ABORT
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...to abort the whole traversal immediately.
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This is often useful when you're looking for just the first
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node in the tree that meets some criterion of yours.
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=item HTML::Element::PRUNE_UP
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...to abort continued traversal into this node and its parent
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node. No post-order callback for the current or parent
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node will happen.
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=item HTML::Element::PRUNE_SOFTLY
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Like PRUNE, except that the post-order call for the current
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node is not blocked.
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=back
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Almost every task to do with extracting information from a tree can be
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expressed in terms of traverse operations (usually in only one pass,
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and usually paying attention to only pre-order, or to only
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post-order), or operations based on traversing. (In fact, many of the
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other methods in this class are basically calls to traverse() with
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particular arguments.)
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The source code for HTML::Element and HTML::TreeBuilder contain
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several examples of the use of the "traverse" method to gather
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information about the content of trees and subtrees.
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(Note: you should not change the structure of a tree I<while> you are
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traversing it.)
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[End of documentation for the C<traverse()> method]
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=head2 Traversing with Recursive Anonymous Routines
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Now, if you've been reading
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I<Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs> too much, maybe
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you even want a recursive lambda. Go ahead:
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{
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my $counter = 'x0000';
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my $give_id;
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$give_id = sub {
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my $x = $_[0];
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$x->attr('id', $counter++) unless defined $x->attr('id');
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foreach my $c ($x->content_list) {
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$give_id->($c) if ref $c; # ignore text nodes
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}
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};
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$give_id->($start_node);
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undef $give_id;
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}
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It's a bit nutty, and it's I<still> more concise than a call to the
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C<traverse> method!
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It is left as an exercise to the reader to figure out how to do the
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same thing without using a C<$give_id> symbol at all.
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It is also left as an exercise to the reader to figure out why I
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undefine C<$give_id>, above; and why I could achieved the same effect
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with any of:
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$give_id = 'I like pie!';
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# or...
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$give_id = [];
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# or even;
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$give_id = sub { print "Mmmm pie!\n" };
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But not:
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$give_id = sub { print "I'm $give_id and I like pie!\n" };
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# nor...
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$give_id = \$give_id;
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# nor...
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$give_id = { 'pie' => \$give_id, 'mode' => 'a la' };
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=head2 Doing Recursive Things Iteratively
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Note that you may at times see an iterative implementation of
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pre-order traversal, like so:
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{
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my @to_do = ($tree); # start-node
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while(@to_do) {
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my $this = shift @to_do;
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# "Visit" the node:
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$this->attr('id', $counter++)
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unless defined $this->attr('id');
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unshift @to_do, grep ref $_, $this->content_list;
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# Put children on the stack -- they'll be visited next
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}
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}
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This can I<under certain circumstances> be more efficient than just a
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normal recursive routine, but at the cost of being rather obscure. It
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gains efficiency by avoiding the overhead of function-calling, but
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since there are several method dispatches however you do it (to
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C<attr> and C<content_list>), the overhead for a simple function call
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is insignificant.
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=head2 Pruning and Whatnot
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The C<traverse> method does have the fairly neat features of
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the C<ABORT>, C<PRUNE_UP> and C<PRUNE_SOFTLY> signals. None of these
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can be implemented I<totally> straightforwardly with recursive
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routines, but it is quite possible. C<ABORT>-like behavior can be
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implemented either with using non-local returning with C<eval>/C<die>:
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my $died_on; # if you need to know where...
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sub thing {
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... visits $_[0]...
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... maybe set $died_on to $_[0] and die "ABORT_TRAV" ...
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... else call thing($child) for each child...
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...any post-order visiting $_[0]...
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}
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eval { thing($node) };
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if($@) {
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if($@ =~ m<^ABORT_TRAV>) {
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...it died (aborted) on $died_on...
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} else {
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die $@; # some REAL error happened
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}
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}
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or you can just do it with flags:
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my($abort_flag, $died_on);
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sub thing {
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... visits $_[0]...
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... maybe set $abort_flag = 1; $died_on = $_[0]; return;
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foreach my $c ($_[0]->content_list) {
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thing($c);
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return if $abort_flag;
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}
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...any post-order visiting $_[0]...
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return;
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}
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$abort_flag = $died_on = undef;
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thing($node);
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...if defined $abort_flag, it died on $died_on
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=head1 SEE ALSO
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L<HTML::Element>
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=head1 COPYRIGHT
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Copyright 2000,2001 Sean M. Burke
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=head1 AUTHOR
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Sean M. Burke, E<lt>[email protected]<gt>
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=cut
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