How to pipe input from a file as stdin to an erlang program running in the shell as well as standalone?
I have a file hr.erl
and I compile it from the shell. There is a function in it which accepts input from stdin using io:fread()
. I have written a case expression with guards where if it matches {ok, [0]}
it should terminate. Instead of 0
, I actually need it to be eof
.
- How to send eof when running in a shell?
- I have a file
inp.txt
with values 1
2
3
and 0
on each line. How can I pass it using the <
pipe operator? Is there anything like erl -hr <inp.txt
? Can I pipe it to stdin within the shell.
Here is my program so far (updated to include eof
).
-module(hr).
-export([main/0]).
r(L) ->
case io:fread("", "~d") of
eof ->
io:format("eof~n", []),
ok;
{ok, [0]} ->
io:format("terminate~n", []),
lists:reverse(L);
{ok, [N]} ->
io:format("inp ~p~n", [N]),
r([N|L])
end.
main() -> r([]).
From shell
1> c(hr).
{ok,hr}
2> hr:main().
1
inp 1
2
inp 2
3
inp 3
0
terminate
[1,2,3]
Thanks.
This is one of the Erlang FAQs:
http://www.erlang.org/faq/how_do_i.html#id49435
Look here for the fastest line oriented IO for Erlang known to me. Note the usage of -noshell
and -noinput
command line parameters. Key part is
read() ->
Port = open_port({fd, 0, 1}, [in, binary, {line, 256}]),
read(Port, 0, [], []).
read(Port, Size, Seg, R) ->
receive
{Port, {data, {eol, <<$>:8, _/binary>> = Line}}} ->
read(Port, Size + size(Line) + 1, [],
[iolist_to_binary(lists:reverse(Seg, [])) | R]);
{Port, {data, {eol, Line}}} ->
read(Port, Size + size(Line) + 1, [Line | Seg], R);
{'EXIT', Port, normal} ->
{Size, [list_to_binary(lists:reverse(Seg, [])) | R]};
Other ->
io:format(">>>>>>> Wrong! ~p~n", [Other]),
exit(bad_data)
end.
EDIT: Note that the line oriented IO was fixed in R16B http://erlang.org/pipermail/erlang-questions/2013-February/072531.html so you need this trick no longer.
EDIT2: There is an answer using fixed file:read_line/1
.
I am able to pipe input when using escript. Write the erlang program without module or export info, with main(_)
function, i.e., in escript
compatible way. Then we can pipe input using cat
like
cat inp.txt | escript hr.erl
This works and program terminates when it encounters eof
. But I still don't know why it's not working when using redirect operator <
.