NAME
            File::OldSlurp -- single call read & write file routines; read directories

SYNOPSIS
            use File::OldSlurp;

            $all_of_it = read_file($filename);
            @all_lines = read_file($filename);

            write_file($filename, @contents)

            overwrite_file($filename, @new_contnts);

            append_file($filename, @additional_contents);

            @files = read_dir($directory);

DESCRIPTION
    These are quickie routines that are meant to save a couple of lines of
    code over and over again. They do not do anything fancy.

    read_file() does what you would expect. If you are using its output in
    array context, then it returns an array of lines. If you are calling it
    from scalar context, then returns the entire file in a single string.

    It croaks()s if it can't open the file.

    write_file() creates or overwrites files.

    append_file() appends to a file.

    overwrite_file() does an in-place update of an existing file or creates
    a new file if it didn't already exist. Write_file will also replace a
    file. The difference is that the first that that write_file() does is to
    truncate the file whereas the last thing that overwrite_file() is to
    truncate the file (to it's new length). Overwrite_file() should be used
    in situations where you have a file that always needs to have contents,
    even in the middle of an update.

    read_dir() returns all of the entries in a directory except for "." and
    "..". It croaks if it cannot open the directory.

HISTORY
    This module used to be called File::Slurp. Uri Guttman <uri@sysarch.com>
    wrote a version with more features and more speed. I gave the namespace
    to him. However, this version still has some merit: it is much smaller
    and thus if speed of complilation is more important that slurping speed,
    and you don't need the new features, then this version is still useful.

LICENSE
    Copyright (C) 1996, 1998, 2001-2003 David Muir Sharnoff. License hereby
    granted for anyone to use, modify or redistribute this module at their
    own risk. Please feed useful changes back to muir@idiom.com.

AUTHOR
    David Muir Sharnoff <muir@idiom.com>