NAME
    Config::Fast - extremely fast configuration file reader / parser

SYNOPSIS
        use Config::Fast;

        %cf = fastconfig;

        print "Please contact $cf{support} for support\n";

DESCRIPTION
    This module is designed to provide an extremely fast and lightweight way
    to parse moderately complex configuration files. As such, it exports a
    single function - "fastconfig()" - and does not provide an OO access
    method. Still, it is fairly full-featured.

    Here's how it works:

        %cf = fastconfig($file, $delim);

    Basically, the "fastconfig()" function returns a hash of keys and values
    based on the directives in your configuration file. By default,
    directives and values are separated by whitespace in the config file,
    but this can be easily changed with the delimiter argument (see below).

    When the configuration file is read, its modification time is first
    checked and the results cached. On each call to "fastconfig()", if the
    config file has been changed, then the file is reread. Otherwise, the
    cached results are returned automatically. This makes this module great
    for "mod_perl" based modules and scripts, one of the primary reasons I
    wrote it. Simply include this at the top of your script or inside of
    your constructor function:

        my %cf = fastconfig('/path/to/config/file.conf');

    If the file argument is omitted, then "fastconfig()" looks for a file
    named "progname.conf" in the "../etc" directory relative to the
    executable. For example, if you ran:

        /usr/local/bin/myapp

    Then "fastconfig()" will automatically look for:

        /usr/local/etc/myapp.conf

    This is great if you're really lazy and always in a hurry, like I am.

    If this doesn't work for you, simply supply a filename manually. Note
    that filename generation does not work in "mod_perl", so you'll need to
    supply a filename manually.

FILE FORMAT
    By default, your configuration file is split up on the first white space
    it finds. Subsequent whitespace is preserved intact - quotes are not
    needed. For example, this:

        company     Hardwood Flooring Supplies, Inc.

    Would result in:

        $cf{company} = 'Hardwood Flooring Supplies, Inc.';

    Of course, you can use the delimiter argument to change the delimiter to
    anything you want, perhaps to read Bourne shell style files:

        %cf = fastconfig($file, '=');

    This would let you read a file of the format

        system=Eunice
        kernel=sortof

    Each configuration directive is read sequentially and placed in the
    hash. If the same directive is present multiple times, the last one will
    override any earlier ones.

    In addition, you can reuse previously-defined variables by preceding
    them with a "$" sign. Hopefully this seems logical to you.

        owner       Bill Johnson
        company     $owner and Company, Ltd.

    Of course, you can include literal characters by escaping them:

        price       \$5.00
        streetname  "Guido \"The Enforcer\" Scorcese"

    Variable names are case-sentitive! These are three different variables:

        oracle_home /oracle
        Oracle_Home /oracle/orahome1
        ORACLE_HOME /oracle/OraHome2

    Speaking of which, an extra nicety is that this module will setup
    environment variables for any ALLCAPS variables you define. So, the
    above ORACLE_HOME variable will automatically be stuck into %ENV.

    Finally, if called in a scalar context, then variables will be imported
    directly into the "main::" namespace, just like if you had defined them
    yourself:

        use Config::Fast;

        fastconfig;

        print "The web address is: $website\n";     # website from conf

    Generally, this is regarded as dangerous and bad form, so I would
    strongly advise using this form only in throwaway scripts, or not at
    all.

NOTES
    The key "mtime" is magical and cannot be used as a variable name in your
    config file.

VERSION
    $Id: Fast.pm,v 1.3 2003/04/05 02:06:28 nwiger Exp $

AUTHOR
    Copyright (c) 2002-2003 Nathan Wiger <nate@sun.com>. All Rights
    Reserved.

    This module is free software; you may copy this under the terms of the
    GNU General Public License, or the Artistic License, copies of which
    should have accompanied your Perl kit.