GDBM_File

Section: Perl Programmers Reference Guide (3pm)
Updated: 2021-03-31
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NAME

GDBM_File - Perl5 access to the gdbm library.

SYNOPSIS

    use GDBM_File ;
    tie %hash, 'GDBM_File', $filename, &GDBM_WRCREAT, 0640;
    # Use the %hash array.
    untie %hash ;

DESCRIPTION

GDBM_File is a module which allows Perl programs to make use of the facilities provided by the GNU gdbm library. If you intend to use this module you should really have a copy of the gdbm manualpage at hand.

Most of the libgdbm.a functions are available through the GDBM_File interface.

Unlike Perl's built-in hashes, it is not safe to "delete" the current item from a GDBM_File tied hash while iterating over it with "each". This is a limitation of the gdbm library.

AVAILABILITY

gdbm is available from any GNU archive. The master site is "ftp.gnu.org", but you are strongly urged to use one of the many mirrors. You can obtain a list of mirror sites from <http://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html>.

SECURITY AND PORTABILITY

Do not accept GDBM files from untrusted sources.

GDBM files are not portable across platforms.

The GDBM documentation doesn't imply that files from untrusted sources can be safely used with "libgdbm".

A maliciously crafted file might cause perl to crash or even expose a security vulnerability.

BUGS

The available functions and the gdbm/perl interface need to be documented.

The GDBM error number and error message interface needs to be added.