#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# note Perl 5.005 or later may be required to run this program

use AppConfig qw/:argcount/;
use strict;				# be good, li'l program.
use Data::Dumper;			# for hash and array references

$| = 1;					# flush all output immediately

my $config = AppConfig->new(); 

# define all the variables we will use, with defaults were necessary
$config->define(
                'DEBUG' => { ARGCOUNT => ARGCOUNT_NONE, DEFAULT => 0 },
                'NAME' 	=> { ARGCOUNT => ARGCOUNT_ONE,  DEFAULT => 'Ishmael' },
                'HOSTS' => { ARGCOUNT => ARGCOUNT_LIST },
                'PHONE' => { ARGCOUNT => ARGCOUNT_HASH },
               );

# read multiple configuration files on startup
foreach my $file ('example.conf', 'example2.conf')
{
 # process file if it's available
 $config->file($file) if -f $file;
}

# note that args() can be called BEFORE files are processed as well, in case files to
# be loaded are passed as command-line options (e.g. "-f")

$config->args();			# process command-line options

my %varlist = $config->varlist('.*');
foreach my $varname (keys %varlist)
{
 print "Variable name $varname, value = ", Dumper($config->get($varname)), "\n";
}

# variable names are autoloaded methods in the AppConfig object
print 'Accessing variables directly as a method is easy too: name = ',
 $config->NAME, "\n";