NIBMSCM@NDSUVM1.BITNET (12/06/90)
So, I have a solution to this coding problem, but am looking for something a little more eloquent. As I'm reading from stdin, I wish to scan the input stream for variables (denoted by special tags - something like &input_var&) and replace these variables with the value of that variable within my program (i.e. input_var is actually a variable declared within my program or database). The intent of the program is to provide control for a database publishing environment. The markup language that I'm using takes a mix of tags and data and performs the required formatting. However, it is NOT an interactive package, and therefore I am required to insert all variable text before passing on to the markup program. Also, would prefer not to perform data substitution based on sequential ordering of variable fields, as the control program will be expected to compose a number of different publications based on operator input, and keeping everything sequential for each publication appears too error prone. Thanks for your help...