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\input texinfo
@comment %**start of header
@setfilename recutils.info
@include version.texi
@settitle GNU Recutils
@afourpaper
@comment %**end of header
@comment Latin: videre licet,
@macro viz
@i{viz:@:}
@end macro
@comment Latin: id est
@macro ie
@i{i.e.@:}
@end macro
@comment Latin: exempli gratia
@macro eg
@i{e.g.@:}
@end macro
@comment Latin: et cetera
@macro etc
@i{etc.@:}
@end macro
@copying
This manual is for GNU recutils (version @value{VERSION},
@value{UPDATED}).
Copyright @copyright{} 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016,
2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 Jose E. Marchesi
Copyright @copyright{} 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013,
2014, 2020, 2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@quotation
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A
copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free
Documentation License''.
@end quotation
@end copying
@dircategory Database
@direntry
* recutils: (recutils). The GNU Recutils manual.
@end direntry
@dircategory Individual utilities
@direntry
* recinf: (recutils)Invoking recinf. Get info about recfiles.
* recsel: (recutils)Invoking recsel. Read records.
* recins: (recutils)Invoking recins. Insert records.
* recdel: (recutils)Invoking recdel. Delete records.
* recset: (recutils)Invoking recset. Manage fields.
* recfix: (recutils)Invoking recfix. Fix recfiles.
* csv2rec: (recutils)Invoking csv2rec. CSV to recfiles.
* rec2csv: (recutils)Invoking rec2csv. Recfiles to CSV.
* mdb2rec: (recutils)Invoking mdb2rec. MDB to recfiles.
@end direntry
@titlepage
@title GNU recutils
@subtitle for version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
@author by Jose E. Marchesi and John Darrington
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@insertcopying
@end titlepage
@contents
@ifnottex
@node Top
@top GNU Recutils
This manual documents version @value{VERSION} of the GNU recutils.
@insertcopying
@end ifnottex
@menu
The Basics
* Introduction:: Introducing recutils.
* The Rec Format:: Writing recfiles.
Using the Recutils
* Querying Recfiles:: Extracting data from recfiles.
* Editing Records:: Inserting and deleting records.
* Editing Fields:: Inserting, modifying and deleting fields.
Data Integrity
* Field Types:: Restrictions on the values of fields.
* Constraints on Record Sets:: Requiring or forbidding specific fields.
* Checking Recfiles:: Making sure the data is ok.
Advanced Topics
* Remote Descriptors:: Implementing distributed databases.
* Grouping and Aggregates:: Statistics.
* Queries which Join Records:: Crossing record of different types.
* Auto-Generated Fields:: Counters and time-stamps.
* Encryption:: Storing sensitive information.
* Generating Reports:: Formatted output with templates.
* Interoperability:: Importing and exporting to other formats.
* Bash Builtins:: Boosting the recutils in the shell.
Reference Material
* Invoking the Utilities:: Exhaustive list of command line arguments.
* Using ob-rec.el:: Invoking Recutils from Emacs Org-mode source blocks.
* Regular Expressions:: Flavor of regexps supported in recutils.
* Date input formats:: Specifying dates and times.
* GNU Free Documentation License:: Distribution terms for this document.
Indexes
* Concept Index::
@detailmenu
--- The Detailed Node Listing ---
---------------------------------
Here are some other nodes which are really subnodes of the ones
already listed, mentioned here so you can get to them in one step:
Introduction
* Purpose:: Why recutils.
* A Little Example:: Recutils in action.
The Rec Format
* Fields:: The key--value pairs which comprise the data.
* Records:: The main entities of a recfile.
* Comments:: Information for humans' benefit only.
* Record Descriptors:: Describing different types of records.
Querying Recfiles
* Simple Selections:: Introducing @command{recsel}.
* Selecting by Type:: Get the records of some given type.
* Selecting by Position:: Get the record occupying some position.
* Random Records:: Get a set of random records.
* Selection Expressions:: Get the records satisfying some expression.
* Field Expressions:: Selecting a subset of fields.
* Sorted Output:: Get the records in a given order.
Editing Records
* Inserting Records:: Inserting data into recfiles.
* Deleting Records:: Removing entries.
* Sorting Records:: Physical reordering of records.
Editing Fields
* Setting Fields:: Editing field values.
* Adding Fields:: Adding new fields to records.
* Deleting Fields:: Removing or commenting-out fields.
Field Types
* Declaring Types:: Declaration of types in record descriptors.
* Types and Fields:: Associating fields with types.
* Scalar Field Types:: Numbers and ranges.
* String Field Types:: Lines, limited strings and regular expressions.
* Enumerated Field Types:: Enumerations and boolean values.
* Date and Time Types:: Dates and times.
* Other Field Types:: Emails, fields, UUIDs, @dots{}
Constraints on Record Sets
* Mandatory Fields:: Requiring the presence of fields.
* Prohibited Fields:: Forbidding the presence of fields.
* Allowed Fields:: Restricting the presence of fields.
* Keys and Unique Fields:: Fields characterizing records.
* Size Constraints:: Limiting the size of a record set.
* Arbitrary Constraints:: Constraints records must comply with.
Checking Recfiles
* Syntactical Errors:: Fixing structure errors in recfiles.
* Semantic Errors:: Fixing semantic errors in recfiles.
Grouping and Aggregates
* Grouping Records:: Combining records by fields.
* Aggregate Functions:: Statistics and more.
Joins
* Foreign Keys:: Referring records from another records.
* Joining Records:: Performing cross-joins.
Auto-Generated Fields
* Counters:: Generating incremental Ids.
* Unique Identifiers:: Generating universally unique Ids.
* Time-Stamps:: Tracking the creation of records.
Encryption
* Confidential Fields:: Declaring fields as sensitive data.
* Encrypting Files:: Encrypt confidential fields.
* Decrypting Data:: Reading encrypted fields.
Generating Reports
* Templates:: Formatted output.
Interoperability
* CSV Files:: Converting recfiles to/from csv files.
* Importing MDB Files:: Importing MS Access Databases.
Bash Builtins
* readrec:: Exporting the contents of records to the shell.
Invoking the Utilities
* Invoking recinf:: Printing information about rec files.
* Invoking recsel:: Selecting records.
* Invoking recins:: Inserting records.
* Invoking recdel:: Deleting records.
* Invoking recset:: Managing fields.
* Invoking recfix:: Fixing broken rec files, and diagnostics.
* Invoking recfmt:: Formatting records using templates.
* Invoking csv2rec:: Converting csv data into rec data.
* Invoking rec2csv:: Converting rec data into csv data.
* Invoking mdb2rec:: Converting mdb files into rec files.
@end detailmenu
@end menu
@node Introduction
@chapter Introduction
@menu
* Purpose:: Why recutils.
* A Little Example:: Recutils in action.
@end menu
@node Purpose
@section Purpose
GNU recutils is a set of tools and libraries to access human-editable,
text-based databases called @emph{recfiles}. The data is stored as a
sequence of records, each record containing an arbitrary number of
named fields. Advanced capabilities usually found in other data
storage systems are supported: data types, data integrity (keys,
mandatory fields, @etc{}) as well as the ability of records to refer to
other records (sort of foreign keys). Despite its simplicity,
recfiles can be used to store medium-sized databases.
So, yet another data storage system? The mere existence of this
package deserves an explanation. There is a rich set of already
available free data storage systems, covering a broad range of
requirements. Big systems having complex data storage requirements
will probably make use of some full-fledged relational system such as
MySQL or PostgreSQL@. Less demanding applications, or applications
with special deployment requirements, may find it more convenient to
use a simpler system such as SQLite, where the data is stored in a
single binary file. XML files are often used to store configuration
settings for programs, and to encode data for transmission through
networks.
So it looks like all the needs are covered by the existing
solutions @dots{} but consider the following characteristics of the
data storage systems mentioned in the previous paragraph:
@itemize @minus
@item The stored data is not directly human readable.
@item The stored data is definitely not directly writable by humans.
@item They are program dependent.
@item They are not easily managed by version control systems.
@end itemize
@cindex readability
Regarding the first point (human readability), while it is clearly
true for the binary files, some may argue XML files are indeed human
readable@dots{} well@dots{} @code{<bar><foo tag="val">try</foo> to r&iamp;ead
<p>this</p></bar>}. YAML @footnote{Yet Another Markup Language} is an
example of a hierarchical data storage format which is much more
readable than XML@. The problem with YAML is that it was designed as a
``data serialization language'' and thus to map the data constructs
usually found in programming languages. That makes it too complex for
the simple task of storing plain lists of items.
Recfiles are human-readable, human-writable and still easy to
parse and to manipulate automatically. Obviously they are not
suitable for any task (for example, it can be difficult to manage
hierarchies in recfiles) and performance is somewhat sacrificed in
favor of readability. But they are quite handy to store small to
medium simple databases.
The GNU recutils suite comprises:
@itemize @minus
@item This Texinfo manual, describing the Rec format and the accompanying software.
@item A C library (librec) that provides a rich set of functions to manipulate rec data.
@item A set utilities that can be used in shell scripts and in the command line to operate on rec files.
@item An emacs mode, @code{rec-mode}.
@end itemize
@node A Little Example
@section A Little Example
@cindex books
Everyone loves to grow a nice book collection at home. Unfortunately,
in most cases the management of our private books gets uncontrolled:
some books get lost, some of them may be loaned to some friend, there
are some duplicated (or even triplicated!) titles because we forgot
about the existence of the previous copy, and many more details.
In order to improve the management of our little book collection we
could make use of a complex data storage system such as a relational
database. The problem with that approach, as explained in the
previous section, is that the tool is too complicated for the simple
task: we do not need the full power of a relational database system to
maintain a simple collection of books.
With GNU recutils it is possible to maintain such a little database in
a text file. Let's call it @file{books.rec}. The following table
resumes the information items that we want to store for each title,
along with some common-sense restrictions.
@itemize @minus
@item
Every book has a title, even if it is ``No Title''.
@item
A book can have several titles.
@item
A book can have more than one author.
@item
For some books the author is not known.
@item
Sometimes we don't care about who the author of a book is.
@item
We usually store our books at home.
@item
Sometimes we loan books to friends.
@item
On occasions we lose track of the physical location of a book. Did
we loan it to anyone? Was it lost in the last move? Is it in some
hidden place at home?
@end itemize
@noindent
The contents of the rec file follows:
@example
# -*- mode: rec -*-
%rec: Book
%mandatory: Title
%type: Location enum loaned home unknown
%doc:
+ A book in my personal collection.
Title: GNU Emacs Manual
Author: Richard M. Stallman
Publisher: FSF
Location: home
Title: The Colour of Magic
Author: Terry Pratchett
Location: loaned
Title: Mio Cid
Author: Anonymous
Location: home
Title: chapters.gnu.org administration guide
Author: Nacho Gonzalez
Author: Jose E. Marchesi
Location: unknown
Title: Yeelong User Manual
Location: home
# End of books.rec
@end example
Simple. The file contains a set of records separated by blank lines.
Each record comprises a set of fields with a name and a value.
The GNU recutils can then be used to access the contents of the file.
For example, we could get a list of the names of loaned books by invoking
@command{recsel} in the following way:
@example
$ recsel -e "Location = 'loaned'" -P Title books.rec
The Colour of Magic
@end example
@node The Rec Format
@chapter The Rec Format
A recfile is nothing but a text file which conforms to a few simple
rules. This chapter shows you how, by observing these rules, recfiles
of arbitrary complexity can be written.
@menu
* Fields:: The key--value pairs which comprise the data.
* Records:: The main entities of a recfile.
* Comments:: Information for humans' benefit only.
* Record Descriptors:: Describing different types of records.
@end menu
@node Fields
@section Fields
@cindex field
A @dfn{field} is the written form of an association between a label
and a value. For example, if we wanted to associate the label
@code{Name} with the value @code{Ada Lovelace} we would write:
@example
Name: Ada Lovelace
@end example
The separator between the field name and the field value is a colon
followed by a blank character (space and tabs, but not newlines). The
name of the field shall begin in the first column of the line.
@cindex field name
A @dfn{field name} is a sequence of alphanumeric characters plus
underscores (@code{_}), starting with a letter or the character
@code{%}. The regular expression denoting a field name is:
@example
[a-zA-Z%][a-zA-Z0-9_]*
@end example
@cindex case, in field names
Field names are case-sensitive. @code{Foo} and @code{foo} are
different field names.
The following list contains valid field names (the final colon is not
part of the names):
@example
Foo:
foo:
A23:
ab1:
A_Field:
@end example
@cindex field values
The @dfn{value of a field} is a sequence of characters terminated by a
single newline character (@code{\n}).
@cindex multiline field values
Sometimes a value is too long to fit in the usual width of terminals
and screens. In that case, depending on the specific tool used to
access the file, the readability of the data would not be that good.
It is therefore possible to physically split a logical line by
escaping a newline with a backslash character, as in:
@example
LongLine: This is a quite long value \
comprising a single unique logical line \
split in several physical lines.
@end example
The sequence @code{\n} (newline) @code{+} (PLUS) and an optional
@code{_} (SPACE) is interpreted as a newline when found in a field
value. For example, the C string @code{"bar1\nbar2\n bar3"} would be
encoded in the following way in a field value:
@example
Foo: bar1
+ bar2
+ bar3
@end example
@node Records
@section Records
@cindex record
A @dfn{record} is a group of one or more fields written one after the
other:
@example
Name1: Value1
Name2: Value2
Name2: Value3
@end example
It is possible for several fields in a record to share the same name
or/and the field value. The following is a valid record containing
three fields:
@example
Name: John Smith
Email: john.smith@@foomail.com
Email: john@@smith.name
@end example
@cindex record size
@cindex size, record size
The @dfn{size of a record} is defined as the number of fields that it
contains. A record cannot be empty, so the minimum size
for a record is 1. The maximum number of fields for a record is only
limited by the available physical resources. The size of the previous
record is 3.
Records are separated by one or more blank lines. For instance, the
following example shows a file named @file{personalities.rec}
featuring three records:
@example
Name: Ada Lovelace
Age: 36
Name: Peter the Great
Age: 53
Name: Matusalem
Age: 969
@end example
@node Comments
@section Comments
@cindex comments
Any line having an @code{#} (ASCII 0x23) character in the first column
is a comment line.
Comments may be used to insert information that
is not part of the database but useful in other ways.
They are completely ignored by processing tools and can only be seen by
looking at the recfile itself.
It is also quite convenient to comment-out information from the
recfile without having to remove it in a definitive way: you may want
to recover the data into the database later! Comment lines can be
used to comment-out both full registers and single fields:
@example
Name: Jose E. Marchesi
# Occupation: Software Engineer
# Severe lack of brain capacity
# Fired on 02/01/2009 (without compensation)
Occupation: Unoccupied
@end example
Comments are also useful for headers, footers, comment blocks and all
kind of markers:
@example
# -*- mode: rec -*-
#
# TODO
#
# This file contains the Bugs database of GNU recutils.
#
# Blah blah@dots{}
@dots{}
# End of TODO
@end example
Unlike some file formats, comments in recfiles must be complete lines.
You cannot start a comment in the middle of a line.
For example, in the following record, the @code{#} does @emph{not} start a comment:
@example
Name: Peter the Great # Russian Tsar
Age: 53
@end example
@node Record Descriptors
@section Record Descriptors
@cindex descriptor
Certain properties of a set of records can be specified by preceding
them with a @dfn{record descriptor}. A record descriptor is itself a
record, and uses fields with some predefined names to store
properties.
@menu
* Record Sets:: Defining different types of records.
* Naming Record Types:: Some conventions on naming record sets.
* Documenting Records:: Documenting your record sets.
* Record Sets Properties:: Introducing the special fields.
@end menu
@node Record Sets
@subsection Record Sets
@cindex record sets
The most basic property that can be specified for a set of records is
their @dfn{type}. The special field name @code{%rec} is used for that
purpose:
@cindex @code{%rec}
@example
%rec: Entry
Id: 1
Name: Entry 1
Id: 2
Name: Entry 2
@end example
The records following the descriptors are then identified as having
its type. So in the example above we would say there are two records
of type ``Entry''. Or in a more colloquial way we would say there are
two ``Entries'' in the database.
The effect of a record descriptor ends when another descriptor is
found in the stream of records. This allows you to store different kinds
of records in the same database. For example, suppose you are
maintaining a depot. You will need to keep track of both what items
are available and when they are sold or restocked.
The following example shows the usage of two record descriptors to
store both kind of records: articles and stock.
@example
%rec: Article
Id: 1
Title: Article 1
Id: 2
Title: Article 2
%rec: Stock
Id: 1
Type: sell
Date: 20 April 2011
Id: 2
Type: stock
Date: 21 April 2011
@end example
The collection of records having same types in recfiles are known as
@dfn{record sets} in recutils jargon. In the example above two
record sets are defined: one containing articles and the other
containing stock movements.
Nothing prevents having empty record sets in databases. This is in fact
usually the case when a new recfile is written but no data exists yet.
In our depot example we could write a first version of the database
containing just the record descriptors:
@example
%rec: Article
%rec: Stock
@end example
@cindex default record types
Special records are not required, and many recfiles do not have them.
This is because
all the records contained in the file are of the same type, and their
nature can usually be inferred from both the file name and their
contents. For example, @file{contacts.rec} could simply contain
records representing contacts without an explicit @code{%rec: Contact}
record descriptor. In this case we say that the type of the anonymous
records stored in the file is the @dfn{default record type}.
Another possible situation, although not usual, is to have a recfile
containing both non-typed (default) and typed record types:
@example
Id: 1
Title: Blah
Id: 2
Title: Bleh
%rec: Movement
Date: 13-Aug-2012
Concept: 20
Date: 24-Sept-2012
Concept: 12
@end example
@noindent
In this case the records preceding the movements are of the
``default'' type, whereas the records following the record descriptor
are of type @code{Movement}. Even though it is supported by the format
and the utilities, it is generally not recommended to mix non-typed
and typed records in a recfile.
@node Naming Record Types
@subsection Naming Record Types
It is up to you how to name your record sets. Any string comprising
only alphanumeric characters or underscores, and that starts with a
letter will be a legal name. However, it is recommended to use the
singular form of a noun in order to describe the ``type'' of the
records in the records set. Examples are @code{Article},
@code{Contributor}, @code{Employee} and @code{Movement}.
The used noun should be specific enough in order to characterize the
property of the records which matters. For example, in a
contributor's database it would be better to have a record set named
@code{Contributor} than @code{Person}.
The reason of using singular nouns instead of their plural forms is
that it works better with the utilities: it is more natural to read
@command{recsel -t Contributor} (@command{-t} is for ``type'') than
@command{recsel -t Contributors}.
@node Documenting Records
@subsection Documenting Records
@cindex @code{%doc}
@cindex documentation fields
@cindex description of record sets
As well as a name, it is a good idea to provide a description of the record set.
This is sometimes called the record set's @dfn{documentation} and is specified
using the @code{%doc} field.
Whereas the name is usually short and can contain only alphanumeric
characters and underscores, no such restriction applies to the
documentation. The documentation is typically more verbose than the
name provided by the @code{%rec} field and may contain arbitrary
characters such as punctuation and parentheses. It is somewhat
similar to a comment (@pxref{Comments}), but it can be managed more easily
in a programmatic way. Unlike a comment, the @code{%doc} field is
recognized by tools such as @command{recinf} (@pxref{Invoking recinf})
which processes record descriptors. For example, you might have two
record sets with @code{%rec} and @code{%doc} fields as follows:
@example
%rec: Contact
%doc: Family, friends and acquaintances (other than business).
Name: Granny
Phone: +12 23456677
Name: Edwina
Phone: +55 0923 8765
%rec: Associate
%doc: Colleagues and other business contacts
Name: Karl Schmidt
Phone: +49 88234566
Name: Genevieve Curie
Phone: +33 34 87 65
@end example
@node Record Sets Properties
@subsection Record Sets Properties
@cindex field, special fields
@cindex special fields
Besides determining the type of record that follows in the
stream, record descriptors can be used to describe other properties of
those records. This can be done by using @dfn{special
fields}, which have special names from a predefined set.
Consider for example the following database, where record descriptors
are used to specify a (optional) numeric `Id' and a mandatory `Title' field:
@cindex @code{%mandatory}
@cindex mandatory fields
@example
%rec: Item
%type: Id int
%mandatory: Title
Id: 10
Title: Notebook (big)
Id: 11
Title: Fountain Pen
@end example
Note that the names of special fields always start with the character
@code{%}. Also note that it is also possible to use non-special
fields in a record descriptor, but such fields will have no effect on
the described record set.
Every record set must contain one, and only one, field named
@code{%rec}. It is not mandated that that field must occupy the first
position in the record. However, it is considered a good style to
place it as the first field in the record set, in order for the casual
reader to easily identify the type of the records.
The following list briefly describes the special fields defined in the
recutils format, along with references to the sections of this manual
describing their usage in depth.
@cindex special fields, list of
@table @code
@item %rec
Naming record types. Also, they allow using external and remote
descriptors. @xref{Remote Descriptors}.
@item %mandatory, %allowed and %prohibit
Requiring or forbidding specific fields. @xref{Mandatory Fields}.
@xref{Prohibited Fields}. @xref{Allowed Fields}.
@item %unique and %key
Working with keys. @xref{Keys and Unique Fields}.
@item %doc
Documenting your database. @xref{Documenting Records}.
@item %typedef and %type
Field types. @xref{Field Types}.
@item %auto
Auto-counters and time-stamps. @xref{Auto-Generated Fields}.
@item %sort
Keeping your record sets sorted. @xref{Sorted Output}.
@item %size
Restricting the size of your database. @xref{Size Constraints}.
@item %constraint
Enforcing arbitrary constraints. @xref{Arbitrary Constraints}.
@item %confidential
Storing confidential information. @xref{Encryption}.
@item %singular
Fields without repeating values.
@end table
@node Querying Recfiles
@chapter Querying Recfiles
Since recfiles are always human readable, you could lookup data simply
by opening an editor and searching for the desired information. Or
you could use a standard tool such as @command{grep} to extract
strings matching a pattern. However, recutils provides a more powerful
and flexible way to lookup data. The following sections explore how
the recutils can be used in order to extract data from recfiles, from
very basic and simple queries to quite complex examples.
@menu
* Simple Selections:: Introducing @command{recsel}.
* Selecting by Type:: Get the records of some given type.
* Selecting by Position:: Get the record occupying some position.
* Random Records:: Get a set of random records.
* Selection Expressions:: Get the records satisfying some expression.
* Field Expressions:: Selecting a subset of fields.
* Sorted Output:: Get the records in a given order.
@end menu
@node Simple Selections
@section Simple Selections
@command{recsel} is an utility whose primary purpose is to select
records from a recfile and print them on standard output.
Consider the following example record set, which we shall assume is
saved in a recfile called @file{acquaintances.rec}:
@example
# This database contains a list of both real and fictional people
# along with their age.
Name: Ada Lovelace
Age: 36
Name: Peter the Great
Age: 53
# Name: Matusalem
# Age: 969
Name: Bart Simpson
Age: 10
Name: Adrian Mole
Age: 13.75
@end example
@noindent
If we invoke @command{recsel acquaintances.rec} we will get a list of
all the records stored in the file in the terminal:
@example
$ recsel acquaintances.rec
Name: Ada Lovelace
Age: 36
Name: Peter the Great
Age: 53
Name: Bart Simpson
Age: 10
Name: Adrian Mole
Age: 13.75
@end example
@noindent
Note that the commented out parts of the file, in this case the
explanatory header and the record corresponding to Matusalem, are not
part of the output produced by @command{recsel}. This is because
@command{recsel} is concerned only with the data.
@command{recsel} will also ``pack'' the records so any extra empty
lines that may be between records are not echoed in the output:
@multitable @columnfractions .5 .5
@item
@example
@strong{acquaintances.rec:}
Name: Peter the Great
Age: 53
# Note the extra empty lines.
Name: Bart Simpson
Age: 10
@end example
@tab
@example
$ recsel acquaintances.rec
Name: Peter the Great
Age: 53
Name: Bart Simpson
Age: 10
@end example
@end multitable
@noindent
It is common to store data gathered in several recfiles.
For example, we could have a @file{contacts.rec} file containing
general contact records, and also a @file{work-contacts.rec} file
containing business contacts:
@multitable @columnfractions .5 .5
@item
@example
@strong{contacts.rec:}
Name: Granny
Phone: +12 23456677
Name: Doctor
Phone: +12 58999222
@end example
@tab
@example
@strong{work-contacts.rec:}
Name: Yoyodyne Corp.
Email: sales@@yoyod.com
Phone: +98 43434433
Name: Robert Harris
Email: robert.harris@@yoyod.com
Note: Sales Department.
@end example
@end multitable
Both files can be passed to @command{recsel} in the command line. In
that case @command{recsel} will simply process them and output their
records in the same order they were specified:
@example
$ recsel contacts.rec work-contacts.rec
Name: Granny
Phone: +12 23456677
Name: Doctor
Phone: +12 58999222
Name: Yoyodyne Corp.
Email: sales@@yoyod.com
Phone: +98 43434433
Name: Robert Harris
Email: robert.harris@@yoyod.com
Note: Sales Department.
@end example
@noindent
As mentioned above, the output follows the ordering on the command
line, so @command{recsel work-contacts.rec
contacts.rec} would output the records of @file{work-contacts.rec} first
and then the ones from @file{contacts.rec}.
@noindent
Note however that @command{recsel} will merge records from several
files specified in the command line only if they are anonymous. If
the contacts in our files were typed:
@multitable @columnfractions .5 .5
@item
@example
@strong{contacts.rec:}
%rec: Contact
Name: Granny
Phone: +12 23456677
Name: Doctor
Phone: +12 58999222
@end example
@tab
@example
@strong{work-contacts.rec:}
%rec: Contact
Name: Yoyodyne Corp.
Email: sales@@yoyod.com
Phone: +98 43434433
Name: Robert Harris
Email: robert.harris@@yoyod.com
Note: Sales Department.
@end example
@end multitable
@noindent
Then we would get the following error message:
@example
$ recsel contacts.rec work-contacts.rec
recsel: error: duplicated record set 'Contact' from work-contacts.rec.
@end example
@node Selecting by Type
@section Selecting by Type
As we saw in the section discussing record descriptors, it is possible
to have several different types of records in a single recfile.
Consider for example a @file{gnu.rec} file containing information
about maintainers and packages in the GNU Project:
@example
%rec: Maintainer
Name: Jose E. Marchesi
Email: jemarch@@gnu.org
Name: Luca Saiu
Email: positron@@gnu.org
%rec: Package
Name: GNU recutils
LastRelease: 12 February 2014
Name: GNU epsilon
LastRelease: 10 March 2013
@end example
@noindent If @command{recsel} is invoked in that file it will complain:
@example
$ recsel gnu.rec
recsel: error: several record types found. Please use -t to specify one.
@end example
@noindent
This is because @command{recsel} does not know which records to
output: the maintainers or the packages. This can be resolved by
using the @code{-t} command line option:
@example
$ recsel -t Package gnu.rec
Name: GNU recutils
LastRelease: 12 February 2014
Name: GNU epsilon
LastRelease: 10 March 2013
@end example
@noindent
By default @command{recsel} never outputs record descriptors. This is
because most of the time the user is only interested in the data.
However, with the @code{-d} command line option, the record descriptor
of the selected type is printed preceding the data records:
@example
$ recsel -d -t Maintainer gnu.rec
%rec: Maintainer
Name: Jose E. Marchesi
Email: jemarch@@gnu.org
Name: Luca Saiu
Email: positron@@gnu.org
@end example
@noindent
Note that at the moment it is not possible to select non-typed
(default) records when other record sets are stored in the same file.
This is one of the reasons why mixing non-typed records and typed
records in a single recfile is not recommended.
@noindent
Note also that if a nonexistent record type is specified in @code{-t}
then @command{recsel} does nothing.
@node Selecting by Position
@section Selecting by Position
As was explained in the previous sections, @command{recsel} outputs
all the records of some record set. The records are echoed in the
same order they are written in the recfile. However, often it is
desirable to select a subset of the records, determined by the position
they occupy in their record set.
The @code{-n} command line option to @command{recsel} supports doing
this in a natural way. This is how we would retrieve the first
contact listed in a contacts database using @command{recsel}:
@example
$ recsel -n 0 contacts.rec
Name: Granny
Phone: +12 23456677
@end example
@noindent
Note that the index is zero-based. If we want to retrieve more
records we can specify several indexes to @code{-n} separated by
commas. If a given index is too big, it is simply ignored:
@example
$ recsel -n 0,1,999 contacts.rec
Name: Granny
Phone: +12 23456677
Name: Doctor
Phone: +12 58999222
@end example
@noindent With @code{-n}, the order in which the records are echoed does not
depend on the order of the indexes passed to @code{-n}.
For example, the output of @command{recsel -n 0,1} will be
identical to the output of @command{recsel -n 1,0}.
Ranges of indexes can also be used to select a subset of the records.
For example, the following call would also select the first three
contacts of the database:
@example
$ recsel -n 0-2 contacts.rec
Name: Granny
Phone: +12 23456677
Name: Doctor
Phone: +12 58999222
Name: Dad
Phone: +12 88229900
@end example
@noindent It is possible to mix single indexes and index
ranges in the same call. For example, @command{recsel -n 0,5-6} would
select the first, sixth and seventh records.
@node Random Records
@section Random Records
Consider a database in which each record is a cooking recipe. It is
always difficult to decide what to cook each day, so it would be nice
if we could ask @command{recsel} to pick up a random recipe. This can
be achieved using the @code{-m} (@code{--random}) command line option
of @command{recsel}:
@example
$ recsel -m 1 recipes.rec
Title: Curry chicken
Ingredient: A whole chicken
Ingredient: Curry
Preparation: ...
@end example
@noindent If we need two recipes, because we will be cooking at
both lunch and dinner, we can pass a different number to @code{-m}:
@example
$ recsel -m 2 recipes.rec
Title: Fabada Asturiana
Ingredient: 300 gr of fabes.
Ingredient: Chorizo
Ingredient: Morcilla
Preparation: ...
Title: Pasta with ragu
Ingredient: 500 gr of spaghetti.
Ingredient: 2 tomatoes.
Ingredient: Minced meat.
Preparation: ...
@end example
@noindent
The algorithm used to implement @code{-m} guarantees that
you will never get multiple instances of the same record. This means
that if a record set has @var{n} records and you ask for @var{n}
random records, you will get all the records in a random order.
@node Selection Expressions
@section Selection Expressions
@cindex selection expressions
@dfn{Selection expressions}, also known as ``sexes'' in recutils
jargon, are infix expressions that can be applied to a record.
A ``sex'' is a predicate which selects a subset of records within a recfile.
They can be simple expressions involving just one operator and a pair of
operands, or complex compound expressions with parenthetical sub-expressions
and many operators and operands.
One of their most common uses is to examine records matching a particular
set of conditions.
@menu
* Selecting by predicate:: Selecting records which satisfy conditions.
* SEX Operands:: Literal values, fields and sub-expressions.
* SEX Operators:: Arithmetic, logical and other operators.
* SEX Evaluation:: Selection expressions are like generators.
@end menu
@node Selecting by predicate
@subsection Selecting by predicate
@cindex selecting records
@cindex looking up data
@cindex retrieving data
Consider the example recfile @file{acquaintances.rec} introduced earlier.
It contains names of people along with their respective ages.
Suppose we want to get a list of the names of all the children.
It would not be easy to do this using @command{grep}.
Neither would it, for any reasonably large recfile, be feasible to search
manually for the children.
Fortunately the @command{recsel} command provides an easy way to do
such a lookup:
@cindex @command{recsel}
@example
$ recsel -e "Age < 18" -P Name acquaintances.rec
Bart Simpson
Adrian Mole
@end example
@noindent Let us look at each of the arguments to @command{recsel} in turn.
Firstly we have @code{-e} which tells @command{recsel} to lookup records
matching the expression @code{Age < 18} --- in other words all those people
whose ages are less than 18.
@cindex selection expressions
This is an example of a @dfn{selection expression}.
In this case it is a simple test, but it can be as complex as needed.
Next, there is @code{-P} which tells @command{recsel} to print out the value of
the @code{Name} field --- because we want just the name, not the entire record.
The final argument is the name of the file from whence the records are
to come: @file{acquaintances.rec}.
Rather than explicitly storing ages in the recfile, a more realistic example
might have the date of birth instead
(otherwise it would be necessary to update the people's ages in the
recfile on every birthday).
@example
# Date of Birth
%type: Dob date
Name: Alfred Nebel
Dob: 20 April 2010
Email: alf@@example.com
Name: Bertram Worcester
Dob: 3 January 1966
Email: bert@@example.com
Name: Charles Spencer
Dob: 4 July 1997
Email: charlie@@example.com
Name: Dirk Hogart
Dob: 29 June 1945
Email: dirk@@example.com
Name: Ernest Wright
Dob: 26 April 1978
Email: ernie@@example.com
@end example
@noindent Now we can achieve a similar result as before, by looking up
the names of all those people who were born after a particular date:
@example
$ recfix acquaintances.rec
$ recsel -e "Dob >> '31 July 1994'" -p Name acquaintances.rec
Name: Alfred Nebel
Name: Charles Spencer
@end example
@cindex date comparison
@noindent The @code{>>} operator means ``later than'', and is used
here to select a date of birth after 31st July 1994.
Note also that this example uses a lower case @code{-p} whereas the preceding example
used the upper case @code{-P}. The difference is that @code{-p} prints the field name
and field value, whereas @code{-P} prints just the value.
@command{recsel} accepts more than one @code{-e} argument,
each introducing a selection expression,
in which case the records which satisfy all expressions are selected.
You can provide more than one field label to @code{-P} or @code{-p} in order to select
additional fields to be displayed.
For example, if you wanted to send an email to all children 14 to 18
years of age,
and today's date were @w{1st August} 2012, then you could use the following command to get
the name and email address of all such children:
@example
$ recfix acquaintances.rec
$ recsel -e "Dob >> '31 July 1994' && Dob << '01 August 1998'" \
-p Name,Email acquaintances.rec
Name: Charles Spencer
Email: charlie@@example.com
@end example
@noindent As you can see, there is only one such child in our record set.
@cindex quotation marks
Note that the example command shown above contains both double quotes @code{"} and
single quotes @code{'}.
@cindex date comparison
The double quotes are interpreted by the shell (@eg{} @command{bash}) and
the single quotes are interpreted by @command{recsel}, defining a
string. (And the backslash is interpreted by the shell, the usual
continuation character so that this manual doesn't have a too-long line.)
@node SEX Operands
@subsection SEX Operands
@cindex operands, SEX operands
The supported operands are: numbers, strings, field names and
parenthesized expressions.
@subsubsection Numeric Literals
@cindex literals, numeric literals
The supported numeric literals are integer numbers and real numbers.
The usual sign character @samp{-} is used to denote negative values.
Integer values can be denoted in base 10, base 16 using the @code{0x}
prefix, and base 8 using the @code{0} prefix. Examples are:
@example
10000
0
0xFF
-0xa
012
-07
-1342
.12
-3.14
@end example
@subsubsection String Literals
@cindex literals, string literals
String values are delimited by either the @code{'} character or the
@code{"} character. Whichever delimiter is used, the delimiter closing
the literal must be the same as the delimiter used to open it.
Newlines and tabs can be part of a string literal.
Examples are:
@example
'Hello.'
'The following example is the empty string.'
''
@end example
@cindex quotation marks
The @code{'} and @code{"} characters can be part of a string if they
are escaped with a backslash, as in:
@example
'This string contains an apostrophe: \'.'
"This one a double quote: \"."
@end example
@subsubsection Field Values
@cindex field values, in selection expressions
The value of a field value can be included in a selection expression
by writing its name. The field name is replaced by a string
containing the field value, to handle the possibility of records with
more than one field by that name. Examples:
@example
Name
Email
long_field_name
@end example
It is possible to use the role part of a field if it is not empty.
So, for example, if we are searching for the issues opened by
@samp{John Smith} in a database of issues we could write:
@example
$ recsel -e "OpenedBy = 'John Smith'"
@end example
@noindent
instead of using a full field name:
@example
$ recsel -e "Hacker:Name:OpenedBy = 'John Smith'"
@end example
When the name of a field appears in an expression, the expression is
applied to all the fields in the record featuring that name. So, for
example, the expression:
@example
Email ~ "\\.org"
@end example
@noindent
matches any record in which there is a field named @samp{Email}
whose value terminates in (the literal string) @samp{.org}.
If we are interested in the value of some specific email, we can specify
its relative position in the containing record by using @dfn{subscripts}.
@cindex subscripts, in selection expressions
Consider, for example:
@example
Email[0] ~ "\\.org"
@end example
@noindent
Will match for:
@example
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: foo@@foo.org
Email: mr.foo@@foo.com
@end example
@noindent
But not for:
@example
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: mr.foo@@foo.com
Email: foo@@foo.org
@end example
The regexp syntax supported in selection expressions is POSIX
EREs, with several GNU extensions. @xref{Regular Expressions}.
@subsubsection Parenthesized Expressions
@cindex parentheses, in selection expressions.
Parenthesis characters (@code{(} and @code{)}) can be used to group
sub expressions in the usual way.
@node SEX Operators
@subsection Operators
@cindex operators, in selection expressions
The supported operators are arithmetic operators (addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division and modulus), logical operators,
string operators and field operators.
@subsubsection Arithmetic Operators
@cindex arithmetic operators
@cindex operators, arithmetic operators
Arithmetic operators for addition (@code{+}), subtraction (@code{-}),
multiplication (@code{*}), integer division (@code{/}) and modulus
(@code{%}) are supported with their usual meanings.
These operators require either numeric operands or string operands
whose value can be interpreted as numbers (integer or real).
@subsubsection Boolean Operators
@cindex boolean operators
@cindex operators, boolean operators
The boolean operators @strong{and} (@code{&&}), @strong{or}
(@code{||}) and @strong{not} (@code{!})@: are supported with the same
semantics as their C counterparts.
A compound boolean operator @code{=>} is also supported in order to
ease the elaboration of constraints in records: @code{A => B}, which
can be read as ``A implies B'', translates into @code{!A || (A && B)}.
The boolean operators expect integer operands, and will try to convert
any string operand to an integer value.
@subsubsection Comparison Operators
@cindex operators, comparison operators
@cindex comparison
The compare operators @strong{less than} (@code{<}), @strong{greater
than} (@code{>}), @strong{less than or equal} (@code{<=}),
@strong{greater than or equal} (@code{>=}), @strong{equal} (@code{=})
and @strong{unequal} (@code{!=}) are supported with their usual
meaning.
Strings can be compared with the equality operator (@code{=}).
The match operator (@code{~}) can be used to match a string with a
given regular expression (@pxref{Regular Expressions}).
@subsubsection Date Comparison Operators
@cindex date comparison
The compare operators @strong{before} (@code{<<}), @strong{after}
(@code{>>}) and @strong{same time} (@code{==}) can be used with fields
and strings containing parseable dates.
@xref{Date input formats}.
@subsubsection Field Operators
@cindex field operators
@cindex counting occurrences of a field
Field counters are replaced by the number of occurrences of a field
with the given name in the record. For example:
@example
#Email
@end example
The previous expression is replaced with the number of fields named
@code{Email} in the record. It can be zero if the record does not
have a field with that name.
@subsubsection String Operators
@cindex string operators
@cindex operators, string operators
The string concatenation operator (@code{&}) can be used to
concatenate any number of strings and field values.
@example
'foo' & Name & 'bar'
@end example
@subsubsection Conditional Operator
@cindex conditional operator
@cindex operators, conditional operator
The ternary conditional operator can be used to select alternatives
based on the value of some expression:
@example
expr1 ? expr2 : expr3
@end example
If @code{expr1} evaluates to true (@ie{} it is an integer or the string
representation of an integer and its value is not zero) then the
operator yields @code{expr2}. Otherwise it yields @code{expr3}.
@node SEX Evaluation
@subsection Evaluation of Selection Expressions
@cindex evaluation, of selection expressions
Given that:
@itemize @minus
@item It is possible to refer to fields by name in selection expressions.
@item Records can have several fields with the same name.
@end itemize
@noindent
It is clear that some backtracking mechanism is needed in the
evaluation of the selection expressions. For example, consider the
following expression that is deciding whether a ``registration'' in a
webpage should be rejected:
@example
((Email ~ "foomail\.com") || (Age <= 18)) && !#Fixed
@end example
The previous expression will be evaluated for every possible
permutation of the fields ``Email'', ``Age'' and ``Fixed'' present in
the record, until one of the combinations succeeds. At that point the
computation is interrupted.
When used to decide whether a record matches some criteria, the goal
of a selection expression is to act as a boolean expression. In that
case the final value of the expression depends on both the type and
the value of the result launched by the top-most subexpression:
@itemize @minus
@item If the result is an @b{integer}, the expression is true if its
value is not zero.
@item If the result is a @b{real}, or a @b{string}, the expression
evaluates to false.
@end itemize
Sometimes a selection expression is used to compute a result instead
of a boolean. In that case the returned value is converted to a
string. This is used when replacing the slots in templates
(@pxref{Templates}).
@node Field Expressions
@section Field Expressions
@cindex field expressions
@cindex FEX
@dfn{Field expressions} (also known as ``fexes'') are a way to select
fields of a record. They also allow you to do certain transformations
on the selected fields, such as changing their names.
A FEX comprises a sequence of @dfn{elements} separated by commas:
@example
ELEM_1,ELEM_2,@dots{},ELEM_N
@end example
Each element makes a reference to one or more fields in a record
identified by a given name and an optional subscript:
@example
@var{Field_Name}[@var{min}-@var{max}]
@end example
@noindent
@var{min} and @var{max} are zero-based indexes. It is possible to
refer to a field occupying a given position. For example, consider
the following record:
@example
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: foo@@foo.com
Email: foo@@foo.org
Email: mr.foo@@foo.org
@end example
@noindent
We would select all the emails of the record with:
@example
Email
@end example
@noindent
The first email with:
@example
Email[0]
@end example
@noindent
The third email with:
@example
Email[2]
@end example
@noindent
The second and the third email with:
@example
Email[1-2]
@end example
And so on. It is possible to select the same field (or
range of fields) more than once just by repeating them in a field
expression. Thus, the field expression:
@example
Email[0],Name,Email
@end example
@noindent
will print the first email, the name, and then all the email fields
including the first one.
@cindex aliasing, field name aliasing
It is possible to include a @dfn{rewrite rule} in an element of a
field expression, which specifies an alias for the selected fields:
@example
@var{Field_Name}[@var{min}-@var{max}]:@var{Alias}
@end example
@noindent
For example, the following field expression specifies an alias for the
fields named @code{Email} in a record:
@example
Name,Email:ElectronicMail
@end example
Since the rewrite rules only affect the fields selected in a single
element of the field expression, it is possible to define different
aliases to several fields having the same name but occupying different
positions:
@example
Name,Email[0]:PrimaryEmail,Email[1]:SecondaryEmail
@end example
@noindent
When that field expression is applied to the following record:
@example
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: primary@@email.com
Email: secondary@@email.com
Email: other@@email.com
@end example
@noindent
the result will be:
@example
Name: Mr. Foo
PrimaryEmail: primary@@email.com
SecondaryEmail: secondary@@email.com
Email: other@@email.com
@end example
It is possible to use the dot notation in order to refer to field and
sub-fields. This is mainly used in the context of joins, where new
fields are created having compound names such as @code{Foo_Bar}. A
reference to such a field can be done in the fex using dot notation
as follows:
@example
Foo.Bar
@end example
@node Sorted Output
@section Sorted Output
@cindex @code{%sort}
@cindex sorting
This special field sets sorting criteria for the records
contained in a record set. Its usage is:
@example
%sort: @var{field1} @var{field2} ...
@end example
@noindent
Meaning that the desired order for the records will be determined by
the contents of the fields named in the @code{%sort} value. The
sorting is always done in ascending order, and there may be records
that lack the involved fields, @ie{} the sorting
fields need not be mandatory.
It is an error to have more than one @code{%sort} field in the same
record descriptor, as only one field list can be used as sorting
criteria.
Consider for example that we want to keep the records in our inventory
system ordered by entry date. We could achieve that by using the
following record descriptor in the database:
@example
%rec: Item
%type: Date date
%sort: Date
Id: 1
Title: Staplers
Date: 10 February 2011
Id: 2
Title: Ruler Pack 20
Date: 2 March 2009
@dots{}
@end example
@noindent
As you can see in the example above, the fact we use @code{%sort} in a
database does not mean that the database will be always physically
ordered. Unsorted record sets are not a data integrity
problem, and thus the diagnosis tools must not declare a recfile as
+invalid because of this. The utility @command{recfix} provides a way
+to physically order the fields in the file (@pxref{Invoking recfix}).
On the other hand any program listing, presenting or processing data
extracted from the recfile must honor the @code{%sort} entry. For
example, when using the following @command{recsel} program in the
database above we would get the output sorted by date:
@example
$ recsel inventory.rec
Id: 2
Title: Ruler Pack 20
Date: 2 March 2009
Id: 1
Title: Staplers
Date: 10 February 2011
@end example
@cindex order of fields
@noindent
The sorting of the selected field depends on its type:
@itemize @minus
@item Numeric fields (integers, ranges, reals) are numerically ordered.
@item Boolean fields are ordered considering that ``false'' values come first.
@item Dates are ordered chronologically.
@item Any other kind of field is ordered using a lexicographic order.
@end itemize
It is possible to specify several fields as the sorting criteria. In
that case the records are sorted using a lexicographic order. Consider
for example the following unsorted database containing marks for
several students:
@example
%rec: Marks
%type: Class enum A B C
%type: Score real
Name: Mr. One
Class: C
Score: 6.8
Name: Mr. Two
Class: A
Score: 6.8
Name: Mr. Three
Class: B
Score: 9.2
Name: Mr. Four
Class: A
Score: 2.1
Name: Mr. Five
Class: C
Score: 4
@end example
@noindent
If we wanted to sort it by @code{Class} and by @code{Score} we would
insert a @code{%sort} special field in the descriptor, having:
@example
%rec: Marks
%type: Class enum A B C
%type: Score real
%sort: Class Score
Name: Mr. Four
Class: A
Score: 2.1
Name: Mr. Two
Class: A
Score: 6.8
Name: Mr. Three
Class: B
Score: 9.2
Name: Mr. Five
Class: C
Score: 4
Name: Mr. One
Class: C
Score: 6.8
@end example
@noindent
The order of the fields in the @code{%sort} field is
significant. If we reverse the order in the example above then we get
a different sorted set:
@example
%rec: Marks
%type: Class enum A B C
%type: Score real
%sort: Score Class
Name: Mr. Four
Class: A
Score: 2.1
Name: Mr. Five
Class: C
Score: 4
Name: Mr. Two
Class: A
Score: 6.8
Name: Mr. One
Class: C
Score: 6.8
Name: Mr. Three
Class: B
Score: 9.2
@end example
@noindent
In this last case, @code{Mr. One} comes after @code{Mr. Two} because the
class @code{A}
comes before the class @code{B} even though the score is the same (@code{6.8}).
@node Editing Records
@chapter Editing Records
The simplest way of editing a recfile is to start your favourite
text editor and hack the contents of the file as desired. However,
the rec format is structured enough so recfiles can be updated
automatically by programs. This is useful for writing shell scripts
or when there are complex data integrity rules stored in the file that
we want to be sure to preserve.
The following sections discuss the usage of the recutils for altering
recfiles in the level of record: adding new records, deleting or
commenting them out, sorting them, @etc{}
@menu
* Inserting Records:: Inserting data into recfiles.
* Deleting Records:: Removing data.
* Sorting Records:: Physical reordering of records.
@end menu
@node Inserting Records
@section Inserting Records
Adding new records to a recfile is pretty trivial: open it with your
text editor and just write down the fields comprising the records.
This is really the best way to add contents to a recfile containing
simple data. However, complex databases may introduce some
difficulties:
@table @emph
@item Multi-line values.
It can be tedious to manually encode the several lines.
@item Data integrity.
It is difficult to manually maintain the integrity of data stored
in the data base.
@item Counters and timestamps.
Some record sets feature auto-generated fields, which are commonly
used to implement counters and time-stamps. @xref{Auto-Generated
Fields}.
@end table
Thus, to facilitate the insertion of new data a command line utility called
@command{recins} is included in the recutils. The usage of @command{recins} is
very simple, and can be used both in the command line or called from
another program. The following subsections discuss several aspects of
using this utility.
@menu
* Adding Records With recins:: Basics of the @command{recins} utility.
* Replacing Records With recins:: Substituting records in a file.
* Adding Anonymous Records:: Inserting or replacing records with no
type.
@end menu
@node Adding Records With recins
@subsection Adding Records With recins
Each invocation of @command{recins} adds one record to the targeted
database. The fields comprising the records are specified using pairs
of @code{-f} and @code{-v} command line arguments. For example, this
is how we would add the first entry to a previously empty contacts
database:
@example
$ recins -f Name -v "Mr Foo" -f Email -v foo@@bar.baz contacts.rec
$ cat contacts.rec
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: foo@@bar.baz
@end example
@noindent
If we invoke @command{recins} again on the same database we will be adding a
second record:
@example
$ recins -f Name -v "Mr Bar" -f Email -v bar@@gnu.org contacts.rec
$ cat contacts.rec
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: foo@@bar.baz
name: Mr. Bar
Email: bar@@gnu.org
@end example
There is no limit on the number of @code{-f} @code{-v} pairs that can
be specified to @command{recins}, other than any limit on command line arguments
which may be imposed by the shell.
The field values provided using @code{-v} are encoded to follow the
rec format conventions, including multi-line field values.
Consider the following example:
@example
$ recins -f Name -v "Mr. Foo" -f Address -v '
Foostrs. 19
Frankfurt am Oder
Germany' contacts.rec
$ cat contacts.rec
Name: Mr. Foo
Address:
+ Foostrs. 19
+ Frankfurt am Oder
+ Germany
@end example
It is also possible to provide fields already encoded as rec data for
their addition, using the @code{-r} command line argument. This
argument can be intermixed with @code{-f} @code{-v}.
@example
$ recins -f Name -v "Mr. Foo" -r "Email: foo@@bar.baz" contacts.rec
$ cat contacts.rec
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: foo@@bar.baz
@end example
If the string passed to @code{-r} is not valid rec data then
@command{recins} will complain with an error and the operation will be
aborted.
At this time, it is not possible to add new records
containing comments.
@node Replacing Records With recins
@subsection Replacing Records With recins
@command{recins} can also be used to replace existing records in a
database with a provided record. This is done by specifying some
criteria selecting the record (or records) to be replaced.
Consider for example the following command applied to our contacts
database:
@example
$ recins -e "Email = 'foo@@bar.baz'" -f Name -v "Mr. Foo" \
-f Email -v "new@@bar.baz" contacts.rec
@end example
@noindent
The contact featuring an email @code{foo@@bar.baz} gets replaced with
the following record:
@example
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: new@@bar.baz
@end example
The records to be replaced can also be specified by index, or a
range of indexes. For example, the following command replaces the
first, second and third records in a database with dummy records:
@example
$ recins -n 0,1-2 -f Dummy -v XXX foo.rec
$ cat foo.rec
Dummy: XXX
Dummy: XXX
Dummy: XXX
... Other records ...
@end example
@node Adding Anonymous Records
@subsection Adding Anonymous Records
In a previous chapter we noted that @command{recsel} interprets the
absence of a @command{-t} argument depending on the actual contents of
the file. If the recfile contains records of just one type the
command assumes that the user is referring to these records.
@command{recins} does not follow this convention, and the absence of
an explicit type always means to insert (or replace) an anonymous
record. Consider for example the following database:
@example
%rec: Marks
%type: Class enum A B C
Name: Alfred
Class: A
Name: Bertram
Class: B
@end example
@noindent
If we want to insert a new mark we have to specify the type explicitly
using @command{-t}:
@example
$ cat marks.rec | recins -t Marks -f Name -v Xavier -f Class -v C
%rec: Marks
%type: Class enum A B C
Name: Alfred
Class: A
Name: Bertram
Class: B
Name: Xavier
Class: C
@end example
@noindent
If we forget to specify the type then an anonymous record is created
instead:
@example
$ cat marks.rec | recins -f Name -v Xavier -f Class -v C
Name: Xavier
Class: C
%rec: Marks
%type: Class enum A B C
Name: Alfred
Class: A
Name: Bertram
Class: B
@end example
@node Deleting Records
@section Deleting Records
@cindex deleting records
Just as @code{recins} inserts records, the utility @code{recdel} deletes them.
Consider the following recfile @file{stock.rec}:
@example
%rec: Item
%type: Expiry date
%sort: Title
Title: First Aid Kit
Expiry: 2 May 2009
Title: Emergency Rations
Expiry: 10 August 2009
Title: Life raft
Expiry: 2 March 2009
@end example
Suppose we wanted to delete all items
with an @code{Expiry} value before a certain date, we could do this with the following command:
@example
$ recdel -t Item -e 'Expiry << "5/12/2009"' stock.rec
@end example
@noindent
After running this command, only one record will remain in the file
(@viz{} the one titled `Emergency Rations') because all the others have expiry dates
prior to 12 May 2009.
@footnote{`5/12/2009' means the 12th day of May 2009, @emph{not} the fifth day of December,
even if your @env{LC_TIME} environment variable has been set to suggest otherwise.}
The @command{-t} option can be omitted if, and only if, there is no @code{%rec} field
in the recfile.
@command{recdel} tries to warn you if you attempt to perform a delete operation
which it deems to be too pervasive. In such cases, it will refuse to run,
unless you give the @command{--force} flag.
However, you should not rely upon @command{recdel} to protect you, because it cannot
always correctly guess that you might be deleting more records than intended.
For this reason, it may be wise to use the @command{-c} flag, which causes
the relevant records to be commented out, rather than deleted. (And
of course backups are always wise.)
The complete options available to the @command{recdel} command are explained later.
@xref{Invoking recdel}.
@node Sorting Records
@section Sorting Records
@cindex sorting
@cindex sorting, physically
In the example above, note the existence of the @code{%sort: Title} line.
This field was discussed previously (@pxref{Sorted Output}) and, as mentioned, does not
imply that the records need to be stored in the recfile in any particular order.
However, if desired, you can automatically arrange the recfile in that order using
@command{recfix} with the @command{--sort} flag.
After running the command
@example
$ recfix --sort stock.rec
@end example
@noindent
the file @file{stock.rec} will have its records sorted in alphabetical order
of the @code{Title} fields, thus:
@example
%rec: Item
%type: Expiry date
%sort: Title
Title: Emergency Rations
Expiry: 10 August 2009
Title: First Aid Kit
Expiry: 2 May 2009
Title: Liferaft
Expiry: 2 March 2009
@end example
@node Editing Fields
@chapter Editing Fields
Fields of a recfile can, of course, be edited manually using an editor and this is often
the easiest way when only a few fields need to be changed or when the nature of the changes do
not follow any particular pattern.
If, however, a large number of similar changes to several records are
required,the @command{recset} command can make the job easier.
The formal description of @command{recset} is presented later
(@pxref{Invoking recset}). In this chapter some typical usage
examples are discussed. As with @command{recdel}, @command{recset} if
used erroneously has the potential to make very pervasive changes,
which could result in a large loss of data. It is prudent therefore
to take a copy of a recfile before running such commands.
@menu
* Adding Fields:: Adding new fields to records.
* Setting Fields:: Editing field values.
* Deleting Fields:: Removing or commenting-out fields.
* Renaming Fields:: Changing the name of a field.
@end menu
@node Adding Fields
@section Adding Fields
@cindex adding fields
As mentioned above, the command @command{recins} adds new records to a
recfile, but it cannot
add fields to an existing record.
This task can be achieved automatically using @command{recset} with its @command{-a} flag.
Suppose that (after a stock inspection) you wanted to add an `Inspected' field to all the items in
the recfile.
The following command could be used.
@example
$ recset -t Item -f Inspected -a 'Yes' stock.rec
@end example
@noindent
Here, because no record selection flag was provided, the command affected @emph{all} the
records of type `Item'.
We could limit the effect of the command using the @command{-e}, @command{-q},
@command{-n} or @command{-m} flags.
For example to add the `Inspected' field to only the first item the following command
would work:
@example
$ recset -t Item -n 0 -f Inspected -a 'Yes' stock.rec
@end example
@noindent
Similarly, a selection expression could have been used with the @command{-e} flag in order to
add the field only to records which satisfy the expression.
If you use @command{recset} with the @command{-a} flag on a field that already exists, a
new field (in addition to those already present) will be appended with the given value.
@node Setting Fields
@section Setting Fields
@cindex mutating field values
It is also possible to update the value of a field.
This is done using @command{recset} with its @command{-s} flag.
In the previous example, an `Inspected' flag was added to certain records,
with the value `yes'.
After reflection, one might want to record the date of inspection, rather than
a simple yes/no flag.
Records which have no such field will remain unchanged.
@example
$ recset -t Item -f Inspected -s '30 October 2006' stock.rec
@end example
Although the above command does not have any selection criteria, it will
only affect those records for which a `Inspected' field exists.
This is because the @command{-s} flag only sets values of existing fields.
It will not create any fields.
If instead the @command{-S} flag is used, this will create the field
(if it does not already exist) @emph{and} set its value.
@example
$ recset -t Item -f Inspected -S '30 October 2006' stock.rec
@end example
@node Deleting Fields
@section Deleting Fields
@cindex deleting fields
You can delete fields using @command{recset}'s @command{-d} flag.
For example, if we wanted to delete the @code{Inspected} field which we introduced above,
we could do so as follows:
@example
$ recset -t Item -f Inspected -d stock.rec
@end example
@noindent
This would delete @emph{all} fields named @code{Inspected} from @emph{all} records of type
@code{Item}.
It may be that, we only wanted to delete the @code{Inspected} fields from records which satisfy
a certain condition.
The following would delete the fields only from items whose @code{Expiry} date was before
2 January 2010:
@example
$ recset -t Item -e 'Expiry << "2 January 2010"' -f Inspected -d stock.rec
@end example
@node Renaming Fields
@section Renaming Fields
@cindex renaming fields
Another use of @command{recset} is to rename existing fields. This is achieved using the
@command{-r} flag.
To rename all instances of the @code{Expiry} field occurring in any
record of type @code{Item} to @code{UseBy},
the following command suffices:
@example
$ recset -t Item -f Expiry -r 'UseBy' stock.rec
@end example
@noindent
As with most operations, this could be done selectively, using the @command{-e} flag and a
selection expression.
@node Field Types
@chapter Field Types
Field values are, by default, unrestricted text strings. However, it
is often useful to impose some restrictions on the values of certain
fields. For example, consider the following record:
@example
Id: 111
Name: Jose E. Marchesi
Age: 30
MaritalStatus: single
Phone: +49 666 666 66
@end example
The values of the fields must clearly follow some structure in order
to make sense. @code{Id} is a numeric identifier for a
person. @code{Name} will never use several lines. @code{Age} will
typically be in the range @code{0..120}, and there are only a few
valid values for @code{MaritalStatus}: single, married, divorced, and
widow(er).
Phones may be restricted to some standard format as well to be valid.
All these restrictions (and many others) can be enforced by using
@dfn{field types}.
There are two kind of field types: @dfn{anonymous} and @dfn{named}. Those are
described in the following subsections.
@menu
* Declaring Types:: Declaration of types in record descriptors.
* Types and Fields:: Associating fields with types.
* Scalar Field Types:: Numbers and ranges.
* String Field Types:: Lines, limited strings and regular expressions.
* Enumerated Field Types:: Enumerations and boolean values.
* Date and Time Types:: Dates and times.
* Other Field Types:: Emails, fields, UUIDs, @dots{}
@end menu
@node Declaring Types
@section Declaring Types
A type can be declared in a record descriptor by using the
@code{%typedef} special field. The syntax is:
@example
%typedef: @var{type_name} @var{type_description}
@end example
@noindent
Where @var{type_name} is the name of the new type, and
@var{type_description} a description which varies depending of the
kind of type.
@cindex @code{range}, type description
For example, this is how a type @code{Age_t} could
be defined as numbers in the range @code{0..120}:
@example
%typedef: Age_t range 0 120
@end example
@noindent
Type names are identifiers having the following syntax:
@example
[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_]*
@end example
@noindent
Even though any identifier with that syntax could be used for types,
it is a good idea to consistently follow some convention to help
distinguishing type names from field names. For example, the
@code{_t} suffix could be used for types.
A type can be declared to be an alias for another type. The syntax
is:
@example
%typedef: @var{type_name} @var{other_type_name}
@end example
@noindent
Where @var{type_name} is declared to be a synonym of
@var{other_type_name}. This is useful to avoid duplicated type
descriptions. For example, consider the following example:
@example
%typedef: Id_t int
%typedef: Item_t Id_t
%typedef: Transaction_t Id_t
@end example
@noindent
Both @code{Item_t} and @code{Transaction_t} are aliases for the type
@code{Id_t}. Which is in turn an alias for the type @code{int}.
So, they are both numeric identifiers.
The order of the @code{%typedef} fields is not relevant. In
particular, a type definition can forward-reference another type that is defined
subsequently. The previous example could have been written as:
@example
%typedef: Item_t Id_t
%typedef: Transaction_t Id_t
%typedef: Id_t int
@end example
@noindent
@cindex integrity problems
Integrity check will complain if undefined types are referenced. As well as when any aliases up referencing back (looping back
directly or indirectly) in type declarations. For
example, the following set of declarations contains a loop.
Thus, it's invalid:
@example
%typedef: A_t B_t
%typedef: B_t C_t
%typedef: C_t A_t
@end example
@noindent
The scope of a type is the record descriptor where it is defined.
@node Types and Fields
@section Types and Fields
@cindex @code{%type}
@cindex @code{%typedef}
@cindex types
@cindex field types,
Fields can be declared to have a given type by using the @code{%type}
special field in a record descriptor. The synopsis is:
@example
%type: @var{field_list} @var{type_name_or_description}
@end example
@noindent
Where @var{field_list} is a list of field names separated by commas.
@var{type_name_or_description} can be either a type name which has
been previously declared using @code{%typedef}, or a type description.
Type names are useful when several fields are declared to be of the
same type:
@example
%typedef: Id_t int
%type: Id Id_t
%type: Product Id_t
@end example
@cindex anonymous types
@noindent
Anonymous types can be specified by writing a type description instead
of a type name. They help to avoid superfluous type declarations in
the common case where a type is used by just one field. A record
containing a single @code{Id} field, for example, can be defined
without having to use a @code{%typedef} in the following way:
@example
%rec: Task
%type: Id int
@end example
@node Scalar Field Types
@section Scalar Field Types
The rec format supports the declaration of fields of the following
scalar types: integer numbers, ranges and real numbers.
@cindex integers
Signed @dfn{integers} are supported by using the @code{int}
declaration:
@example
%typedef: Id_t int
@end example
@cindex hexadecimal
@cindex octal
@noindent
Given the declaration above, fields of type @code{Id_t} must
contain integers, and they may be negative. Hexadecimal values can be written
using the @code{0x} prefix, and octal values using an extra
@code{0}. Valid examples are:
@example
%type: Id Id_t
Id: 100
Id: -23
Id: -0xFF
Id: 020
@end example
@cindex ranges
@noindent
Sometimes it is desirable to reduce the @dfn{range} of integers allowed in a
field. This can be achieved by using a range type declaration:
@example
%typedef: Interrupt_t range 0 15
@end example
@noindent
Note that it is possible to omit the minimum index in ranges. In that
case it is implicitly zero:
@example
%typedef: Interrupt_t range 15
@end example
@noindent
It is possible to use the keywords @code{MIN} and @code{MAX} instead
of a numeral literal in one or both of the points conforming the
range. They mean the minimum and the maximum integer value supported
by the implementation respectively. See the following examples:
@example
%typedef: Negative range MIN -1
%typedef: Positive range 0 MAX
%typedef: AnyInt range MIN MAX
%typedef: Impossible range MAX MIN
@end example
@noindent
Hexadecimal and octal numbers can be used to specify the limits in a
range. This helps to define scalar types whose natural base is not
ten, like for example:
@example
%typedef: Address_t range 0x0000 0xFFFF
%typedef: Perms_t range 755
@end example
@cindex reals
@cindex fractions
@cindex floating point numbers
@noindent
@dfn{Real} number fields can be declared with the @code{real} type
specifier.
A wide range of real numbers can be represented this way, only limited
by the underlying floating point representation.
@cindex decimal separator
@cindex locale
The decimal separator is always the dot (@code{.}) character regardless
of the locale setting.
For example:
@example
%typedef: Longitude_t real
@end example
@noindent
Examples of fields of type real:
@example
%rec: Rectangle
%typedef: Longitude_t real
%type: Width Longitude_t
%type: Height Longitude_t
Width: 25.01
Height: 10
@end example
@node String Field Types
@section String Field Types
@cindex strings
The @code{line} field type specifier can be used to restrict the value
of a field to a single line, @ie{} no newline characters are allowed.
For example, a type for proper names could be declared as:
@example
%typedef: Name_t line
@end example
@noindent
Examples of fields of type line:
@cindex multiline field values
@example
Name: Mr. Foo Bar
Name: Mrs. Bar Baz
Name: This is
+ invalid
@end example
@cindex field size
@cindex size, field size
@cindex @code{size}, type description
@noindent
Sometimes it is the maximum size of the field value that shall be
restricted. The @code{size} field type specifier can be used to
define the maximum number of characters a field value can have. For
example, if we were collecting input that will get written in a
paper-based forms system allowing up to 25 characters width entries,
we could declare the entries as:
@example
%typedef: Address_t size 25
@end example
@noindent
Note that hexadecimal and octal integer constants can also be used to
specify field sizes:
@example
%typedef: Address_t size 0x18
@end example
@cindex restricting values of fields
@noindent
Arbitrary restrictions can be defined by using regular expressions.
@cindex @code{regexp}, type description
The @dfn{regexp} field type specifier introduces an ERE (extended
regular expression) that will be matched against fields having that
name. The synopsis is:
@example
%typedef: @var{type_name} regexp /@var{re}/
@end example
@noindent
where @var{re} is the regular expression to match.
For example, consider the @code{Id_t} type designed to represent
the encoding of the identifier of ID cards in some country:
@example
%typedef: Id_t regexp /[0-9]@{9@}[a-zA-Z]/
@end example
@noindent
Examples of fields of type @code{Id_t} are:
@example
IDCard: 123456789Z
IDCard: invalid id card
@end example
@noindent
Note that the slashes delimiting the @var{re} can be replaced with
any other character that is not itself used as part of the regexp.
That is useful in some cases such as:
@example
%typedef: Path_t regexp |(/[^/]/?)+|
@end example
@noindent
The regexp flavor supported in recfiles are the POSIX EREs plus
several GNU extensions. @xref{Regular Expressions}.
@node Enumerated Field Types
@section Enumerated Field Types
@cindex enumerated types
Fields of this type contain symbols taken from an enumeration.
The type is described by writing the sequence of symbols comprising
the enumeration. Enumeration symbols are strings described by the
following regexp:
@example
[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*
@end example
@noindent
The symbols are separated by blank characters (including newlines).
For example:
@cindex day of week
@example
%typedef: Status_t enum NEW STARTED DONE CLOSED
%typedef: Day_t enum Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
+ Saturday Sunday
@end example
@noindent
@cindex comments, in enumerated types
It is possible to insert comments when describing an enum type. The
comments are delimited by parenthesis pairs. The contents of the
comments can be any character but parentheses. For example:
@example
%typedef: TaskStatus_t enum
+ NEW (The task was just created)
+ IN_PROGRESS (Task started)
+ CLOSED (Task closed)
@end example
@noindent
@cindex boolean types
@dfn{Boolean} fields, declared with the type specifier @code{bool},
can be seen as special enumerations holding the
binary values true and false.
@example
%typedef: Yesno_t bool
@end example
@noindent
The literals allowed in boolean fields are @code{yes/no}, @code{0/1}
and @code{true/false}. Examples are:
@example
SwitchedOn: 1
SwitchedOn: yes
SwitchedOn: false
@end example
@node Date and Time Types
@section Date and Time Types
@cindex date, fields containing dates
@cindex time, fields containing time values
The @dfn{date} field type specifier can be used to declare dates and
times. The synopsis is:
@example
%typedef: @var{type_name} date
@end example
@cindex locale
@cindex time zone correction
@noindent
There are many permitted date formats, described in detail later in this manual (@pxref{Date input formats}).
Of particular note are the following:
@itemize @minus
@item Dates and times read from recfiles are not affected by the
locale or the timezone. This means that the @env{LC_TIME} and the
@env{TZ} environment variables are ignored.
If you wish, for example, to specify a time which must be interpreted as UTC, you
must explicitly append the time zone correction: @eg{} @samp{2001-1-10 12:09Z}.
@item The field value `1/10/2001' means January 10, 2001, @strong{not} October 1, 2001.
@item Relative times and dates (such as `1 day ago') are permitted but are not
particularly useful.
@end itemize
@node Other Field Types
@section Other Field Types
@cindex email
The @dfn{Email} field type specifier is used to declare electronic
addresses. The synopsis is:
@example
%typedef: Email_t email
@end example
@noindent
Sometimes it is useful to make fields to store field names. For that
purpose the @dfn{Field} field type specifier is supported. The
synopsis is:
@example
%typedef: Field_t field
@end example
@noindent
@cindex UUID
Universally Unique Identifiers (also known as UUIDs) are a way to
assign a globally unique label to some object. The @dfn{uuid} field
type specifier serves that purpose. The synopsis is:
@example
%typedef: Id_t uuid
@end example
@noindent
The format of the uuids is specified as 32 hexadecimal digits,
displayed in five groups separated by hyphens. For example:
@example
550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000
@end example
@noindent
@cindex foreign key
There is one other possible field type, @viz{} a foreign key.
The following example
defines the type @code{Maintainer_t} to be of type ``record @code{Hacker}'';
in other words, a foreign key referring to a record in the @code{Hacker} record set.
@example
%typedef: Maintainer_t rec Hacker
@end example
@noindent This essentially means that the values
to be stored in fields of type @code{Maintainer_t} are of whatever
type is defined for the primary key of the @code{Hacker} record set.
Why this is useful is discussed later. @xref{Queries which Join Records}.
@node Constraints on Record Sets
@chapter Constraints on Record Sets
The records in a recfile are by default not restricted to any particular
structure
except that they must contain one or more fields and optional comments.
This provides the format with huge expressive power;
but in many cases, it is also desirable to impose some restrictions in
order to reflect some of the properties of the data stored in the
database. It is also useful in order to preserve data integrity and
thus avoid data corruption.
The following sections describe the usage of some predefined special
fields whose purpose is to impose this kind of restriction in the
structure of the records.
@menu
* Mandatory Fields:: Requiring the presence of fields.
* Prohibited Fields:: Forbidding the presence of fields.
* Allowed Fields:: Restricting the presence of fields.
* Keys and Unique Fields:: Fields characterizing records.
* Singular Fields:: Fields with unique contents.
* Size Constraints:: Constraints on the number of records in a set.
* Arbitrary Constraints:: Constraints records must comply with.
@end menu
@node Mandatory Fields
@section Mandatory Fields
@cindex @code{%mandatory}
@cindex mandatory fields
@cindex requiring certain fields in records
@cindex compulsory fields
Sometimes, you want to make sure that @emph{every} record of a particular type
contains certain fields.
To do this, use the special field @code{%mandatory}.
The usage is:
@example
%mandatory: @var{field1} @var{field2} @dots{} @var{fieldN}
@end example
@noindent
The field names are separated by one or more
blank characters.
@cindex field, compulsory fields
@cindex field, mandatory fields
The fields listed in a @code{%mandatory} entry are
non-optional; @ie{} at least one field with this name shall be present
in any record of this kind.
@cindex integrity problems
Records violating this restriction are
invalid and a checking tool will report the situation as
a data integrity failure.
Consider for example an ``address book'' database where each record
stores the information associated with a contact. The records will be
heterogeneous, in the sense they won't all contain exactly the same
fields: the contact of an Internet shop will probably have a
@code{URL} field, while the entry for our grandmother probably won't.
We still want to make sure that every entry has a field with the name
of the contact. In this case, we could use @code{%mandatory} as
follows:
@example
%rec: Contact
%mandatory: Name
Name: Granny
Phone: +12 23456677
Name: Yoyodyne Corp.
Email: sales@@yoyod.com
Phone: +98 43434433
@end example
A word of caution, however: In many situations, especially in day to day social
interaction, it is common to find that certain information is simply unavailable.
For example, although every person has a date of birth, some people will refuse
to provide that information.
It is probably wise therefore to avoid stipulating a field as mandatory, unless it is
essential to the enterprise.
Otherwise,
a data entry clerk faced with this situation will have to make the choice between
dropping the entry entirely or entering some fake data to keep the system happy.
@node Prohibited Fields
@section Prohibited Fields
@cindex @code{%prohibit}
@cindex restricting fields from records
@cindex field, forbidden fields
@cindex prohibited fields
The inverse of @code{%mandatory} is @code{%prohibit}.
Prohibited fields may not occur in @emph{any} record of the given type.
The usage is:
@example
%prohibit: @var{field1} @var{field2} @dots{} @var{fieldN}
@end example
@noindent The field names are separated by one or more blank characters.
@noindent
Fields listed in a @code{%prohibit} entry are
forbidden; @ie{} no field with this name should be present
in any record of this kind.
Again, records violating this restriction
are invalid.
@noindent
Several @code{%prohibit} fields can appear in
the same record descriptor.
The set of prohibited fields
is the union of all the entries.
For example, in the following
database both @code{Id} and @code{id} are prohibited:
@example
%rec: Entry
%prohibit: Id
%prohibit: id
@end example
One possible use case for prohibited fields arises
when some field name is reserved for some future
use.
For example, if we were organizing a sports competition, we would want
competitors to register before the event.
However a competitor's @code{result} should not and cannot be entered
before the competition takes place.
Initially then, we would change the record
descriptor as follows:
@example
%rec: Contact
%mandatory: Name
%prohibit: result
@end example
@noindent
At the start of the event, the @code{%prohibit} line can be deleted, to
allow results to be entered.
@node Allowed Fields
@section Allowed Fields
@cindex @code{%allowed}
@cindex restricting fields from records
@cindex field, allowed fields
@cindex allowed fields
In some cases we know the set of fields that may appear in the records
of a given type, even if they are not mandatory. The @code{%allowed}
special field is used to specify this restriction. The usage is:
@example
%allowed: @var{field1} @var{field2} @dots{} @var{fieldN}
@end example
@noindent The field names are separated by one or more blank
chracters.
@noindent
If there are more or one @code{%allowed} fields in a record
descriptor, all fields of all the records in the record set must be in
the union of @code{%allowed}, @code{%mandatory} and @code{%key}.
Otherwise an integrity error is raised.
@noindent
Several @code{%allowed} fields can appear in the same record
descriptor. The set of allowed fields is the union of all the
entries.
@node Keys and Unique Fields
@section Keys and Unique Fields
@cindex @code{%unique}
@cindex @code{%key}
The @code{%unique} and @code{%key} special fields are
used to avoid several instances of the
same field in a record, and to implement keys in record sets.
Their usage is:
@example
%unique: @var{field1} @var{field2} @dots{} @var{fieldN}
%key: @var{field}
@end example
@noindent
The field names are separated by one or more blank characters.
@cindex unique fields
Normally it is permitted for a record to contain two or more fields of
the same name.
The @code{%unique} special field revokes this permissiveness.
A field declared ``unique'' cannot appear more than once in a single record.
For example, an entry in an address book database could contain an
@code{Age} field. It does not make sense for a single person to be of
several ages. So, a field could be declared as ``unique'' in the
corresponding record descriptor as follows:
@example
%rec: Contact
%mandatory: Name
%unique: Age
@end example
@noindent
Several @code{%unique} fields can appear in the same record
descriptor. The set of unique fields is the union of all the entries.
@cindex primary key
@code{%key} makes the referenced field the primary key of the record
set.
The primary key behaves as if both @code{%unique} and
@code{%mandatory} had been specified for that field.
Additionally, there is further restriction, @viz{}
a given value of a primary key field may appear no more than once within a
record set.
Consider for example a database of items in stock. Each item is
identified by a numerical @code{Id} field. No item may have more than
one @code{Id}, and no items may exist without an associated
@code{Id}. Additionally, no two items may share the same @code{Id}.
This common situation can be implementing by declaring @code{Id} as
the key in the record descriptor:
@example
%rec: Item
%key: Id
%mandatory: Title
Id: 1
Title: Box
Id: 2
Title: Sticker big
@end example
@noindent
It would not make sense to have several primary keys in a record set.
Thus, it is not allowed to have several @code{%key} fields in the
same record descriptor.
It is also forbidden for two items to share the same `Id' value.
@cindex integrity problems
Both of these situations would be data integrity
violations, and will be reported by a checking tool.
Elsewhere, we discuss how primary keys can be used to link one record set to
another using primary keys together with foreign keys. @xref{Queries which Join Records}.
@node Singular Fields
@section Singular Fields
Sometimes we require certain fields with a given name to not appear in
a record set featuring the same contents, but we don't want (or we
can't) declare such fields as the key of the record set.
In these circumstances we can use @dfn{singular fields}, which are
declared as such in the record descriptor using the @code{%singular}
special field:
@example
%singular: @var{field}
@end example
@node Size Constraints
@section Size Constraints
@cindex @code{%size}
@cindex size, record size
@cindex record size
Sometimes it is desirable to place constraints on entire records.
This can be done with the @code{%size} special field which is used to limit the
number of records in a record set. Its usage is:
@example
%size: [@var{relational_operator}] @var{number}
@end example
@noindent
If no operator is specified then @var{number} is interpreted as the
exact number of records of this type. The number can be any integer
literal, including hexadecimal and octal constants. For example:
@example
%rec: Day
%size: 7
%type: Name enum
+ Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
+ Saturday Sunday
%doc: There should be exactly 7 days.
@end example
@cindex operators
The optional @var{relational_operator} shall be one of @code{<},
@code{<=}, @code{>} and @code{>=}@. For example:
@example
%rec: Item
%key: Id
%size: <= 100
%doc: We have at most 100 different articles.
@end example
It is valid to specify a size of @code{0}, meaning that no records of
this type shall exist in the file.
Only one @code{%size} field shall appear in a record descriptor.
@node Arbitrary Constraints
@section Arbitrary Constraints
@cindex @code{%constraint}
@cindex restricting values of fields
Occasionally, @code{%mandatory}, @code{%prohibit} and @code{%size} are just not flexible enough.
We might, for instance, want to ensure that @emph{if} a field is present,
then it must have a certain relationship to other fields.
Or we might want to stipulate that under certain conditions only, a record contains
a particular field.
To this end, recutils provides a way for arbitrary field constraints to be defined.
These permit restrictions on the presence and/or value of fields, based upon the value or
presence of other fields within that record.
This is done using the @code{%constraint} special field.
Its usage is:
@example
%constraint: @var{expr}
@end example
@noindent
where @var{expr} is a selection expression (@pxref{Selection Expressions}).
When a constraint is
present in a record set it means that all the records of that type
must satisfy the selection expression, @ie{} the evaluation of the
expression with the record returns 1. Otherwise an integrity error is
raised.
@cindex integrity problems
Consider for example a record type @code{Task} featuring two fields of
type date called @code{Start} and @code{End}. We can use a constraint
in the record set to specify that the task cannot start after it
finishes:
@example
%rec: Task
%type: Start,End date
%constraint: Start << End
@end example
@cindex implies, logical implication
@cindex constraints
The ``implies'' operator @code{=>} is especially useful when defining
constraints, since it can be used to specify conditional constraints,
@ie{} constraints applying only in certain records. For example, we
could specify that if a task is closed then it must have an @code{End}
date in the following way:
@example
%rec: Task
%type: Start,End date
%constraint: Start << End
%constraint: Status = 'CLOSED' => #End
@end example
It is acceptable to declare several constraints in the same record
set.
@node Checking Recfiles
@chapter Checking Recfiles
@cindex integrity, checking
Sometimes, when creating a recfile by hand, typographical errors or other
mistakes will occur.
If a recfile contains such mistakes, then one cannot rely upon the results
of queries or other operations.
Fortunately
there is a tool called @command{recfix} which can find these errors.
It is a good idea to get into the habit of running @command{recfix} on
a file after editing it, and before trying other commands.
@menu
* Syntactical Errors:: Fixing structure errors in recfiles.
* Semantic Errors:: Fixing semantic errors in recfiles.
@end menu
@node Syntactical Errors
@section Syntactical Errors
One easy mistake is to forget the colon separating the field name from
its value.
@example
%rec: Article
%key Id
Name: Thing
Id: 0
@end example
@cindex @command{recfix}
@noindent
Running @command{recfix} on this file will immediately tell us that
there is a problem:
@example
$ recfix --check inventory.rec
inventory.rec: 2: error: expected a record
@end example
@noindent
Here, @command{recfix} has diagnosed a problem in the file @file{inventory.rec}
and the problem lies at line 2.
If, as in this case, @command{recfix} shows there is a problem with
the recfile, you should attend to that problem before trying to use
any other recutils program on that file, otherwise strange things
could happen.
The @code{--check} flag is optional but in normal execution not required because that is the
default operation.
@node Semantic Errors
@section Semantic Errors
@cindex special fields
However @command{recfix} checks more than the syntactical integrity of the recfile.
It also checks certain semantics and that the data is self-consistent.
To do this, it uses the special fields of the record, some of which were introduced
above (@pxref{Constraints on Record Sets}).
It is a good idea to use the special fields to stipulate the ``enterprise rules''
of the data.
Errors will be reported if any of the following special keywords are present and
the data does not match the stipulated conditions
@table @code
@item %mandatory
The mandated fields are missing from a record.
@item %prohibit
The prohibited fields are present in a record.
@item %unique
There is more than one field in a single record of the given name.
@item %key
Two or more records share the same value of the field which is the key field.
@item %typedef and %type
A field has a value which does not conform to the specified type.
@item %size
The number of records does not conform to the specified restriction.
@item %constraint
A field does not conform to the specified constraint.
@item %confidential
An unencrypted value exists for a confidential field.
@end table
@node Remote Descriptors
@chapter Remote Descriptors
@cindex @code{%rec}
The @code{%rec} special field is used for two main purposes: to
identify a record as a record descriptor, and to provide a name for
the described record set. The synopsis of the usage of the field is
the following:
@example
%rec: @var{type} [@var{url_or_file}]
@end example
@noindent
@var{type} is the name of the kind of records described by the
descriptor. It is mandatory to specify it, and it follows the same
lexical conventions used by field names. @xref{Fields}.
There is a non-enforced convention to use singular nouns, because the
name makes reference to the type of a single entity, even if it
applies to all the records contained in the record set. For example,
the following record set contains transactions, and the type specified
in the record descriptor is @code{Transaction}.
@example
%rec: Transaction
Id: 10
Title: House rent
Id: 11
Title: Loan
@end example
@noindent
Only one @code{%rec} field should be in a record descriptor. If
there are more it is an integrity violation. It is highly
recommended (but not enforced) to place this field in the first
position of the record descriptor.
Sometimes it is convenient to store records of the same type in
different files.
@cindex integrity problems
The duplication of record descriptors in this case would surely lead to
consistency problems.
A possible solution would
be to keep the record descriptor in a separated file and then include
it in any operation by using pipes. For example:
@example
$ cat descriptor.rec data.rec | recsel @dots{}
@end example
@cindex external descriptor
@cindex descriptor, external descriptor
@noindent
For those cases it is more convenient to use a @dfn{external
descriptor}. External descriptors can be built appending a file path
to the @code{%rec} field value, like:
@example
%rec: FSD_Entry /path/to/file.rec
@end example
The previous example indicates that a record descriptor describing the
@code{FSD_Entry} records shall be read from the file
@file{/path/to/file.rec}. A record descriptor for @code{FSD_Entry}
may not exist in the external file. Both relative and absolute paths
can be specified there.
@cindex URL
@cindex remote descriptors
URLs can be used as sources for external descriptors as well. In that
case we talk about @dfn{remote descriptors}. For example:
@example
%rec: Department http://www.myorg.com/Org.rec
@end example
@noindent
The URL shall point to a text file containing rec data. If there is a
record descriptor in the remote file documenting the @code{Department}
type, it will be used.
Note that the local record descriptor can provide additional fields to
``expand'' the record type. For example:
@example
%rec: FSD_Entry http://www.jemarch.net/downloads/FSD.rec
%mandatory: Rating
@end example
@noindent
The record descriptor above is including the contents of the
@code{FSD_Entry} record descriptor from the URL, and adding them to
the local record descriptor, that in this case contains just the
@code{%mandatory} field.
If you are using GNU recutils (@pxref{Invoking the Utilities}) to
process your recfiles, any URL
schema supported by @code{libcurl} will work.
@node Grouping and Aggregates
@chapter Grouping and Aggregates
Grouping and aggregate functions are two related features which
are useful to extract statistics from a record set, or a
subset of that record set.
@menu
* Grouping Records:: Combining records by fields.
* Aggregate Functions:: Statistics and more.
@end menu
@node Grouping Records
@section Grouping Records
@cindex grouping
Consider a recfile containing a list of items in a shop
inventory. For each item it is stored its type, its category, its
price, the date of the last selling operation of an item of that type,
and the amount of items currently available in stock. A sample of
such a database could be:
@example
Type: EC Car
Category: Toy
Price: 12.2
LastSell: 20-April-2012
Available: 623
Type: Terria
Category: Food
Price: 0.60
LastSell: 22-April-2012
Available: 8239
Type: Typex
Category: Office
Price: 1.20
LastSell: 22-April-2012
Available: 10878
Type: Notebook
Category: Office
Price: 1.00
LastSell: 21-April-2012
Available: 77455
Type: Sexy Puzzle
Category: Toy
Price: 6.20
LastSell: 6.20
Available: 12
@end example
@noindent
Now imagine we are interested in grouping the contents of the
@code{Items} record set in groups of items of the same category. We
can do it using the @command{-G} command line argument for
@command{recsel}. This argument accepts a list of fields separated by
commas. The argument can be read as ``group by''.
In this case we want to group by @code{Category}, so we would do:
@example
$ recsel -G Category
Type: Terria
Category: Food
Price: 0.60
LastSell: 22-April-2012
Available: 8239
Type: Typex
Category: Office
Price: 1.20
LastSell: 22-April-2012
Available: 10878
Type: Notebook
Price: 1.00
LastSell: 21-April-2012
Available: 77455
Type: EC Car
Category: Toy
Price: 12.2
LastSell: 20-April-2012
Available: 623
Type: Sexy Puzzle
Price: 6.20
LastSell: 6.20
Available: 12
@end example
@noindent
We can see that the output is three records, corresponding to the three
different categories of items present in the database.
However, we are only interested in the types of products in each category,
so we can remove unwanted information using @code{-p}:
@example
$ recsel -G Category -p Category,Type items.rec
Category: Food
Type: Terria
Category: Office
Type: Typex
Type: Notebook
Category: Toy
Type: EC Car
Type: Sexy Puzzle
@end example
@noindent
It is also possible to group by several fields. We could group by
both @code{Category} and @code{LastSell}:
@example
$ recsel -G Category,LastSell -p Category,LastSell,Type items.rec
Category: Food
LastSell: 22-April-2012
Type: Terria
Category: Office
LastSell: 21-April-2012
Type: Notebook
Category: Office
LastSell: 22-April-2012
Type: Typex
Category: Toy
LastSell: 20-April-2012
Type: EC Car
Category: Toy
LastSell: 6.20
Type: Sexy Puzzle
@end example
@node Aggregate Functions
@section Aggregate Functions
@cindex aggregate function
recutils supports @dfn{aggregate functions}. These are so called
because they accept a record set and a field name as inputs and
generate a single result. Usually this result is numerical.
The supported aggregate functions are the following:
@table @code
@item Count(FIELD)
Counts the number of occurrences of a field.
@item Avg(FIELD)
Calculates the average (mean) of the numerical values of a field.
@item Sum(FIELD)
Calculates the sum of the numerical values of a field.
@item Min(FIELD)
Calculates the minimum numerical value of a field.
@item Max(FIELD)
Calculates the maximum numerical value of a field.
@end table
The aggregate functions are to be invoked in the field expressions in
@command{recsel}. By default they are applied to the totality of the
records in a record set. For example, using the items database from
the previous section, we can do calculations as in the following examples.
The SQL aggregate functions can be applied to the totality of the
tuples in the relation. For example, using the @code{Count} aggregate
function we can calculate the number of fields named @code{Category}
present in the record set as follows:
@example
$ recsel -p "Count(Category)" items.rec
Count_Category: 5
@end example
@noindent
The result is a field whose name is derived from the function name and
the field passed as its parameter, separated by an underline. This
name scheme probably suffices for most purposes, but it is always
possible to use a rewrite rule to obtain something different:
@example
$ recsel -p "Count(Category):NumCategories" items.rec
NumCategories: 5
@end example
@noindent
You can use different letter case in writing the name of the aggregate, and
this will be reflected in the field name:
@example
$ recsel -p "CoUnT(Category)" items.rec
CoUnT_Category: 5
@end example
@noindent
It is possible to use more than one aggregate function in the field
expression. Suppose we are also interested in the average price of
the items we sell. We can use the @code{Avg} aggregate:
@example
$ recsel -p "Count(Category),Avg(Price)" items.rec
Count_Category: 5
Avg_Price: 4.240000
@end example
@noindent
Now let's add a field along with an aggregate function to the field
expression and see what we get:
@example
$ recsel -p "Type,Avg(Price)" items.rec
Type: EC Car
Avg_Price: 12.200000
Type: Terria
Avg_Price: 0.600000
Type: Typex
Avg_Price: 1.200000
Type: Notebook
Avg_Price: 1
Type: Sexy Puzzle
Avg_Price: 6.200000
@end example
@noindent
We get five records! The reason is that when @emph{only} aggregate
functions are part of the field expression, they are applied to the single
record that would result from concatenating all the records in the record
set together. However, when a regular field appears in the field
expression the aggregate functions are applied to the individual
records. This is still useful in some cases, such as a database of
maintainers:
@example
Name: Jose E. Marchesi
Email: jemarch@@gnu.org
Email: jemarch@@es.gnu.org
Name: Luca Saiu
Email: positron@@gnu.org
@end example
@noindent
Lets see how many emails each maintainer has:
@example
$ recsel -p "Name,Count(Email)" maintainers.rec
Name: Jose E. Marchesi
Count_Email: 2
Name: Luca Saiu
Count_Email: 1
@end example
@noindent
Aggregate functions are most useful when we combine them with
grouping. This is when we are interested in some property of a subset
of the records in the database. For example, the average prices of
each item category stored in the database can be obtained by
executing:
@example
$ recsel -p "Category,Avg(Price)" -G Category items.rec
Category: Food
Avg_Price: 0.600000
Category: Office
Avg_Price: 1.100000
Category: Toy
Avg_Price: 9.200000
@end example
@noindent
If we were interested in the actual prices that result in each average
we can do:
@example
$ recsel -p "Category,Price,Avg(Price)" -G Category items.rec
Category: Food
Price: 0.60
Avg_Price: 0.600000
Category: Office
Price: 1.20
Price: 1.00
Avg_Price: 1.100000
Category: Toy
Price: 12.2
Price: 6.20
Avg_Price: 9.200000
@end example
@node Queries which Join Records
@chapter Queries which Join Records
Suppose you wanted to add the residential address of the people in
the @file{acquaintances.rec} file from
@ref{Simple Selections}.
One way to do this is as follows:
@example
%type: Dob date
Name: Alfred Nebel
Dob: 20 April 2010
Email: alf@@example.com
Address: 42 Abbeter Way, Inprooving, WORCS
Telephone: 01234 5676789
Name: Mandy Nebel
Dob: 21 February 1972
Email: mandy@@example.com
Address: 42 Abbeter Way, Inprooving, WORCS
Telephone: 01234 5676789
Name: Bertram Nebel
Dob: 3 January 1966
Email: bert@@example.com
Address: 42 Abbeter Way, Inprooving, WORCS
Telephone: 01234 5676789
Name: Charles Spencer
Dob: 4 July 1997
Email: charlie@@example.com
Address: 2 Serpe Rise, Little Worning, SURREY
Telephone: 09876 5432109
Name: Dirk Spencer
Dob: 29 June 1945
Email: dirk@@example.com
Address: 2 Serpe Rise, Little Worning, SURREY
Telephone: 09876 5432109
Name: Ernest Wright
Dob: 26 April 1978
Email: ernie@@example.com
Address: 1 Wanter Rise, Greater Inncombe, BUCKS
@end example
This will work fine.
However you will notice that there are two addresses where more than one person
live (presumably they are members of the same family).
This has a number of disadvantages:
@itemize @minus
@item You have to type (or copy) the same information several times.
@item Should a family move house, then you would have to update the addresses (and telephone number) of all the family members.
@item A typing error in one of the addresses would lead an automatic query to erroneously suggest that the people lived at different addresses.
@item It unnecessarily increases the size of the recfile.
@end itemize
@menu
* Foreign Keys:: Referring to records from another records.
* Joining Records:: Performing cross-joins.
@end menu
@node Foreign Keys
@section Foreign Keys
@cindex record sets
A better way would be to separate the addresses and people into different record sets.
@cindex duplication, avoiding
The first record set might look like this:
@example
%rec: Person
%type: Dob date
%type: Abode rec Residence
Name: Alfred Nebel
Dob: 20 April 2010
Email: alf@@example.com
Abode: 42AbbeterWay
Name: Mandy Nebel
Dob: 21 February 1972
Email: mandy@@example.com
Mobile: 0555 342123
Abode: 42AbbeterWay
Name: Bertram Nebel
Dob: 3 January 1966
Email: bert@@example.com
Abode: 42AbbeterWay
Name: Charles Spencer
Dob: 4 July 1997
Email: charlie@@example.com
Abode: 2SerpeRise
Name: Dirk Spencer
Dob: 29 June 1945
Email: dirk@@example.com
Mobile: 0555 342123
Abode: 2SerpeRise
Name: Ernest Wright
Dob: 26 April 1978
Abode: ChezGrampa
@end example
@noindent and the second (following in the same file), like this:
@example
%rec: Residence
%key: Id
Address: 42 Abbeter Way, Inprooving, WORCS
Telephone: 01234 5676789
Id: 42AbbeterWay
Address: 2 Serpe Rise, Little Worning, SURREY
Telephone: 09876 5432109
Id: 2SerpeRise
Address: 1 Wanter Rise, Greater Inncombe, BUCKS
Id: ChezGrampa
@end example
Here you can see that there are two record sets @viz{} @code{Person}
and @code{Residence}.
There are six people, but only three residences, because some residences
accommodate more than one person.
@cindex @code{%key}
Note also that the @code{Residence} descriptor has the entry @code{%key: Id}
whilst the @code{Person} descriptor has @code{%type: Abode rec Residence}.
@cindex foreign key
@cindex key, foreign key
@cindex @code{rec}, type description
This is because @code{Abode} is the foreign key which identifies the residence
where a person lives.
@cindex readability
We could have declared the @code{Id} field as @code{%auto}. This would have had
the advantage that we need not manually update it.
However, we decided that the @code{Abode} field values in the @code{Person} records
are better as alphanumeric fields, so that they can contain
human readable values. In this way, it is self-evident by reading a @code{Person}
record where that person lives.
Yet since the @code{Id} field is declared using the @code{%key} special field
name, you can be sure that you don't accidentally reuse an existing key.
@node Joining Records
@section Joining Records
The above example has also added a new field to the @code{Person} record set
to contain that person's mobile phone number. Note that the @code{Telephone}
field belongs to the @code{Residence} record set because that contains the telephone
number of the home,
whereas @code{Mobile} belongs to @code{Person} since mobile telephones are normally
used exclusively by one individual.
If we want to look up the name and address of a person in our recfile, we can
use @command{recsel} as before.
Because we now have more than one record set in the @file{acquaintances.rec}
file, we have to tell @command{recsel} in which record set we want to
look up
records.
We do this with the @code{-t} flag as follows:
@example
$ recsel -t Person -P Name,Abode acquaintances.rec
Alfred Nebel
42AbbeterWay
Mandy Nebel
42AbbeterWay
Bertram Nebel
42AbbeterWay
Charles Spencer
2SerpeRise
Dirk Spencer
2SerpeRise
Ernest Wright
ChezGrampa
@end example
This result tells us the names of all the people in the recfile, as well as
giving a concise and hopefully effective reminder telling us where they live.
However these results would not be useful to someone unacquainted with the
individuals.
They need a list of names and full addresses.
We can use @command{recsel} to produce such a list:
@example
$ recsel -t Person -j Abode acquaintances.rec
Name: Charles Spencer
Dob: 4 July 1997
Email: charlie@@example.com
Abode_Address: 2 Serpe Rise, Little Worning, SURREY
Abode_Telephone: 09876 5432109
Abode_Id: 2SerpeRise
Name: Dirk Spencer
Dob: 29 June 1945
Email: dirk@@example.com
Mobile: 0555 342123
Abode_Address: 2 Serpe Rise, Little Worning, SURREY
Abode_Telephone: 09876 5432109
Abode_Id: 2SerpeRise
Name: Ernest Wright
Dob: 26 April 1978
Abode_Address: 1 Wanter Rise, Greater Inncombe, BUCKS
Abode_Id: ChezGrampa
@end example
The @code{-t} flag we have seen before. It tells @command{recsel} that we want
to extract records of type @code{Person}.
@cindex join
The @code{-j} flag is new. It says that we want to perform a @dfn{join}.
Specifically we want to join the @code{Person} records according to their
@code{Abode} field.
In the above example, @command{recsel} displays several field names which
do not appear anywhere in the input @eg{} @code{Abode_Address}.
This is the @code{Address} field in the record joined by the foreign key @code{Abode}.
In this example probably only the name and address are of interest.
The other information such as date of birth is incidental.
The foreign key @code{Abode_Id} is certainly not wanted in the output since it
is redundant.
As usual, you can use the @code{-P} or @code{-p} options to limit the fields
which will be displayed.
However the full joined field name, if appropriate, must be specified.
So the names and addresses without the other information can be retrieved thus:
@example
$ recsel -t Person -j Abode -p Name,Abode_Address acquaintances.rec
Name: Charles Spencer
Abode_Address: 2 Serpe Rise, Little Worning, SURREY
Name: Dirk Spencer
Abode_Address: 2 Serpe Rise, Little Worning, SURREY
Name: Ernest Wright
Abode_Address: 1 Wanter Rise, Greater Inncombe, BUCKS
@end example
@node Auto-Generated Fields
@chapter Auto-Generated Fields
@cindex @code{%auto}
@cindex automatically generated values
Consider for example a list of articles in stock in a toy store:
@example
%rec: Item
%key: Description
Description: 2cm metal soldier WWII
Amount: 2111
Description: Flying Helicopter Indoor Maxi
Amount: 8
@dots{}
@end example
It would be natural to identify the items by their descriptions, but it
is also error prone: was it ``Flying Helicopter Indoor Maxi'' or
``Flying Helicopter Maxi Indoor''? Was ``Helicopter'' in lower case or
upper case?
@cindex primary key
@cindex key, primary key
@cindex @code{%key}
@cindex ID numbers
Thus it is quite common in databases to use some kind of numeric ``Id'' to
uniquely identify items like those ones, because numbers are
easy to increment and manipulate. So we could add a new
numeric @code{Id} field and use it as the primary key:
@example
%rec: Item
%key: Id
%mandatory: Description
Id: 0
Description: 2cm metal soldier WWII
Amount: 2111
Id: 1
Description: Flying Helicopter Indoor Maxi
Amount: 8
@dots{}
@end example
A problem with this approach is that we must be careful to not assign
already used ids when we introduce more articles in the
database. Other than its uniqueness, it is not important which number
is associated with which article.
To ease the management of those Ids database systems use to provide a
facility called ``auto-counters''. Auto-counters can be implemented in
recfiles using the @code{%auto} directive in the record descriptor.
Its usage is:
@example
%auto: @var{field1} @var{field2} @dots{} @var{fieldN}
@end example
@noindent
The list of field names are separated by one or more blank characters.
There can be several @code{%auto} fields in the same record
descriptor, the effective list of auto-generated fields being the
union of all the entries.
When @command{recins} inserts a new record in the recfile, it looks
for any declared auto field. If any of these fields are not provided
explicitly in the command line then @command{recins} generates them
along with the user-provided fields. Such auto fields are generated
at the beginning of the new records, in the same order they are found
in the @code{%auto} directives.
For example, consider a @file{items.rec} database with an empty record
set:
@example
%rec: Item
%key: Id
%auto: Id
%mandatory: Description
@end example
@noindent
If we insert a new record and we do not specify an @code{Id} then it
will be generated automatically by @command{recins}:
@example
$ recins -t Item -f Description -v 'recutils t-shirts' \
-f Amount -v 200 \
items.rec
$ cat items.rec
%rec: Item
%key: Id
%auto: Id
%mandatory: Description
Id: 0
Description: recutils t-shirts
Amount: 200
@end example
@noindent
The concrete effect of the @code{%auto} directive depends on the type
of the affected field. The following sections document how.
@menu
* Counters:: Generating incremental Ids.
* Unique Identifiers:: Generating universally unique Ids.
* Time-Stamps:: Tracking the creation of records.
@end menu
@node Counters
@section Counters
@cindex counters
If an auto field is of type @code{integer} or @code{range} then any
newly generated field will use the ``next biggest'' unused number in the
record set.
Consider the toy inventory database introduced above. We could
declare the @code{Id} field to be generated automatically:
@example
%rec: Item
%key: Id
%type: Id int
%mandatory: Description
%auto: Id
Id: 0
Description: 2cm metal soldier WWII
Amount: 2111
@end example
@noindent
When the next new item is introduced in the database, @command{recins}
will note the @code{%auto}, and create a new @code{Id} field for the
new record with the next-biggest unused integer, since @code{Id} is
declared to be of type @code{int}. In this example, the new record
would have an Id of @code{1}. The database can still provide an
explicit Id for the new record. In that case the field is not
generated automatically.
Note that if no explicit type is defined for an auto generated field
then it is assumed to be an integer.
@node Unique Identifiers
@section Unique Identifiers
@cindex unique identifiers
@cindex uuid
Universally Unique Identifiers, often abbreviated as UUIDs, can also
be auto-generated using recutils. Suppose you maintain a database
with events featuring the following record descriptor:
@example
%rec: Event
%key: Id
%mandatory: Title Date
@end example
@noindent
What would be appropriate to identify each event? We could use an
integer and declare it as auto-generated. After adding two events the
database would look like this:
@example
%rec: Event
%key: Id
%mandatory: Title Date
Id: 0
Title: Team meeting
Date: 12-08-2013
Id: 1
Title: Dave's birthday
Date: 20-12-2013
@end example
@noindent
However, suppose that we want to share our events with other people,
@ie{} to send them event records and to incorporate their records into
our own database. In this case the @code{Id}s would collide. A good
solution is to use @code{uuids} and declare them as @code{auto}:
@example
%rec: Event
%key: Id
%type: Id uuid
%mandatory: Title Date
Id: f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6
Title: Team meeting
Date: 12-08-2013
Id: f81d4fae-dc18-11d0-a765-a01328400a0c
Title: Dave's birthday
Date: 20-12-2013
@end example
@node Time-Stamps
@section Time-Stamps
@cindex timestamps
Auto generated dates can be used to implement automatic timestamps.
Consider for example a ``Transfer'' record set registering bank
transfers. We want to save a timestamp every time a transfer is done,
so we include an @code{%auto} for the date:
@example
%rec: Transfer
%key: Id
%type: Id int
%type: Date date
%auto: Id Date
@end example
@node Encryption
@chapter Encryption
@cindex encryption
For ethical or security reasons it is sometimes necessary that information
in a recfile should not be readable by unauthorized people.
One way to prevent a recfile from being read is to use the security features of
the operating system.
A more secure way would be to encrypt the entire recfile using a free strong encryption program
such as @uref{http://gnu.org/software/gnupg,GnuPG}.
The disadvantage of both these methods is that the entire
recfile has to be secured
when it may well be the case that only certain data need to be protected.
Recutils offers a way to encrypt specified fields in a record, whilst leaving
the rest in clear text.
@menu
* Confidential Fields:: Declaring fields as sensitive data.
* Encrypting Files:: Encrypt confidential fields.
* Decrypting Data:: Reading encrypted fields.
@end menu
@node Confidential Fields
@section Confidential Fields
@cindex @code{%confidential}
@cindex passwords
@cindex confidential data
To specify that a field should be encrypted, use the @code{%confidential}
special field.
This special field declares a set of fields as
@dfn{confidential}, meaning they contain secret data such as
passwords or personal information.
Its usage is:
@example
%confidential: @var{field1} @var{field2} @dots{} @var{fieldN}
@end example
@noindent
The field names are separated by one or more blank characters.
There can be several @code{%confidential} fields in the same record
descriptor, the effective list of confidential fields being the union
of all the entries.
@cindex encrypted fields
Declaring a field as confidential indicates that its contents must not
be stored in plain text, but encrypted with a password-based
mechanism. When the information is retrieved from the database the
confidential fields are unencrypted if the correct password is
provided. Likewise, when information is inserted in the database the
confidential fields are encrypted with some given password.
For example, consider a database of users of some service. For each
user we want to store a name, a login name, an email address and a
password. All this information is public with the obvious exception
of the password. Thus we declare the @code{Password} field as
confidential in the corresponding record descriptor:
@example
%rec: Account
%type: Name line
%type: Login line
%type: Email email
%confidential: Password
@end example
The rec format does not impose the usage of a specific encryption
algorithm, but requires that:
@itemize @minus
@item The algorithm must be password-based.
@item The value of any encrypted field shall begin with the string
@samp{encrypted-} followed by the encrypted data.
@item The encrypted data must be encoded in some ASCII encoding such
as base64.
@end itemize
The above rules assure that it is possible to determine whether a
given field is encrypted. For example, the following is an excerpt
from the account database described above. It contains an entry with
the password encrypted and another with the password unencrypted:
@example
Name: Mr. Foo
Login: foo
Email: foo@@foo.com
Password: encrypted-AAABBBCCDDDEEEFFF
Name: Mr. Bar
Login: bar
Email: bar@@bar.com
Password: secret
@end example
Unencrypted confidential fields are a data integrity error,
and utilities like @code{recfix} will report it.
@cindex integrity problems
The same utility can
be used to ``fix'' the database by massively encrypting any
unencrypted field.
Nothing prevents the usage of several passwords in the same database.
This allows the establishment of several level of securities or
security profiles. For example, we may want to store different
passwords for different online services:
@example
%rec: Account
%confidential: WebPassword ShellPassword
@end example
@noindent
We could then encrypt WebPassword entries using a password shared
among all the webmasters, and the ShellPassword entries with a more
restricted password available only to the administrator of the
machine.
Note that since the utilities only accept to specify one password at a
time different passwords cannot be specified at decryption time. This
means that in the example above the administrator would need to run
@command{recsel} twice in order to decrypt all the encrypted data in
the recfile.
The GNU recutils fully support encrypted fields. See the documentation
for @command{recsel}, @command{recins} and @command{recfix} for details on how
to operate on files containing confidential fields.
@node Encrypting Files
@section Encrypting Files
@command{recins} allows the insertion of encrypted fields in a
database. When the @option{-s} (@option{--password}) command line option is
specified in the command line any field declared as confidential in
the record descriptor will get encrypted using the given passphrase.
If the command is executed interactively and @option{-s} is not used
then the user is asked to provide a password using the terminal. For
example, the invocation:
@example
$ recins -t Account -s mypassword -f Login -v foo -f Password \
-v secret accounts.rec
@end example
@noindent
will encrypt the value of the @code{Password} field with
@code{mypassword} as long as the field is declared as confidential.
(@pxref{Confidential Fields} for details on confidential fields).
@command{recins} will issue a warning if a confidential field is
inserted in the database but no password was provided to encrypt it.
This is to avoid having unencrypted sensitive data in the recfiles.
@node Decrypting Data
@section Decrypting Data
The contents of confidential fields can be read using the
@option{-s} (@option{--password}) command line option to @command{recsel}. When
used, any selected record containing encrypted fields will try to
decrypt them with the given password. If the operation succeeds then
the output will include the unencrypted data. Otherwise the
ASCII-encoded encrypted data will be emitted.
If @command{recsel} is invoked interactively and no password is
specified with @option{-s}, the user will be asked for a password in
case one is needed. No echo of the password will appear in the screen.
The provided password will be used to decrypt all confidential fields
as if it was specified with @option{-s}.
For example, consider the following database storing information about
the user accounts of some online service. Each entry stores a login,
a full name, email and a password. The password is declared as
confidential:
@example
%rec: Account
%key: Login
%confidential: Password
Login: foo
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: foo@@foo.com
Password: encrypted-AAABBBCCCDDD
Login: bar
Name: Ms. Bar
Email: bar@@bar.org
Password: encrypted-XXXYYYZZZUUU
@end example
@noindent
If we use @command{recsel} to get a list of records of type
@code{Account} without specifying a password, or if the wrong password
was specified in interactive mode, then we would get the following
output with the encrypted values:
@example
$ cat accounts.rec | recsel -t Account -p Login,Password
Login: foo
Password: encrypted-AAABBBCCCDDD
Login: bar
Password: encrypted-XXXYYYZZZUUU
@end example
@noindent
If we specify a password and both entries were encrypted using that
password, we would get the unencrypted values:
@example
$ recsel -t Account -s secret -p Login,Password accounts.rec
Login: foo
Password: foosecret
Login: bar
Password: barsecret
@end example
As mentioned above, a confidential field may be encrypted with
different passwords in different records (@pxref{Confidential Fields}).
For example,
we may have an entry in our database with data about the account of
the administrator of the online service. In that case we might want
to store the password associated with that account using a
different password than that for users. In that case the output of
the last command
would have been:
@example
$ recsel -t Account -s secret -p Login,Password accounts.rec
Login: foo
Password: foosecret
Login: bar
Password: barsecret
Login: admin
Password: encrypted-TTTVVVBBBNNN
@end example
@noindent
We would need to invoke @command{recsel} with the password used to
encrypt the admin entry in order to read it back unencrypted.
@node Generating Reports
@chapter Generating Reports
@cindex reports
Having a list of names and addresses, one might want to use this list
to address envelopes
(say, to send annual greeting cards).
Since addresses are normally written on several lines, it would be appropriate
then to split the @code{Address} field values across multiple lines as described in
@ref{Fields}.
Suitable text can now be obtained thus:
@example
$ recsel -t Person -j Abode -P Name,Abode_Address acquaintances.rec
Charles Spencer
2 Serpe Rise,
Little Worning,
SURREY
Dirk Spencer
2 Serpe Rise,
Little Worning,
SURREY
Ernest Wright
1 Wanter Rise,
Greater Inncombe,
BUCKS
@end example
A business enterprise might want to go one step further and generate letters
(such as an advertisement or a recall notice) to customers.
Since @command{recsel} merely selects records and fields from record sets, on
its own it cannot do this; so
there is another command designed for this purpose, called @command{recfmt}.
@cindex @command{recfmt}
@cindex templates
This command uses a @dfn{template} which defines the general form of the
desired output.
A letter template might look as follows:
@example
@{@{Name@}@}
@{@{Abode_Address@}@}
Dear @{@{Name@}@},
Re: Special offer for January
We are delighted to be able to offer you a 95% discount on all car and
truck hire contracts between 1 January and 2 February. Please call us
to take advantage of this offer.
Yours sincerely,
Karen van Rental (CEO)
^L
@end example
It is best to place such a template into a file, so that you can edit it
as you wish.
Notice the instances of double braces enclosing a field name, @eg{} @code{@{@{Name@}@}}.
These are called @dfn{slots} and indicate places where the respective field's
value should be placed.
@cindex slots
Let's assume this template is in a file called @file{offer.templ}.
We can then pipe the output from @command{recsel} into @command{recfmt} in order
as follows:
@example
$ recsel -t Person -j Abode acquaintances.rec | recfmt -f offer.templ
Charles Spencer
2 Serpe Rise,
Little Worning,
SURREY
Dear Charles Spencer,
Re: Special offer for January
We are delighted to be able to offer you a 95% discount on all car and
.
.
.
@end example
@noindent For each record that @command{recsel} selects, one copy of
@file{offer.templ} will be generated. Each slot will be replaced
with the field value corresponding to the field name in the slot.
@menu
* Templates:: Formatted output.
@end menu
@node Templates
@section Templates
@cindex templates
A recfmt template is a text string that may contain @dfn{template
slots}. Those slots are substituted in the template using the
information of a given record. Any text that is not within a slot is
copied literally to the output.
Slots are written surrounded by double curly braces, like:
@example
@{@{@dots{}@}@}
@end example
Slots contain selection expressions, that are executed every time the
template is applied to a record. The slot is then replaced by the
string representation of the value returned by the expression.
For example, consider the following template:
@example
Task @{@{Id@}@}: @{@{Summary@}@}
------------------------
@{@{Description@}@}
--
Created at @{@{CreatedAt@}@}
@end example
@noindent
When applied to the following record:
@example
Id: 123
Summary: Fix recfmt.
CreatedAt: 12 December 2010
Description:
+ The recfmt tool shall be fixed, because right
+ now it is leaking 200 megabytes per processed record.
@end example
@noindent
The result is:
@example
Task 123: Fix recfmt.
------------------------
The recfmt tool shall be fixed, because right
now it is leaking 200 megabytes per processed record.
--
Created at 12 December 2010
@end example
You can use any selection expression in the slots, including
conditionals and string concatenation.
@node Interoperability
@chapter Interoperability
Included in the recutils package are a number of utilities to assist
in the creation
of recfiles using data which already exists in other formats,
and for exporting data from recfiles so that it can be used in other applications.
@menu
* CSV Files:: Converting recfiles to/from csv files.
* Importing MDB Files:: Importing MS Access Databases.
@end menu
@node CSV Files
@section CSV Files
@cindex csv
@cindex comma separated values
Many applications are able to read and write files containing so-called
``comma separated values''.
Such files generally contain tabular data where the columns are separated
by commas and the rows by line feed and/or carriage return characters.
Although record sets are not tables, tables can be easily emulated
using records having the same fields in the same order. For example:
@example
a: value
b: value
c: value
a: value
b: value
c: value
@dots{}
@end example
In several respects records are more flexible than tables:
@itemize @minus
@item Fields can appear in a different order in several records.
@item There can be several fields with the same name in a single record.
@item Records can differ in the number of fields.
@end itemize
It is evident that records, such as those in recfiles, are a more
general structure than comma separated values.
This means that when converting from csv files to recfiles, certain
decisions need to be made.
The @code{rec2csv} utility (@pxref{Invoking rec2csv})
implements an algorithm to deal with this problem
and generate a table that the user expects.
The algorithm works as follows:
@enumerate
@item
The utility first scans the specified
record set, building a list with the names that will become the table
header.
@item
For each field, a header is added with the form:
@example
FIELDNAME[_@var{n}]
@end example
@noindent
where @var{n} is a number in the range @code{2..inf} and is the ``index'' of
the field in its containing record plus one.
For example, consider
the following record set:
@example
a: a1
b: b11
b: b12
c: c1
a: a2
b: b2
d: d2
@end example
The corresponding list of headers being:
@example
a b b_2 c a b d
@end example
@item
Then duplicates are removed:
@example
a b b_2 c d
@end example
@item
The resulting list of headers is then used to build the table in the
generated csv file.
@end enumerate
In the above example the result would be
@example
"a","b","b_2","c","d"
"a1","b11","b12","c1",
"a2","b2",,,"d2"
@end example
As shown, missing fields are implemented as empty columns in the generated
csv.
@node Importing MDB Files
@section Importing MDB Files
Access files (@dfn{mdb files}) are collections of several relations,
also known as tables. Tables can be either @dfn{user tables} storing
user data, or @dfn{system tables} storing information such as forms,
queries or the relationships between the tables.
It is possible to get a listing with the names of all tables stored in
a mdb file by calling @command{mdb2rec} in the following way:
@example
$ mdb2rec -l sales.mdb
Customers
Products
Orders
@end example
So @file{sales.mdb} stores user information in the tables Customers,
Products and Orders. If we want to include system tables in the
listing we can use the @samp{-s} command line option:
@example
$ mdb2rec -s -l sales.mdb
MSysObjects
MSysACEs
MSysQueries
MSysRelationships
Customers
Products
Orders
@end example
The tables with names starting with @command{MSys} are system tables.
The data stored in those tables is either not relevant to the recutils
user (used by the Access program to create forms and the like) or is
used in an indirect way by @command{mdb2rec} (such as the information
from MSysRelationships).
Let's read some data from the @file{mdb} file. We can get the
relation of Products in rec format:
@example
$ mdb2rec sales.mdb Products
%rec: Products
%type: ProductID int
%type: ProductName size 80
%type: Discontinued bool
ProductID: 1
ProductName: GNU generation T-shirt
Discontinued: 0
@dots{}
@end example
A @dfn{record descriptor} is created for the record set containing the
generated records, called Products. As seen in the example, @command{mdb2rec} is
able to generate type information for the fields. The list of
customers is similar:
@example
$ mdb2rec sales.mdb Customers
%rec: Customers
%type: CustomerID size 4
%type: CompanyName size 80
%type: ContactName size 60
CustomerID: GSOFT
CompanyName: GNU Soft
ContactName: Jose E. Marchesi
@dots{}
@end example
If no table is specified in the invocation to @command{mdb2rec} all
the tables in the file are processed, with the exception of the system
tables, which requires @samp{-s} to be used:
@example
$ mdb2rec sales.mdb
%rec: Products
@dots{}
%rec: Customers
@dots{}
%rec: Orders
@dots{}
@end example
@node Bash Builtins
@chapter Bash Builtins
@cindex bash
@cindex interactive use
@cindex shell
The command-line utilities described in @ref{Invoking the Utilities} are
designed to be used interactively in the shell.
Together, and often
combined with the standard shell utilities, they provide a quite
complete user interface.
However, the user's experience can be greatly
improved by a closer integration between the recutils and the shell.
The following sections describe several extensions for @command{bash},
the GNU shell (@pxref{Top,,, bash, The GNU Bourne-Again SHell}).
These extensions make the shell ``aware'' of the recutils.
As with any bash built-in, help is available in the command line using
the @command{help} command. For example:
@example
$ help readrec
@end example
If you installed recutils using a binary package in a GNU/Linux
distribution, odds are that the built-in commands described in this
chapter are already available to you. Otherwise (you get a ``command
not found'' or similar error) you may have to register the built-in
commands with your bash. This is very easy using the @command{enable}
bash command. The registering command for readrec would be:
@example
$ enable -f readrec.so readrec
@end example
Note however that some systems require the full path to
@file{readrec.so} in order for this command to work.
@menu
* readrec:: Exporting the contents of records to the shell.
@end menu
@node readrec
@section readrec
The bash built-in @command{read}, when invoked with no options,
consumes one line from standard input and makes it available in
the predefined @code{REPLY} environment variable, or any other
variable whose name is passed as an argument. This allows processing
data structured in lines in a quite natural way. For example, the
following program prints the third field of each line, with fields
separated by commas, until standard input is exhausted:
@example
# Process one line at a time.
while read
do
echo "The third field is " `echo $REPLY | cut -d, -f 2`
done
@end example
However, @command{read} is not very useful when it comes to
processing recutils records in the shell. Even though it is
possible to customize the character used by @command{read} to split
the input into records, we would need to ignore the empty records in
the likely case of more than one empty line separating records.
Also, we would need to use @command{recsel} to access to the record
fields. Too complicated!
Thus, the @command{readrec} bash built-in is similar to @command{read} with
the difference that it reads records instead of lines. It also
``exports'' the contents of the record to the user as the values of
several environment variables:
@itemize @minus
@item @code{REPLY_REC} is set to the record read from standard input.
@item A set of variables @code{FIELD} named after each field found in
the record are set to the (decoded) value of the fields found in the
input record. When several fields with the same name are found in the
input record then a bash array is created.
@end itemize
Consider for example the following simple database containing
contacts information:
@example
Name: Mr. Foo
Email: foo@@bar.com
Email: bar@@baz.net
Checked: no
Name: Mr. Bar
Email: bar@@foo.com
Telephone: 999666000
Checked: yes
@end example
@noindent
We would like to write some shell code to send an email to all the
contacts, but only if the contact has not been checked before,
@ie{} the @code{Checked} field contains @code{no}. The following code
snippet would do the job nicely using @command{readrec}:
@example
recsel contacts.rec | while readrec
do
if [ $Checked = "no" ]
then
mail -s "You are being checked." $@{Email[0]@} < email.txt
recset -e "Email = '$Email'" -f Checked -S yes contacts.rec
sleep 1
fi
done
@end example
@noindent
Note the usage of the bash array when accessing the primary email
address of each contact. Note also that we update each contact to
figure as ``checked'', using @command{recset}, so she won't get
pestered again the next time the
script is run.
@node Invoking the Utilities
@chapter Invoking the Utilities
Certain options are available in all of these programs. Rather than
writing identical descriptions for each of the programs, they are
listed here.
@anchor{Common Options}
@table @samp
@item --version
Print the version number, then exit successfully.
@item --help
Print a help message, then exit successfully.
@item --
Delimit the option list. Later arguments, if any, are treated as
operands even if they begin with @option{-}. For example,
@code{recsel -- -p} reads from the file named @file{-p}.
@end table
@menu
* Invoking recinf:: Printing information about rec files.
* Invoking recsel:: Selecting records.
* Invoking recins:: Inserting records.
* Invoking recdel:: Deleting records.
* Invoking recset:: Managing fields.
* Invoking recfix:: Fixing broken rec files, and diagnostics.
* Invoking recfmt:: Formatting records using templates.
* Invoking csv2rec:: Converting csv data into rec data.
* Invoking rec2csv:: Converting rec data into csv data.
* Invoking mdb2rec:: Converting mdb files into rec files.
@end menu
@node Invoking recinf
@section Invoking recinf
@cindex @command{recinf}
@command{recinf} reads the given rec files (or the data from
standard input if no file is specified) and prints a summary of the
record types contained in the input.
Synopsis:
@example
recinf [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{file}]@dots{}
@end example
The default behavior is to emit a line per record type in
the input containing its name and the number of records of that type:
@example
$ recinf hackers.rec tasks.rec
25 Hacker
102 Task
@end example
If the input contains anonymous records, @ie{} records that are before
the first record descriptor, the corresponding output line won't have
a type name:
@example
$ recinf data.rec
10
@end example
In addition to the common options described earlier the program accepts the following options.
@table @samp
@item -t @var{type}
@itemx --type=@var{type}
Select records of a given type only.
@item -d
@itemx --descriptor
Print all the record descriptors present in the file.
@item -n
@itemx --names-only
Output just the names of the record types found in the input. If the
input contains only anonymous records then output nothing.
@item -S
@itemx --print-sexps
Print the data in the form of sexps (Lisp expressions) instead of rec
format. This option can be useful for, of course, Lisp programs.
@end table
@node Invoking recsel
@section Invoking recsel
@cindex @command{recsel}
@cindex selecting records
@command{recsel} reads the given rec files (or the data in the
standard input if no file is specified) and prints out records (or
part of records) based upon some criteria specified by the user.
@command{recsel} searches rec files for records satisfying certain
criteria. Synopsis:
@example
recsel [@var{option}]@dots{} \
[-n @var{indexes} | -e @var{record_expr} | -q @var{str} | -m @var{num}] \
[-c | (-p|-P|-R) @var{field_expr}] \
[@var{file}]@dots{}
@end example
If no @var{file} is specified then the command acts like a filter, getting
the data from standard input and writing the result to
standard output.
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following options.
@noindent
The following @dfn{global options} are available.
@table @samp
@item -i
@itemx --case-insensitive
Make string matching case-insensitive in selection expressions.
@cindex case, in selection expressions
@item -C
@item --collapse
Do not section the result in records with newlines.
@item -d
@itemx --include-descriptors
Print record descriptors along with the matched records.
@item -s @var{secret}
@itemx --password=@var{secret}
Try to decrypt confidential fields with the given password.
@item -S
@itemx --sort=@var{fields}
@cindex sorting
Sort the output by the comma-separated list of field names,
@var{fields}. This option takes precedence over any sorting criteria
specified in the corresponding record descriptor with @code{%sort}.
@item -U
@itemx --uniq
Remove duplicated fields in the output records. Fields are
duplicated if they have the same field name
and the same value.
@item -G
@itemx --group-by=@var{fields}
Group the output records by the provided comma-separated list of
@var{fields}. Grouping is performed before sorting.
@end table
The @dfn{selection options} are used to select a subset of
the records in the input.
@table @samp
@item -n @var{indexes}
@item --number=@var{indexes}
Match the records occupying the given positions in its record set.
@var{indexes} must be a comma-separated list of numbers or ranges, with
ranges being two numbers separated with dashes. For example, the
following list denotes the first, the third, the fourth and all
records up to the tenth: @samp{-n 0,2,4-9}.
@item -e @var{expr}
@itemx --expression=@var{expr}
A record selection expression (@pxref{Selection Expressions}). Only
the records matched by the expression will be taken into account to
compute the output.
@item -q @var{str}
@itemx --quick=@var{str}
Select records having a field whose value contains the substring
@var{str}.
@item -m @var{num}
@itemx --random=@var{num}
Select @var{num} random records. If @var{num} is zero then select all
the records.
@item -t @var{type}
@itemx --type=@var{type}
Select records of a given type only.
@item -j @var{field}
@itemx --join=@var{field}
Perform an inner join of the record set selected by @option{-t} and
the record set for which @var{field} is a foreign key. @var{field}
must be a field declared with type @code{rec} and thus must be a
foreign key. If a join is performed then any selection expression and
field expression operate on the joined record sets.
@end table
The @dfn{output options} are used to determine what information about
the selected records to display to the user, and how to display it.
@table @samp
@item -p @var{name_list}
@itemx --print=@var{name_list}
List of fields to print for each record. @var{name_list} is a
list of field names separated by commas. For example:
@example
-p Name,Email
@end example
@noindent
means to print the Name and the Email of every matching record, both
the field names and values.
If this option is not specified then all the fields of the matching
records are printed to standard output.
@item -P @var{name_list}
@itemx --print-values=@var{name_list}
Same as @samp{-p}, but print only the values of the selected fields.
@item -R @var{name_list}
@itemx --print-row=@var{name_list}
Same as @samp{-P}, but print the values separated by single
spaces instead of newlines.
@item -c
@itemx --count
If this option is specified then @command{recsel} will print the number of
matching records instead of the records themselves. This option is
incompatible with @option{-p}, @option{-P} and @option{-R}.
@end table
This @dfn{special option} is available to ease the communication
between the recutils and other programs, namely Lisp interpreters.
This option is not intended to be used by human operators.
@table @samp
@item --print-sexps
Print the data using sexps instead of rec format.
@end table
@node Invoking recins
@section Invoking recins
@cindex @command{recins}
@cindex inserting new records
@command{recins} adds new records to a rec file or to rec data read
from standard input. Synopsis:
@example
recins [@var{option}]@dots{} [-t @var{type}] \
[-n @var{indexes} | -e @var{record_expr} | -q @var{str} | -m @var{num}] \
[( -f @var{str} -v @var{str}]|[-r @var{recdata} )]@dots{} \
[@var{file}]
@end example
The new record to be inserted by the command is constructed by
using pairs of @samp{-f} and @samp{-v} options, or @samp{-r}. Each pair defines a
field. The order of the parameters is significant.
If no @var{file} is specified then the command acts like a filter, getting
the data from standard input and writing the result to
standard output.
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following options.
@table @samp
@item -t
@itemx --type=@var{expr}
The type of the new record. If there is a record set in the input
data matching this type then the new record is added there. Otherwise
a new record set is created. If this parameter is not specified then
the new record is anonymous.
@item -f
@itemx --field=@var{name}
Declares the name of a field. This option must be followed by a
@samp{-v}.
@item -v
@itemx --value=@var{value}
The value of the field being defined.
@item -r
@itemx --record=@var{value}
Add the fields of the record in @var{value}. This option can be
intermixed with @samp{-f @dots{} -v} pairs.
@item -s
@itemx --password
Encrypt confidential fields with the given password.
@item --no-external
Don't use external record descriptors.
@item --verbose
Be verbose when reporting integrity problems.
@item --no-auto
Don't generate @dfn{auto} fields. @xref{Auto-Generated Fields}.
@end table
Record selection arguments are supported too. If they are used
then @command{recins} uses ``replacement mode'': instead of
appending the new record, matched records are replaced by copies of
the provided record. The selection arguments are the same as in
@command{recsel}:
@table @samp
@item -n @var{indexes}
@item --number=@var{indexes}
Match the records occupying the given positions in its record set.
@var{indexes} must be a comma-separated list of numbers or ranges, the
ranges being two numbers separated with dashes. For example, the
following list denotes the first, the third, the fourth and all
records up to the tenth: @code{-n 0,2,4-9}.
@item -e @var{record_expr}
@itemx --expression=@var{expr}
A record selection expression (@pxref{Selection Expressions}).
Matching records will get replaced.
@item -q @var{str}
@itemx --quick=@var{str}
Remove records having a field whose value contains the substring
@var{str}.
@item -m @var{num}
@itemx --random=@var{num}
Select @var{num} random records. If @var{num} is zero then all
records are selected, @ie{} no replace mode is activated.
@item -i
@itemx --case-insensitive
Make strings case-insensitive in selection expressions.
@cindex case, in selection expressions
@item --force
Insert the requested record even in potentially dangerous situations,
such as when the data integrity of the database is compromised.
@end table
@node Invoking recdel
@section Invoking recdel
@cindex @command{recdel}
@cindex deleting records
@command{recdel} removes records from a rec file, or from rec data
read from standard input. Synopsis:
@example
recdel [OPTIONS]@dots{} [-t @var{type}] \
[-n @var{indexes} | -e @var{record_expr} | -q @var{str} | -m @var{num}] \
[@var{file}]
@end example
If no @var{file} is specified then the command acts like a filter,
getting the data from standard input and writing the result to
standard output.
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following options.
@table @samp
@item -t
@itemx --type=@var{expr}
Remove records of the given type. If this parameter is not specified
then records of any type will be removed.
@item -n @var{indexes}
@item --number=@var{indexes}
Match the records occupying the given positions in its record set.
@var{indexes} must be a comma-separated list of numbers or ranges, the
ranges being two numbers separated with dashes. For example, the
following list denotes the first, the third, the fourth and all
records up to the tenth: @code{-n 0,2,4-9}.
@item -e @var{record_expr}
@itemx --expression=@var{expr}
A record selection expression (@pxref{Selection Expressions}). Only
the records matched by the expression will be removed from the file.
@item -q @var{str}
@itemx --quick=@var{str}
Remove records having a field whose value contains the substring
@var{str}.
@item -m @var{num}
@itemx --random=@var{num}
Remove @var{num} random records. If @var{num} is zero then remove all
the records.
@item -c
@itemx --comment
Comment the matching records out instead of removing them.
@item --force
Delete even in potentially dangerous situations, such as a request
to delete all the records of some type.
@item --no-external
Don't use external record descriptors.
@item -i
@itemx --case-insensitive
Make strings case-insensitive in selection expressions.
@item --verbose
Be verbose when reporting integrity problems.
@end table
@node Invoking recset
@section Invoking recset
@cindex @command{recset}
@cindex editing fields
@command{recset} manipulates the fields of records in a rec file, or
rec data read from standard input. Synopsis:
@example
recset [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{file}]@dots{}
@end example
If no @var{file} is specified then the command acts like a filter,
getting the data from standard input and writing the result to
standard output.
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following options.
Record selection options:
@table @samp
@item -i
@itemx --case-insensitive
Make strings case-insensitive in selection expressions.
@item -t
@itemx --type=@var{expr}
Operate on the records of the given type. If this parameter is not
specified then records of any type will be affected.
@item -n @var{indexes}
@item --number=@var{indexes}
Operate on the records occupying the given positions in its record
set. @var{indexes} must be a comma-separated list of numbers or
ranges, the ranges being two numbers separated with dashes. For
example, the following list denotes the first, the third, the fourth
and all records up to the tenth: @code{-n 0,2,4-9}.
@item -e @var{expr}
@itemx --expression=@var{expr}
A record selection expression (@pxref{Selection Expressions}). Only
the records matched by the expression will be processed.
@item -q @var{str}
@itemx --quick=@var{str}
Operate on records having a field whose value contains the substring
@var{str}.
@item -m @var{num}
@itemx --random=@var{num}
Operate on @var{num} random records. If @var{num} is zero then
operate on all the records.
@end table
Field selection options:
@table @samp
@item -f
@itemx --fields=@var{FEX}
Field selection expression (@pxref{Field Expressions}) to select the
fields to operate.
@end table
Actions:
@table @samp
@item -s
@itemx --set=@var{value}
Set the value of the selected fields to @var{value}.
@item -a
@itemx --add=@var{value}
Add a new field to the selected record with value @var{value}.
@item -S
@itemx --set-add=@var{value}
Set the value of the selected fields to @var{value}. If some of the
fields don't exist in a record, append it with the specified value.
@item -r
@itemx --rename=@var{value}
Rename a field; @var{value} must be a valid field name. The field
expression associated with this action must contain a single field
name and an optional subscript. If an entire record set is selected
then the field is renamed in the record descriptor as well.
@item -d
@itemx --delete
Delete the selected fields in the selected records.
@item -c
@itemx --comment
Comment out the selected fields in the selected records.
@item --no-external
Don't use external record descriptors.
@item --verbose
Be verbose when reporting integrity problems.
@item --force
Perform the requested operation even in potentially dangerous
situations, or when the integrity of the data stored in the file is
affected.
@end table
@node Invoking recfix
@section Invoking recfix
@cindex @command{recfix}
@cindex checking recfiles
@cindex integrity, checking
@command{recfix} checks and fixes rec files. Synopsis:
@example
recfix [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{operation}] [@var{op_option}]@dots{} [@var{file}]
@end example
If no @var{file} is specified then the command acts like a filter,
getting the data from standard input and writing the result to
standard output.
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following global options.
@table @samp
@item --no-external
Don't use external record descriptors.
@end table
The effect of running @command{recfix} depends on the operation it
performs. The operation mode is selected by using one of the
following options.
@table @samp
@item --check
Check the integrity of the database contained in the file, printing
diagnostics messages in case something is not right. This is the
default operation.
@item --sort
Perform a physical sort of all the records contained in the file (or
standard input) after checking for its integrity. The sorting
criteria are provided by the @code{%sort} special field, if any. If
there is an integrity failure the sorting is not performed.
@cindex sorting
This is a destructive operation.
@item --decrypt
@itemx --encrypt
Decrypt (encrypt) all the (non-)encrypted fields in the database which are marked
as confidential. This operation requires a password. If no password
is specified with @option{-s} and the program is run in a terminal, a
prompt is given to get the password from the user.
If encryption is performed on a file having encrypted fields, the
operation will fail unless @samp{--force} is used.
These are destructive operations.
@item --auto
Insert auto-generated fields as appropriate in the records which are
missing them.
This is a destructive operation.
@end table
As described above, some operations make use of these additional options:
@table @samp
@item -s @var{secret}
@itemx --password=@var{secret}
Password used to encrypt or decrypt fields.
@item --force
Force potentially dangerous operations.
@end table
@node Invoking recfmt
@section Invoking recfmt
@cindex @command{recfmt}
@cindex formatted output
@command{recfmt} formats records using templates. Synopsis:
@example
recfmt [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{template}]
@end example
This program always works as a filter, getting the data from the
standard input and writing the result to standard output.
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following options.
@table @samp
@item -f
@itemx --filename=@var{PATH}
Read the template from the file in @var{PATH} instead of the command
line.
@end table
@node Invoking csv2rec
@section Invoking csv2rec
@cindex @command{csv2rec}
@cindex csv
@cindex comma separated values
@command{csv2rec} reads the given comma-separated-values file (or the
data from standard input if no file is specified) and prints out the
converted rec data, if possible. Synopsis:
@example
csv2rec [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{csv_file}]
@end example
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following options.
@table @samp
@item -t @var{type}
@itemx --type=@var{type}
Type of the converted records. If no type is specified then no type
is used.
@item -s
@itemx --strict
Be strict parsing the csv file.
@item -e
@itemx --omit-empty
Omit empty fields.
@end table
@node Invoking rec2csv
@section Invoking rec2csv
@cindex @command{rec2csv}
@cindex csv
@cindex comma separated values
@command{rec2csv} reads the given rec files (or the data in the
standard input if no file is specified) and prints out the converted
comma-separated-values. Synopsis:
@example
rec2csv [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{rec_file}]@dots{}
@end example
The rec data can be read from files specified in the command line, or
from standard input. The program writes the converted data to
standard output.
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following options.
@table @samp
@item -t @var{type}
@itemx --type=@var{type}
Type of the records to convert. If no type is specified then the
default records (with no name) are converted.
@item -S
@itemx --sort=@var{fields}
Sort the output by the comma-separated list of field names
@var{fields}. This option has precedence to whatever sorting criteria
are specified in the corresponding record descriptor with
@code{%sort}.
@item -d
@itemx --delim=@var{char}
Use @var{char} as the delimiter character separating fields in the
output. Defaults to @code{,}.
@end table
@node Invoking mdb2rec
@section Invoking mdb2rec
@cindex @command{mdb2rec}
@cindex mdb
@cindex MS Access
@command{mdb2rec} reads the given mdb file and prints out the
converted rec data, if possible. Synopsis:
@example
mdb2rec [@var{option}]@dots{} @var{mdb_file} [@var{table}]
@end example
All the tables contained in the mdb file are exported unless a table
is specified in the command line.
In addition to the common options described earlier (@pxref{Common
Options}) the program accepts the following options.
@table @samp
@item -s
@itemx --system-tables
Include system tables in the output.
@item -l
@itemx --list-tables
Dump a list of the table names contained in the mdb file, one per
line.
@item -e
@itemx --keep-empty-fields
Don't prune empty fields in the rec output.
@end table
@node Using ob-rec.el
@chapter Using ob-rec.el
ob-rec.el allows you to use Recutils as a language in org-mode source
blocks.
@section Setup
Recutils should install the necessary files where emacs can see them.
In your .emacs you may need to add:
@example
(require 'ob-rec)
@end example
You will need to add "rec" to your list of 'org-babel-load-languages' like
below:
@example
(org-babel-do-load-languages
'org-babel-load-languages
'((rec . t)))
@end example
@section Usage
To your org file, add a src code block like:
@example
#+BEGIN_SRC rec :data books.rec
Location = 'loaned'
#+END_SRC
@end example
This performs the equivalent of the command:
@example
$ recsel -e "Location = 'loaned'" books.rec
@end example
It will produce a result like:
@example
#+RESULTS:
| Title | Author | Date | Location |
|---------------------+-----------------+-----------------+----------|
| The Colour of Magic | Terry Pratchett | 4/20/01 11:15pm | loaned |
@end example
@section Header Arguments
@table @samp
@item :data
The recfile you would like to query. Can be a relative path. Spaces in
the filename or path need to be escaped with a backslash (for example,
file\ name.rec). This is the only required header argument.
@item :results
If this list contains "scalar", "html", "code" or "verbatim" then the
output will look the same as if called from the command line and it
will not be put into an org table.
@item :type
Only returns this type of record. Corresponds to the -t argument. Accepts
only one argument.
@item :fields
Comma-separated list of fields to print. Corresponds to the -p argument.
@item :sort
Comma-separated list of fields by which to sort records. Corresponds to
the -S argument.
@item :groupby
Comma-separated list of fields by which to group records. If the
records grouped together share fields in common, these will be in
separate columns with a "_N" appended. Corresponds to the -G argument.
@item :join
Field on which to join records from one record set to another. Please see
blah for more on how joins work. Corresponds to the -j argument.
@end table
@section Warnings
@enumerate
@item
Output may be unpredictable if fields contain newlines, as would be the case
for a multi-line field. This appears to be a limitation in org-mode's
'org-table-convert-region' function.
@end enumerate
@node Regular Expressions
@chapter Regular Expressions
@cindex regular expressions
The character @samp{.} matches any single character except the null character.
@table @samp
@item +
match one or more occurrences of the previous atom or regexp.
@item ?
match zero or one occurrences of the previous atom or regexp.
@item \+
matches a @samp{+}
@item \?
matches a @samp{?}.
@end table
Bracket expressions are used to match ranges of characters.
Bracket expressions where the range is backward, for example @samp{[z-a]}, are invalid.
Within square brackets, @samp{\} is taken literally.
Character classes are supported; for example @samp{[[:digit:]]} matches a single decimal digit.
GNU extensions are supported:
@table @samp
@item \w
matches a character within a word
@item \W
matches a character which is not within a word
@item \<
matches the beginning of a word
@item \>
matches the end of a word
@item \b
matches a word boundary
@item \B
matches characters which are not a word boundary
@item \`
matches the beginning of the whole input
@item \'
matches the end of the whole input
@end table
@cindex grouping, within regular expressions
Grouping is performed with parentheses @samp{()}. An unmatched
@samp{)} matches just itself. A backslash followed by a digit acts as
a back-reference and matches the same thing as the previous grouped
expression indicated by that number. For example, @samp{\2} matches
the second group expression. The order of group expressions is
determined by the position of their opening parenthesis @samp{(}.
The alternation operator is @samp{|}.
The characters @samp{^} and @samp{$} always represent the beginning
and end of a string respectively, except within square brackets.
Within brackets, an initial @samp{^} inverts the
character class being matched.
@samp{*}, @samp{+} and @samp{?} are special at any point in a regular
expression except the following places, where they are not allowed:
@enumerate
@item At the beginning of a regular expression
@item After an open-group, @samp{(}
@item After the alternation operator, @samp{|}
@end enumerate
Intervals are specified by @samp{@{} and @samp{@}}. Invalid intervals
such as @samp{a@{1z} are not accepted.
The longest possible match is returned; this applies to the regular
expression as a whole and (subject to this constraint) to
sub-expressions within groups.
@c @lowersections
@include parse-datetime.texi
@c @raisesections
@node GNU Free Documentation License
@appendix GNU Free Documentation License
@cindex license, GNU Free Documentation License
@include fdl.texi
@node Concept Index
@unnumbered Concept Index
@printindex cp
@bye
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