+ my $self = shift; # is a dxchan
+ my $ref = shift; # is a thingy with field_prompt and fields methods defined
+ my @out;
+ my @fields = $ref->fields;
+ my $field;
+
+ foreach $field (sort {$ref->field_prompt($a) cmp $ref->field_prompt($b)} @fields) {
+ if (defined $ref->{$field}) {
+ my ($priv, $ans) = promptf($ref->field_prompt($field), $ref->{$field});
+ my @tmp;
+ if (length $ans > 79) {
+ my ($p, $a) = split /: /, $ans;
+ my $l = (length $p) + 2;
+ my $al = 79 - $l;
+ while (length $a > $al ) {
+ $a =~ s/^(.{$al})//;
+ push @tmp, "$p: $1";
+ $p = ' ' x ($l - 2);
+ }
+ push @tmp, "$p: $a" if length $a;
+ } else {
+ push @tmp, $ans;
+ }
+ push @out, @tmp if ($self->priv >= $priv);
+ }
+ }
+ return @out;
+}
+
+# generate a regex from a shell type expression
+# see 'perl cookbook' 6.9
+sub shellregex
+{
+ my $in = shift;
+ $in =~ s{(.)} { $patmap{$1} || "\Q$1" }ge;
+ return '^' . $in . "\$";
+}
+
+# start an attempt at determining whether this string might be a callsign
+sub iscallsign
+{
+ my $call = uc shift;
+ return 1 if $call =~ /^[A-Z]+\d+[A-Z]+/;
+ return 1 if $call =~ /^\d+[A-Z]\d+[A-Z]+/;
+ return undef;
+}
+
+# read in a file into a string and return it.
+# the filename can be split into a dir and file and the
+# file can be in upper or lower case.
+# there can also be a suffix
+sub readfilestr
+{
+ my ($dir, $file, $suffix) = @_;
+ my $fn;
+ my $f;
+ if ($suffix) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$f.$suffix";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file.$suffix";
+ }
+ } elsif ($file) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ }
+ } else {
+ $fn = $dir;
+ }
+
+ my $fh = new IO::File $fn;
+ my $s = undef;
+ if ($fh) {
+ local $/ = undef;
+ $s = <$fh>;
+ $fh->close;
+ }
+ return $s;
+}
+
+# write out a file in the format required for reading
+# in via readfilestr, it expects the same arguments
+# and a reference to an object
+sub writefilestr
+{
+ my $dir = shift;
+ my $file = shift;
+ my $suffix = shift;
+ my $obj = shift;
+ my $fn;
+ my $f;
+
+ confess('no object to write in writefilestr') unless $obj;
+ confess('object not a reference in writefilestr') unless ref $obj;
+
+ if ($suffix) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$f.$suffix";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file.$suffix";
+ }
+ } elsif ($file) {
+ $f = uc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ unless (-e $fn) {
+ $f = lc $file;
+ $fn = "$dir/$file";
+ }
+ } else {
+ $fn = $dir;
+ }