1# Pod::PlainText -- Convert POD data to formatted ASCII text.
2# $Id: Text.pm,v 2.1 1999/09/20 11:53:33 eagle Exp $
3#
4# Copyright 1999-2000 by Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu>
5#
6# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
7# under the same terms as Perl itself.
8#
9# This module is intended to be a replacement for Pod::Text, and attempts to
10# match its output except for some specific circumstances where other
11# decisions seemed to produce better output.  It uses Pod::Parser and is
12# designed to be very easy to subclass.
13
14############################################################################
15# Modules and declarations
16############################################################################
17
18package Pod::PlainText;
19use strict;
20use warnings;
21
22require 5.005;
23
24use Carp qw(carp croak);
25use Pod::Select ();
26
27use vars qw(@ISA %ESCAPES $VERSION);
28
29# We inherit from Pod::Select instead of Pod::Parser so that we can be used
30# by Pod::Usage.
31@ISA = qw(Pod::Select);
32
33$VERSION = '2.06';
34
35BEGIN {
36   if ($] < 5.006) {
37      require Symbol;
38      Symbol->import;
39   }
40   if ($] < 5.008 || ord "A" == 65) {
41      *to_native = sub { return chr shift; };
42   }
43   else {
44      *to_native = sub { return chr utf8::unicode_to_native(shift); };
45   }
46}
47
48############################################################################
49# Table of supported E<> escapes
50############################################################################
51
52# This table is taken near verbatim from Pod::PlainText in Pod::Parser,
53# which got it near verbatim from the original Pod::Text.  It is therefore
54# credited to Tom Christiansen, and I'm glad I didn't have to write it.  :)
55%ESCAPES = (
56    'amp'       =>    '&',      # ampersand
57    'lt'        =>    '<',      # left chevron, less-than
58    'gt'        =>    '>',      # right chevron, greater-than
59    'quot'      =>    '"',      # double quote
60
61    "Aacute"    =>    to_native(0xC1),   # capital A, acute accent
62    "aacute"    =>    to_native(0xE1),   # small a, acute accent
63    "Acirc"     =>    to_native(0xC2),   # capital A, circumflex accent
64    "acirc"     =>    to_native(0xE2),   # small a, circumflex accent
65    "AElig"     =>    to_native(0xC6),   # capital AE diphthong (ligature)
66    "aelig"     =>    to_native(0xE6),   # small ae diphthong (ligature)
67    "Agrave"    =>    to_native(0xC0),   # capital A, grave accent
68    "agrave"    =>    to_native(0xE0),   # small a, grave accent
69    "Aring"     =>    to_native(0xC5),   # capital A, ring
70    "aring"     =>    to_native(0xE5),   # small a, ring
71    "Atilde"    =>    to_native(0xC3),   # capital A, tilde
72    "atilde"    =>    to_native(0xE3),   # small a, tilde
73    "Auml"      =>    to_native(0xC4),   # capital A, dieresis or umlaut mark
74    "auml"      =>    to_native(0xE4),   # small a, dieresis or umlaut mark
75    "Ccedil"    =>    to_native(0xC7),   # capital C, cedilla
76    "ccedil"    =>    to_native(0xE7),   # small c, cedilla
77    "Eacute"    =>    to_native(0xC9),   # capital E, acute accent
78    "eacute"    =>    to_native(0xE9),   # small e, acute accent
79    "Ecirc"     =>    to_native(0xCA),   # capital E, circumflex accent
80    "ecirc"     =>    to_native(0xEA),   # small e, circumflex accent
81    "Egrave"    =>    to_native(0xC8),   # capital E, grave accent
82    "egrave"    =>    to_native(0xE8),   # small e, grave accent
83    "ETH"       =>    to_native(0xD0),   # capital Eth, Icelandic
84    "eth"       =>    to_native(0xF0),   # small eth, Icelandic
85    "Euml"      =>    to_native(0xCB),   # capital E, dieresis or umlaut mark
86    "euml"      =>    to_native(0xEB),   # small e, dieresis or umlaut mark
87    "Iacute"    =>    to_native(0xCD),   # capital I, acute accent
88    "iacute"    =>    to_native(0xED),   # small i, acute accent
89    "Icirc"     =>    to_native(0xCE),   # capital I, circumflex accent
90    "icirc"     =>    to_native(0xEE),   # small i, circumflex accent
91    "Igrave"    =>    to_native(0xCD),   # capital I, grave accent
92    "igrave"    =>    to_native(0xED),   # small i, grave accent
93    "Iuml"      =>    to_native(0xCF),   # capital I, dieresis or umlaut mark
94    "iuml"      =>    to_native(0xEF),   # small i, dieresis or umlaut mark
95    "Ntilde"    =>    to_native(0xD1),   # capital N, tilde
96    "ntilde"    =>    to_native(0xF1),   # small n, tilde
97    "Oacute"    =>    to_native(0xD3),   # capital O, acute accent
98    "oacute"    =>    to_native(0xF3),   # small o, acute accent
99    "Ocirc"     =>    to_native(0xD4),   # capital O, circumflex accent
100    "ocirc"     =>    to_native(0xF4),   # small o, circumflex accent
101    "Ograve"    =>    to_native(0xD2),   # capital O, grave accent
102    "ograve"    =>    to_native(0xF2),   # small o, grave accent
103    "Oslash"    =>    to_native(0xD8),   # capital O, slash
104    "oslash"    =>    to_native(0xF8),   # small o, slash
105    "Otilde"    =>    to_native(0xD5),   # capital O, tilde
106    "otilde"    =>    to_native(0xF5),   # small o, tilde
107    "Ouml"      =>    to_native(0xD6),   # capital O, dieresis or umlaut mark
108    "ouml"      =>    to_native(0xF6),   # small o, dieresis or umlaut mark
109    "szlig"     =>    to_native(0xDF),   # small sharp s, German (sz ligature)
110    "THORN"     =>    to_native(0xDE),   # capital THORN, Icelandic
111    "thorn"     =>    to_native(0xFE),   # small thorn, Icelandic
112    "Uacute"    =>    to_native(0xDA),   # capital U, acute accent
113    "uacute"    =>    to_native(0xFA),   # small u, acute accent
114    "Ucirc"     =>    to_native(0xDB),   # capital U, circumflex accent
115    "ucirc"     =>    to_native(0xFB),   # small u, circumflex accent
116    "Ugrave"    =>    to_native(0xD9),   # capital U, grave accent
117    "ugrave"    =>    to_native(0xF9),   # small u, grave accent
118    "Uuml"      =>    to_native(0xDC),   # capital U, dieresis or umlaut mark
119    "uuml"      =>    to_native(0xFC),   # small u, dieresis or umlaut mark
120    "Yacute"    =>    to_native(0xDD),   # capital Y, acute accent
121    "yacute"    =>    to_native(0xFD),   # small y, acute accent
122    "yuml"      =>    to_native(0xFF),   # small y, dieresis or umlaut mark
123
124    "lchevron"  =>    to_native(0xAB),   # left chevron (double less than)
125    "rchevron"  =>    to_native(0xBB),   # right chevron (double greater than)
126);
127
128
129############################################################################
130# Initialization
131############################################################################
132
133# Initialize the object.  Must be sure to call our parent initializer.
134sub initialize {
135    my $self = shift;
136
137    $$self{alt}      = 0  unless defined $$self{alt};
138    $$self{indent}   = 4  unless defined $$self{indent};
139    $$self{loose}    = 0  unless defined $$self{loose};
140    $$self{sentence} = 0  unless defined $$self{sentence};
141    $$self{width}    = 76 unless defined $$self{width};
142
143    $$self{INDENTS}  = [];              # Stack of indentations.
144    $$self{MARGIN}   = $$self{indent};  # Current left margin in spaces.
145
146    return $self->SUPER::initialize;
147}
148
149
150############################################################################
151# Core overrides
152############################################################################
153
154# Called for each command paragraph.  Gets the command, the associated
155# paragraph, the line number, and a Pod::Paragraph object.  Just dispatches
156# the command to a method named the same as the command.  =cut is handled
157# internally by Pod::Parser.
158sub command {
159    my $self = shift;
160    my $command = shift;
161    return if $command eq 'pod';
162    return if ($$self{EXCLUDE} && $command ne 'end');
163    if (defined $$self{ITEM}) {
164      $self->item ("\n");
165      local $_ = "\n";
166      $self->output($_) if($command eq 'back');
167    }
168    $command = 'cmd_' . $command;
169    return $self->$command (@_);
170}
171
172# Called for a verbatim paragraph.  Gets the paragraph, the line number, and
173# a Pod::Paragraph object.  Just output it verbatim, but with tabs converted
174# to spaces.
175sub verbatim {
176    my $self = shift;
177    return if $$self{EXCLUDE};
178    $self->item if defined $$self{ITEM};
179    local $_ = shift;
180    return if /^\s*$/;
181    s/^(\s*\S+)/(' ' x $$self{MARGIN}) . $1/gme;
182    return $self->output($_);
183}
184
185# Called for a regular text block.  Gets the paragraph, the line number, and
186# a Pod::Paragraph object.  Perform interpolation and output the results.
187sub textblock {
188    my $self = shift;
189    return if $$self{EXCLUDE};
190    if($$self{VERBATIM}) {
191      $self->output($_[0]);
192      return;
193    }
194    local $_ = shift;
195    my $line = shift;
196
197    # Perform a little magic to collapse multiple L<> references.  This is
198    # here mostly for backwards-compatibility.  We'll just rewrite the whole
199    # thing into actual text at this part, bypassing the whole internal
200    # sequence parsing thing.
201    s{
202        (
203          L<                    # A link of the form L</something>.
204              /
205              (
206                  [:\w]+        # The item has to be a simple word...
207                  (\(\))?       # ...or simple function.
208              )
209          >
210          (
211              ,?\s+(and\s+)?    # Allow lots of them, conjuncted.
212              L<
213                  /
214                  (
215                      [:\w]+
216                      (\(\))?
217                  )
218              >
219          )+
220        )
221    } {
222        local $_ = $1;
223        s%L</([^>]+)>%$1%g;
224        my @items = split /(?:,?\s+(?:and\s+)?)/;
225        my $string = "the ";
226        my $i;
227        for ($i = 0; $i < @items; $i++) {
228            $string .= $items[$i];
229            $string .= ", " if @items > 2 && $i != $#items;
230            $string .= " and " if ($i == $#items - 1);
231        }
232        $string .= " entries elsewhere in this document";
233        $string;
234    }gex;
235
236    # Now actually interpolate and output the paragraph.
237    $_ = $self->interpolate ($_, $line);
238    s/\s*$/\n/s;
239    if (defined $$self{ITEM}) {
240        $self->item ($_ . "\n");
241    } else {
242        $self->output ($self->reformat ($_ . "\n"));
243    }
244}
245
246# Called for an interior sequence.  Gets the command, argument, and a
247# Pod::InteriorSequence object and is expected to return the resulting text.
248# Calls code, bold, italic, file, and link to handle those types of
249# sequences, and handles S<>, E<>, X<>, and Z<> directly.
250sub interior_sequence {
251    my $self = shift;
252    my $command = shift;
253    local $_ = shift;
254    return '' if ($command eq 'X' || $command eq 'Z');
255
256    # Expand escapes into the actual character now, carping if invalid.
257    if ($command eq 'E') {
258        return $ESCAPES{$_} if defined $ESCAPES{$_};
259        carp "Unknown escape: E<$_>";
260        return "E<$_>";
261    }
262
263    # For all the other sequences, empty content produces no output.
264    return if $_ eq '';
265
266    # For S<>, compress all internal whitespace and then map spaces to \01.
267    # When we output the text, we'll map this back.
268    if ($command eq 'S') {
269        s/\s{2,}/ /g;
270        tr/ /\01/;
271        return $_;
272    }
273
274    # Anything else needs to get dispatched to another method.
275    if    ($command eq 'B') { return $self->seq_b ($_) }
276    elsif ($command eq 'C') { return $self->seq_c ($_) }
277    elsif ($command eq 'F') { return $self->seq_f ($_) }
278    elsif ($command eq 'I') { return $self->seq_i ($_) }
279    elsif ($command eq 'L') { return $self->seq_l ($_) }
280    else { carp "Unknown sequence $command<$_>" }
281}
282
283# Called for each paragraph that's actually part of the POD.  We take
284# advantage of this opportunity to untabify the input.
285sub preprocess_paragraph {
286    my $self = shift;
287    local $_ = shift;
288    1 while s/^(.*?)(\t+)/$1 . ' ' x (length ($2) * 8 - length ($1) % 8)/me;
289    return $_;
290}
291
292
293############################################################################
294# Command paragraphs
295############################################################################
296
297# All command paragraphs take the paragraph and the line number.
298
299# First level heading.
300sub cmd_head1 {
301    my $self = shift;
302    local $_ = shift;
303    s/\s+$//s;
304    $_ = $self->interpolate ($_, shift);
305    if ($$self{alt}) {
306        $self->output ("\n==== $_ ====\n\n");
307    } else {
308        $_ .= "\n" if $$self{loose};
309        $self->output ($_ . "\n");
310    }
311}
312
313# Second level heading.
314sub cmd_head2 {
315    my $self = shift;
316    local $_ = shift;
317    s/\s+$//s;
318    $_ = $self->interpolate ($_, shift);
319    if ($$self{alt}) {
320        $self->output ("\n==   $_   ==\n\n");
321    } else {
322        $_ .= "\n" if $$self{loose};
323        $self->output (' ' x ($$self{indent} / 2) . $_ . "\n");
324    }
325}
326
327# third level heading - not strictly perlpodspec compliant
328sub cmd_head3 {
329    my $self = shift;
330    local $_ = shift;
331    s/\s+$//s;
332    $_ = $self->interpolate ($_, shift);
333    if ($$self{alt}) {
334        $self->output ("\n= $_ =\n");
335    } else {
336        $_ .= "\n" if $$self{loose};
337        $self->output (' ' x ($$self{indent}) . $_ . "\n");
338    }
339}
340
341# fourth level heading - not strictly perlpodspec compliant
342# just like head3
343*cmd_head4 = \&cmd_head3;
344
345# Start a list.
346sub cmd_over {
347    my $self = shift;
348    local $_ = shift;
349    unless (/^[-+]?\d+\s+$/) { $_ = $$self{indent} }
350    push (@{ $$self{INDENTS} }, $$self{MARGIN});
351    $$self{MARGIN} += ($_ + 0);
352}
353
354# End a list.
355sub cmd_back {
356    my $self = shift;
357    $$self{MARGIN} = pop @{ $$self{INDENTS} };
358    unless (defined $$self{MARGIN}) {
359        carp 'Unmatched =back';
360        $$self{MARGIN} = $$self{indent};
361    }
362}
363
364# An individual list item.
365sub cmd_item {
366    my $self = shift;
367    if (defined $$self{ITEM}) { $self->item }
368    local $_ = shift;
369    s/\s+$//s;
370    $$self{ITEM} = $self->interpolate ($_);
371}
372
373# Begin a block for a particular translator.  Setting VERBATIM triggers
374# special handling in textblock().
375sub cmd_begin {
376    my $self = shift;
377    local $_ = shift;
378    my ($kind) = /^(\S+)/ or return;
379    if ($kind eq 'text') {
380        $$self{VERBATIM} = 1;
381    } else {
382        $$self{EXCLUDE} = 1;
383    }
384}
385
386# End a block for a particular translator.  We assume that all =begin/=end
387# pairs are properly closed.
388sub cmd_end {
389    my $self = shift;
390    $$self{EXCLUDE} = 0;
391    $$self{VERBATIM} = 0;
392}
393
394# One paragraph for a particular translator.  Ignore it unless it's intended
395# for text, in which case we treat it as a verbatim text block.
396sub cmd_for {
397    my $self = shift;
398    local $_ = shift;
399    my $line = shift;
400    return unless s/^text\b[ \t]*\r?\n?//;
401    $self->verbatim ($_, $line);
402}
403
404# just a dummy method for the time being
405sub cmd_encoding {
406  return;
407}
408
409############################################################################
410# Interior sequences
411############################################################################
412
413# The simple formatting ones.  These are here mostly so that subclasses can
414# override them and do more complicated things.
415sub seq_b { return $_[0]{alt} ? "``$_[1]''" : $_[1] }
416sub seq_c { return $_[0]{alt} ? "``$_[1]''" : "`$_[1]'" }
417sub seq_f { return $_[0]{alt} ? "\"$_[1]\"" : $_[1] }
418sub seq_i { return '*' . $_[1] . '*' }
419
420# The complicated one.  Handle links.  Since this is plain text, we can't
421# actually make any real links, so this is all to figure out what text we
422# print out.
423sub seq_l {
424    my $self = shift;
425    local $_ = shift;
426
427    # Smash whitespace in case we were split across multiple lines.
428    s/\s+/ /g;
429
430    # If we were given any explicit text, just output it.
431    if (/^([^|]+)\|/) { return $1 }
432
433    # Okay, leading and trailing whitespace isn't important; get rid of it.
434    s/^\s+//;
435    s/\s+$//;
436
437    # Default to using the whole content of the link entry as a section
438    # name.  Note that L<manpage/> forces a manpage interpretation, as does
439    # something looking like L<manpage(section)>.  The latter is an
440    # enhancement over the original Pod::Text.
441    my ($manpage, $section) = ('', $_);
442    if (/^(?:https?|ftp|news):/) {
443        # a URL
444        return $_;
445    } elsif (/^"\s*(.*?)\s*"$/) {
446        $section = '"' . $1 . '"';
447    } elsif (m/^[-:.\w]+(?:\(\S+\))?$/) {
448        ($manpage, $section) = ($_, '');
449    } elsif (m{/}) {
450        ($manpage, $section) = split (/\s*\/\s*/, $_, 2);
451    }
452
453    my $text = '';
454    # Now build the actual output text.
455    if (!length $section) {
456        $text = "the $manpage manpage" if length $manpage;
457    } elsif ($section =~ /^[:\w]+(?:\(\))?/) {
458        $text .= 'the ' . $section . ' entry';
459        $text .= (length $manpage) ? " in the $manpage manpage"
460                                   : ' elsewhere in this document';
461    } else {
462        $section =~ s/^\"\s*//;
463        $section =~ s/\s*\"$//;
464        $text .= 'the section on "' . $section . '"';
465        $text .= " in the $manpage manpage" if length $manpage;
466    }
467    return $text;
468}
469
470
471############################################################################
472# List handling
473############################################################################
474
475# This method is called whenever an =item command is complete (in other
476# words, we've seen its associated paragraph or know for certain that it
477# doesn't have one).  It gets the paragraph associated with the item as an
478# argument.  If that argument is empty, just output the item tag; if it
479# contains a newline, output the item tag followed by the newline.
480# Otherwise, see if there's enough room for us to output the item tag in the
481# margin of the text or if we have to put it on a separate line.
482sub item {
483    my $self = shift;
484    local $_ = shift;
485    my $tag = $$self{ITEM};
486    unless (defined $tag) {
487        carp 'item called without tag';
488        return;
489    }
490    undef $$self{ITEM};
491    my $indent = $$self{INDENTS}[-1];
492    unless (defined $indent) { $indent = $$self{indent} }
493    my $space = ' ' x $indent;
494    $space =~ s/^ /:/ if $$self{alt};
495    if (!$_ || /^\s+$/ || ($$self{MARGIN} - $indent < length ($tag) + 1)) {
496        my $margin = $$self{MARGIN};
497        $$self{MARGIN} = $indent;
498        my $output = $self->reformat ($tag);
499        $output =~ s/[\r\n]*$/\n/;
500        $self->output ($output);
501        $$self{MARGIN} = $margin;
502        $self->output ($self->reformat ($_)) if /\S/;
503    } else {
504        $_ = $self->reformat ($_);
505        s/^ /:/ if ($$self{alt} && $indent > 0);
506        my $tagspace = ' ' x length $tag;
507        s/^($space)$tagspace/$1$tag/ or carp 'Bizarre space in item';
508        $self->output ($_);
509    }
510}
511
512
513############################################################################
514# Output formatting
515############################################################################
516
517# Wrap a line, indenting by the current left margin.  We can't use
518# Text::Wrap because it plays games with tabs.  We can't use formline, even
519# though we'd really like to, because it screws up non-printing characters.
520# So we have to do the wrapping ourselves.
521sub wrap {
522    my $self = shift;
523    local $_ = shift;
524    my $output = '';
525    my $spaces = ' ' x $$self{MARGIN};
526    my $width = $$self{width} - $$self{MARGIN};
527    while (length > $width) {
528        if (s/^([^\r\n]{0,$width})\s+// || s/^([^\r\n]{$width})//) {
529            $output .= $spaces . $1 . "\n";
530        } else {
531            last;
532        }
533    }
534    $output .= $spaces . $_;
535    $output =~ s/\s+$/\n\n/;
536    return $output;
537}
538
539# Reformat a paragraph of text for the current margin.  Takes the text to
540# reformat and returns the formatted text.
541sub reformat {
542    my $self = shift;
543    local $_ = shift;
544
545    # If we're trying to preserve two spaces after sentences, do some
546    # munging to support that.  Otherwise, smash all repeated whitespace.
547    if ($$self{sentence}) {
548        s/ +$//mg;
549        s/\.\r?\n/. \n/g;
550        s/[\r\n]+/ /g;
551        s/   +/  /g;
552    } else {
553        s/\s+/ /g;
554    }
555    return $self->wrap($_);
556}
557
558# Output text to the output device.
559sub output { $_[1] =~ tr/\01/ /; print { $_[0]->output_handle } $_[1] }
560
561
562############################################################################
563# Backwards compatibility
564############################################################################
565
566# The old Pod::Text module did everything in a pod2text() function.  This
567# tries to provide the same interface for legacy applications.
568sub pod2text {
569    my @args;
570
571    # This is really ugly; I hate doing option parsing in the middle of a
572    # module.  But the old Pod::Text module supported passing flags to its
573    # entry function, so handle -a and -<number>.
574    while ($_[0] =~ /^-/) {
575        my $flag = shift;
576        if    ($flag eq '-a')       { push (@args, alt => 1)    }
577        elsif ($flag =~ /^-(\d+)$/) { push (@args, width => $1) }
578        else {
579            unshift (@_, $flag);
580            last;
581        }
582    }
583
584    # Now that we know what arguments we're using, create the parser.
585    my $parser = Pod::PlainText->new (@args);
586
587    # If two arguments were given, the second argument is going to be a file
588    # handle.  That means we want to call parse_from_filehandle(), which
589    # means we need to turn the first argument into a file handle.  Magic
590    # open will handle the <&STDIN case automagically.
591    if (defined $_[1]) {
592        my $infh;
593        if ($] < 5.006) {
594          $infh = gensym();
595        }
596        unless (open ($infh, $_[0])) {
597            croak ("Can't open $_[0] for reading: $!\n");
598        }
599        $_[0] = $infh;
600        return $parser->parse_from_filehandle (@_);
601    } else {
602        return $parser->parse_from_file (@_);
603    }
604}
605
606
607############################################################################
608# Module return value and documentation
609############################################################################
610
6111;
612__END__
613
614=head1 NAME
615
616Pod::PlainText - Convert POD data to formatted ASCII text
617
618=head1 SYNOPSIS
619
620    use Pod::PlainText;
621    my $parser = Pod::PlainText->new (sentence => 0, width => 78);
622
623    # Read POD from STDIN and write to STDOUT.
624    $parser->parse_from_filehandle;
625
626    # Read POD from file.pod and write to file.txt.
627    $parser->parse_from_file ('file.pod', 'file.txt');
628
629=head1 DESCRIPTION
630
631Pod::PlainText is a module that can convert documentation in the POD format (the
632preferred language for documenting Perl) into formatted ASCII.  It uses no
633special formatting controls or codes whatsoever, and its output is therefore
634suitable for nearly any device.
635
636As a derived class from Pod::Parser, Pod::PlainText supports the same methods and
637interfaces.  See L<Pod::Parser> for all the details; briefly, one creates a
638new parser with C<Pod::PlainText-E<gt>new()> and then calls either
639parse_from_filehandle() or parse_from_file().
640
641new() can take options, in the form of key/value pairs, that control the
642behavior of the parser.  The currently recognized options are:
643
644=over 4
645
646=item alt
647
648If set to a true value, selects an alternate output format that, among other
649things, uses a different heading style and marks C<=item> entries with a
650colon in the left margin.  Defaults to false.
651
652=item indent
653
654The number of spaces to indent regular text, and the default indentation for
655C<=over> blocks.  Defaults to 4.
656
657=item loose
658
659If set to a true value, a blank line is printed after a C<=headN> headings.
660If set to false (the default), no blank line is printed after C<=headN>.
661This is the default because it's the expected formatting for manual pages;
662if you're formatting arbitrary text documents, setting this to true may
663result in more pleasing output.
664
665=item sentence
666
667If set to a true value, Pod::PlainText will assume that each sentence ends in two
668spaces, and will try to preserve that spacing.  If set to false, all
669consecutive whitespace in non-verbatim paragraphs is compressed into a
670single space.  Defaults to true.
671
672=item width
673
674The column at which to wrap text on the right-hand side.  Defaults to 76.
675
676=back
677
678The standard Pod::Parser method parse_from_filehandle() takes up to two
679arguments, the first being the file handle to read POD from and the second
680being the file handle to write the formatted output to.  The first defaults
681to STDIN if not given, and the second defaults to STDOUT.  The method
682parse_from_file() is almost identical, except that its two arguments are the
683input and output disk files instead.  See L<Pod::Parser> for the specific
684details.
685
686=head1 DIAGNOSTICS
687
688=over 4
689
690=item Bizarre space in item
691
692(W) Something has gone wrong in internal C<=item> processing.  This message
693indicates a bug in Pod::PlainText; you should never see it.
694
695=item Can't open %s for reading: %s
696
697(F) Pod::PlainText was invoked via the compatibility mode pod2text() interface
698and the input file it was given could not be opened.
699
700=item Unknown escape: %s
701
702(W) The POD source contained an C<EE<lt>E<gt>> escape that Pod::PlainText didn't
703know about.
704
705=item Unknown sequence: %s
706
707(W) The POD source contained a non-standard internal sequence (something of
708the form C<XE<lt>E<gt>>) that Pod::PlainText didn't know about.
709
710=item Unmatched =back
711
712(W) Pod::PlainText encountered a C<=back> command that didn't correspond to an
713C<=over> command.
714
715=back
716
717=head1 RESTRICTIONS
718
719Embedded Ctrl-As (octal 001) in the input will be mapped to spaces on
720output, due to an internal implementation detail.
721
722=head1 NOTES
723
724This is a replacement for an earlier Pod::Text module written by Tom
725Christiansen.  It has a revamped interface, since it now uses Pod::Parser,
726but an interface roughly compatible with the old Pod::Text::pod2text()
727function is still available.  Please change to the new calling convention,
728though.
729
730The original Pod::Text contained code to do formatting via termcap
731sequences, although it wasn't turned on by default and it was problematic to
732get it to work at all.  This rewrite doesn't even try to do that, but a
733subclass of it does.  Look for L<Pod::Text::Termcap|Pod::Text::Termcap>.
734
735=head1 SEE ALSO
736
737B<Pod::PlainText> is part of the L<Pod::Parser> distribution.
738
739L<Pod::Parser|Pod::Parser>, L<Pod::Text::Termcap|Pod::Text::Termcap>,
740pod2text(1)
741
742=head1 AUTHOR
743
744Please report bugs using L<http://rt.cpan.org>.
745
746Russ Allbery E<lt>rra@stanford.eduE<gt>, based I<very> heavily on the
747original Pod::Text by Tom Christiansen E<lt>tchrist@mox.perl.comE<gt> and
748its conversion to Pod::Parser by Brad Appleton
749E<lt>bradapp@enteract.comE<gt>.
750
751=cut
752