NAME

Data::GUID - globally unique identifiers

VERSION

version 0.050

SYNOPSIS

  use Data::GUID;

  my $guid = Data::GUID->new;

  my $string = $guid->as_string; # or "$guid"

  my $other_guid = Data::GUID->from_string($string);

  if (($guid <=> $other_guid) == 0) {
    print "They're the same!\n";
  }

DESCRIPTION

Data::GUID provides a simple interface for generating and using globally unique identifiers.

PERL VERSION SUPPORT

This module has an extremely long-term perl support period. That means it will not require a version of perl released fewer than ten years ago.

Although it may work on older versions of perl, no guarantee is made that the minimum required version will not be increased. The version may be increased for any reason, and there is no promise that patches will be accepted to lower the minimum required perl.

GETTING A NEW GUID

new

  my $guid = Data::GUID->new;

This method returns a new globally unique identifier.

GUIDS FROM EXISTING VALUES

These method returns a new Data::GUID object for the given GUID value. In all cases, these methods throw an exception if given invalid input.

from_string

  my $guid = Data::GUID->from_string("B0470602-A64B-11DA-8632-93EBF1C0E05A");

from_hex

  # note that a hex guid is a guid string without hyphens and with a leading 0x
  my $guid = Data::GUID->from_hex("0xB0470602A64B11DA863293EBF1C0E05A");

from_base64

  my $guid = Data::GUID->from_base64("sEcGAqZLEdqGMpPr8cDgWg==");

from_data_uuid

This method returns a new Data::GUID object if given a Data::UUID value. Because Data::UUID values are not blessed and because Data::UUID provides no validation method, this method will only throw an exception if the given data is of the wrong size.

IDENTIFYING GUIDS

string_guid_regex

hex_guid_regex

base64_guid_regex

These methods return regex objects that match regex strings of the appropriate type.

from_any_string

  my $string = get_string_from_ether;

  my $guid = Data::GUID->from_any_string($string);

This method returns a Data::GUID object for the given string, trying all known string interpretations. An exception is thrown if the value is not a valid GUID string.

best_guess

  my $value = get_value_from_ether;

  my $guid = Data::GUID->best_guess($value);

This method returns a Data::GUID object for the given value, trying everything it can. It works like "from_any_string", but will also accept Data::UUID values. (In effect, this means that any sixteen byte value is acceptable.)

GUIDS INTO STRINGS

These methods return various string representations of a GUID.

as_string

This method returns a "traditional" GUID/UUID string representation. This is five hexadecimal strings, delimited by hyphens. For example:

  B0470602-A64B-11DA-8632-93EBF1C0E05A

This method is also used to stringify Data::GUID objects.

as_hex

This method returns a plain hexadecimal representation of the GUID, with a leading "0x". For example:

  0xB0470602A64B11DA863293EBF1C0E05A

as_base64

This method returns a base-64 string representation of the GUID. For example:

  sEcGAqZLEdqGMpPr8cDgWg==

OTHER METHODS

compare_to_guid

This method compares a GUID to another GUID and returns -1, 0, or 1, as do other comparison routines.

as_binary

This method returns the packed binary representation of the GUID. At present this method relies on Data::GUID's underlying use of Data::UUID. It is not guaranteed to continue to work the same way, or at all. Caveat invocator.

IMPORTING

Data::GUID does not export any subroutines by default, but it provides a few routines which will be imported on request. These routines may be called as class methods, or may be imported to be called as subroutines. Calling them by fully qualified name is incorrect.

  use Data::GUID qw(guid);

  my $guid = guid;             # OK
  my $guid = Data::GUID->guid; # OK
  my $guid = Data::GUID::guid; # NOT OK

TODO

add namespace support
remove dependency on wretched Data::UUID
make it work on 5.005

AUTHOR

Ricardo SIGNES <rjbs@semiotic.systems>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.