NAME

MARC::Charset::Table - character mapping db

SYNOPSIS

    use MARC::Charset::Table;
    use MARC::Charset::Constants qw(:all);

    # create the table object
    my $table = MARC::Charset::Table->new();
   
    # get a code using the marc8 character set code and the character
    my $code = $table->lookup_by_marc8(CYRILLIC_BASIC, 'K');

    # get a code using the utf8 value
    $code = $table->lookup_by_utf8(chr(0x043A));

DESCRIPTION

MARC::Charset::Table is a wrapper around the character mapping database, which is implemented as a tied hash on disk. This database gets generated by Makefile.PL on installation of MARC::Charset using MARC::Charset::Compiler.

The database is essentially a key/value mapping where a key is a MARC-8 character set code + a MARC-8 character, or an integer representing the UCS code point. These keys map to a serialized MARC::Charset::Code object.

new()

The consturctor.

add_code()

Add a MARC::Charset::Code to the table.

get_code()

Retrieve a code using a hash key.

lookup_by_marc8()

Looks up MARC::Charset::Code entry using a character set code and a MARC-8 value.

    use MARC::Charset::Constants qw(HEBREW);
    $code = $table->lookup_by_marc8(HEBREW, chr(0x60));

lookup_by_utf8()

Looks up a MARC::Charset::Code object using a utf8 value.

db()

Returns a reference to a tied character database. MARC::Charset::Table wraps access to the db, but you can get at it if you want.

db_path()

Returns the path to the character encoding database. Can be called statically too:

    print MARC::Charset::Table->db_path();

brand_new()

An alternate constructor which removes the existing database and starts afresh. Be careful with this one, it's really only used on MARC::Charset installation.