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I've to read and parse HTML file and populate a data structure (in C++). I'm planning to do the parsing using perl (so I can use some other perl modules.). My requirement is this.

  1. Get the file from gui (C++ code)
  2. Pass it to perl.
  3. Parse file on perl side (perl script using some other perl modules), populate the C++ structure
  4. Continue working on C++ side with the populated structure.

I'm reading about extending and embedding perl, but unable to figure out the correct procedure. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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    Quick fix: have the Perl script output a simplified text format, read that through a pipe on the C++ side, build the structure. Commented Jun 11, 2011 at 19:34
  • This, I've thought of and decided against it. A system call to perl, and parsing on C++-side. The data structure (class) may contain pointers to other classes. so I want to avoid this. Commented Jun 11, 2011 at 19:46
  • have you tried serializing the data using Data::Dumper for example. You are going to have a real hard time passing Perl objects out to a C++ program intact. Commented Jun 11, 2011 at 20:05
  • I'd do what @larsmans suggests. Parse it in a separate Perl program, output it in some format C++ can understand (JSON, YAML, XML...) and let C++ turn that into a struct. Embedding Perl is fraught with peril and you won't be able to move Perl classes and objects easily into C++ structs. Commented Jun 12, 2011 at 3:36

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In your reading did you find perlembed in Perl's documentation? That's the definitive resource for learning how to embed Perl in a C/C++ program. The author of the document was one of the original mod_perl developers, I believe.

I don't think that embedding Perl for a trivial task would be the easiest solution when compared to doing a system call to perl and parsing the result, but for more involved needs it's certainly a solution.

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You don't even have to do much parsing if you use pack to return bytes that can be slopped straight into a struct.
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I've used swig to connect C++ and Python. The documentation says it works for Perl, also.

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Yet another alternative is to have perl drive your C++ code. Write a function that has a perl-side implementation that calls a corresponding C-side implementation. Do man perlxs and perlxstut for more info.

Edit: Or read it online at http://perldoc.perl.org/perlxs.html and http://perldoc.perl.org/perlxstut.html.

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