# phpman > perldoc > IO::Wrap

## NAME
    [IO::Wrap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AWrap/markdown) - wrap raw filehandles in [IO::Handle](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AHandle/markdown) interface

## SYNOPSIS
       use [IO::Wrap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AWrap/markdown);

       ### Do stuff with any kind of filehandle (including a bare globref), or
       ### any kind of blessed object that responds to a print() message.
       ###
       sub do_stuff {
           my $fh = shift;

           ### At this point, we have no idea what the user gave us...
           ### a globref? a FileHandle? a scalar filehandle name?

           $fh = wraphandle($fh);

           ### At this point, we know we have an [IO::Handle](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AHandle/markdown)-like object!

           $fh->print("Hey there!");
           ...
       }

## DESCRIPTION
    Let's say you want to write some code which does I/O, but you don't want to force the caller to
    provide you with a FileHandle or [IO::Handle](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AHandle/markdown) object. You want them to be able to say:

        do_stuff(\*STDOUT);
        do_stuff('STDERR');
        do_stuff($some_FileHandle_object);
        do_stuff($some_IO_Handle_object);

    And even:

        do_stuff($any_object_with_a_print_method);

    Sure, one way to do it is to force the caller to use tiehandle(). But that puts the burden on
    them. Another way to do it is to use [IO::Wrap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AWrap/markdown), which provides you with the following functions:

    wraphandle SCALAR
        This function will take a single argument, and "wrap" it based on what it seems to be...

        *   A raw scalar filehandle name, like "STDOUT" or "[Class::HANDLE](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Class%3A%3AHANDLE/markdown)". In this case, the
            filehandle name is wrapped in an [IO::Wrap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AWrap/markdown) object, which is returned.

        *   A raw filehandle glob, like "\*STDOUT". In this case, the filehandle glob is wrapped in
            an [IO::Wrap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AWrap/markdown) object, which is returned.

        *   A blessed FileHandle object. In this case, the FileHandle is wrapped in an [IO::Wrap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AWrap/markdown)
            object if and only if your FileHandle class does not support the "read()" method.

        *   Any other kind of blessed object, which is assumed to be already conformant to the
            [IO::Handle](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AHandle/markdown) interface. In this case, you just get back that object.

    If you get back an [IO::Wrap](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/IO%3A%3AWrap/markdown) object, it will obey a basic subset of the IO:: interface. That is,
    the following methods (note: I said *methods*, not named operators) should work on the thing you
    get back:

        close
        getline
        getlines
        print ARGS...
        read BUFFER,NBYTES
        seek POS,WHENCE
        tell

## NOTES
    Clearly, when wrapping a raw external filehandle (like \*STDOUT), I didn't want to close the
    file descriptor when the "wrapper" object is destroyed... since the user might not appreciate
    that! Hence, there's no DESTROY method in this class.

    When wrapping a FileHandle object, however, I believe that Perl will invoke the
    [FileHandle::DESTROY](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/FileHandle%3A%3ADESTROY/markdown) when the last reference goes away, so in that case, the filehandle is closed
    if the wrapped FileHandle really was the last reference to it.

## WARNINGS
    This module does not allow you to wrap filehandle names which are given as strings that lack the
    package they were opened in. That is, if a user opens FOO in package Foo, they must pass it to
    you either as "\*FOO" or as "[Foo::FOO](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Foo%3A%3AFOO/markdown)". However, "STDIN" and friends will work just fine.

## VERSION
    $Id: Wrap.pm,v 1.2 2005/02/10 21:21:53 dfs Exp $

## AUTHOR
    Primary Maintainer
        Dianne Skoll (<dfs@roaringpenguin.com>).

    Original Author
        Eryq (<eryq@zeegee.com>). President, ZeeGee Software Inc (<http://www.zeegee.com>).