
=head1 NAME

	File::OldSlurp -- single call read & write file routines; read directories

=head1 SYNOPSIS

	use File::OldSlurp;

	$all_of_it = read_file($filename);
	@all_lines = read_file($filename);

	write_file($filename, @contents)

	overwrite_file($filename, @new_contnts);

	append_file($filename, @additional_contents);

	@files = read_dir($directory);

=head1 DESCRIPTION

These are quickie routines that are meant to save a couple of lines of
code over and over again.  They do not do anything fancy.
 
read_file() does what you would expect.  If you are using its output
in array context, then it returns an array of lines.  If you are calling
it from scalar context, then returns the entire file in a single string.

It croaks()s if it can't open the file.

write_file() creates or overwrites files.

append_file() appends to a file.

overwrite_file() does an in-place update of an existing file or
creates a new file if it didn't already exist.  Write_file will
also replace a file.  The difference is that the first that that
write_file() does is to truncate the file whereas the last thing
that overwrite_file() is to truncate the file (to it's new length).
Overwrite_file() should be used in situations where you have a file
that always needs to have contents, even in the middle of an update.

read_dir() returns all of the entries in a directory except for "."
and "..".  It croaks if it cannot open the directory.

=head1 HISTORY

This module used to be called File::Slurp.  Uri Guttman <uri@sysarch.com>
wrote a version with more features and more speed.  I gave the namespace
to him.  However, this version still has some merit: it is much smaller
and thus if speed of complilation is more important that slurping speed,
and you don't need the new features, then this version is still useful.

=head1 LICENSE

Copyright (C) 1996, 1998, 2001-2003 David Muir Sharnoff.  License
hereby granted for anyone to use, modify or redistribute this module
at their own risk.  Please feed useful changes back to muir@idiom.com.

=head1 AUTHOR

David Muir Sharnoff <muir@idiom.com>

