[Templates] tt annoyances

[Japheth Cleaver]

>4. Common string functions are available in counter-intuitive ways.
>The builtin scalar string supports: length, repeat, replace, match, search,
>split, chunk. Now, suppose I want the equivalent of the perl functions substr,
>uc, and index. Where do I find them? Well, substr is available by using the
>String plugin, which has no relation to a builtin scalar string:

One thing I do around any template perl wrapper code is add a few stash 
methods for my own sanity. Eg:

  $Template::Stash::SCALAR_OPS->{ lc } = sub { lc shift };
  $Template::Stash::SCALAR_OPS->{ uc } = sub { uc shift };
  $Template::Stash::SCALAR_OPS->{ lcfirst } = sub { lcfirst shift };
  $Template::Stash::SCALAR_OPS->{ ucfirst } = sub { ucfirst shift };

This allows me to use [% str.uc %] rather than

[% str FILTER upper %]



I also used this as a replacement for substr. It looks odd, but I seemed to 
have problems when writing it any other way...

  $Template::Stash::SCALAR_OPS->{ substr } = sub {
         if (exists $_[3]) {
           return substr($_[0], $_[1], $_[2], $_[3]);
         } elsif (exists $_[2]) {
           return substr($_[0], $_[1], $_[2]);
         } elsif (exists $_[1]) {
           return substr($_[0], $_[1]);
         } else {
           return $_[0];
         };
  };


-Japheth "J.C." Cleaver