perl function formline

The formline function in Perl is used for formatting output in a fixed-width format similar to format. However, formline works at a lower level and provides more flexibility than format.

Here's an example of using formline in Perl:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

# Define the format
my $format = "Name:        @<<<<<<<<<<\n" .
             "Age:         @##\n" .
             "Address:     @|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\n";

# Set up some data
my $first_name = "John";
my $last_name = "Doe";
my $age = 42;
my $address = "123 Main St, Anytown, USA";

# Format the data using formline
my $output;
formline($format, $last_name, $first_name, $age, $address);
$output .= $^A;
undef $^A;

# Print the output
print $output;

In this example, we define a format string called $format, which is similar to the format definition we used in the format example. We then set up some data for output.

To format the data, we use the formline function. The first argument to formline is the format string, and the remaining arguments are the data to be formatted. The formatted output is stored in the $^A variable.

After formatting the data, we append the formatted output to the $output variable and clear the $^A variable. Finally, we print the $output variable to display the formatted output.

When you run this script, you'll see output like this:

Name:        Doe, John
Age:         42
Address:            123 Main St, Anytown, USA

Note that the output is aligned according to the widths and alignments specified in the format string.