path: root/README.markdown

# Puppet Labs Standard Library #

This module provides a "standard library" of resources for developing Puppet
Modules.  This modules will include the following additions to Puppet

 * Stages
 * Facts
 * Functions
 * Defined resource types
 * Types
 * Providers

This module is officially curated and provided by Puppet Labs.  The modules
Puppet Labs writes and distributes will make heavy use of this standard
library.

To report or research a bug with any part of this module, please go to
[http://projects.puppetlabs.com/projects/stdlib](http://projects.puppetlabs.com/projects/stdlib)

# Versions #

This module follows semver.org (v1.0.0) versioning guidelines.  The standard
library module is released as part of [Puppet
Enterprise](http://puppetlabs.com/puppet/puppet-enterprise/) and as a result
older versions of Puppet Enterprise that Puppet Labs still supports will have
bugfix maintenance branches periodically "merged up" into master.  The current
list of integration branches are:

 * v2.1.x (v2.1.1 released in PE 1.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.3, 1.2.4)
 * v2.2.x (Never released as part of PE, only to the Forge)
 * v2.3.x (Released in PE 2.5.x)
 * master (mainline development branch)

The first Puppet Enterprise version including the stdlib module is Puppet
Enterprise 1.2.

# Compatibility #

The stdlib module does not work with Puppet versions released prior to Puppet
2.6.0.

## stdlib 2.x ##

All stdlib releases in the 2.0 major version support Puppet 2.6 and Puppet 2.7.

## stdlib 3.x ##

The 3.0 major release of stdlib drops support for Puppet 2.6.  Stdlib 3.x
supports Puppet 2.7.

# Functions #

abs
---
Returns the absolute value of a number, for example -34.56 becomes 34.56. Takes
a single integer and float value as an argument.


- *Type*: rvalue

bool2num
--------
Converts a boolean to a number. Converts the values:
false, f, 0, n, and no to 0
true, t, 1, y, and yes to 1
    Requires a single boolean or string as an input.


- *Type*: rvalue

capitalize
----------
Capitalizes the first letter of a string or array of strings.
Requires either a single string or an array as an input.


- *Type*: rvalue

chomp
-----
Removes the record separator from the end of a string or an array of strings,
for example `hello\n` becomes `hello`.  Requires a single string or array as an
input.


- *Type*: rvalue

chop
----
Returns a new string with the last character removed. If the string ends
with `\r\n`, both characters are removed. Applying chop to an empty
string returns an empty string. If you wish to merely remove record
separators then you should use the `chomp` function.
Requires a string or array of strings as input.


- *Type*: rvalue

defined_with_params
-------------------
Takes a resource reference and an optional hash of attributes.

Returns true if a resource with the specified attributes has already been added
to the catalog, and false otherwise.

    user { 'dan':
      ensure => present,
    }

    if ! defined_with_params(User[dan], {'ensure' => 'present' }) {
      user { 'dan': ensure => present, }
    }


- *Type*: rvalue

delete
------
Deletes a selected element from an array.

*Examples:*

    delete(['a','b','c'], 'b')

Would return: ['a','c']


- *Type*: rvalue

delete_at
---------
Deletes a determined indexed value from an array.

*Examples:*

    delete_at(['a','b','c'], 1)

Would return: ['a','c']


- *Type*: rvalue

downcase
--------
Converts the case of a string or all strings in an array to lower case.


- *Type*: rvalue

empty
-----
Returns true if the variable is empty.


- *Type*: rvalue

ensure_resource
---------------
Takes a resource type, title, and a list of attributes that describe a
resource.

    user { 'dan':
      ensure => present,
    }

This example only creates the resource if it does not already exist:

    ensure_resource('user, 'dan', {'ensure' => 'present' })

If the resource already exists but does not match the specified parameters,
this function will attempt to recreate the resource leading to a duplicate
resource definition error.



- *Type*: statement

flatten
-------
This function flattens any deeply nested arrays and returns a single flat array
as a result.

*Examples:*

    flatten(['a', ['b', ['c']]])

Would return: ['a','b','c']


- *Type*: rvalue

fqdn_rotate
-----------
Rotates an array a random number of times based on a nodes fqdn.


- *Type*: rvalue

get_module_path
---------------
Returns the absolute path of the specified module for the current
environment.

Example:
  $module_path = get_module_path('stdlib')


- *Type*: rvalue

getvar
------
Lookup a variable in a remote namespace.

For example:

    $foo = getvar('site::data::foo')
    # Equivalent to $foo = $site::data::foo

This is useful if the namespace itself is stored in a string:

    $datalocation = 'site::data'
    $bar = getvar("${datalocation}::bar")
    # Equivalent to $bar = $site::data::bar


- *Type*: rvalue

grep
----
This function searches through an array and returns any elements that match
the provided regular expression.

*Examples:*

    grep(['aaa','bbb','ccc','aaaddd'], 'aaa')

Would return:

    ['aaa','aaaddd']


- *Type*: rvalue

has_key
-------
Determine if a hash has a certain key value.

Example:

    $my_hash = {'key_one' => 'value_one'}
    if has_key($my_hash, 'key_two') {
      notice('we will not reach here')
    }
    if has_key($my_hash, 'key_one') {
      notice('this will be printed')
    }



- *Type*: rvalue

hash
----
This function converts and array into a hash.

*Examples:*

    hash(['a',1,'b',2,'c',3])

Would return: {'a'=>1,'b'=>2,'c'=>3}


- *Type*: rvalue

is_array
--------
Returns true if the variable passed to this function is an array.


- *Type*: rvalue

is_domain_name
--------------
Returns true if the string passed to this function is a syntactically correct domain name.


- *Type*: rvalue

is_float
--------
Returns true if the variable passed to this function is a float.


- *Type*: rvalue

is_hash
-------
Returns true if the variable passed to this function is a hash.


- *Type*: rvalue

is_integer
----------
Returns true if the variable returned to this string is an integer.


- *Type*: rvalue

is_ip_address
-------------
Returns true if the string passed to this function is a valid IP address.


- *Type*: rvalue

is_mac_address
--------------
Returns true if the string passed to this function is a valid mac address.


- *Type*: rvalue

is_numeric
----------
Returns true if the variable passed to this function is a number.


- *Type*: rvalue

is_string
---------
Returns true if the variable passed to this function is a string.


- *Type*: rvalue

join
----
This function joins an array into a string using a seperator.

*Examples:*

    join(['a','b','c'], ",")

Would result in: "a,b,c"


- *Type*: rvalue

keys
----
Returns the keys of a hash as an array.


- *Type*: rvalue

loadyaml
--------
Load a YAML file containing an array, string, or hash, and return the data
in the corresponding native data type.

For example:

    $myhash = loadyaml('/etc/puppet/data/myhash.yaml')


- *Type*: rvalue

lstrip
------
Strips leading spaces to the left of a string.


- *Type*: rvalue

member
------
This function determines if a variable is a member of an array.

*Examples:*

    member(['a','b'], 'b')

Would return: true

    member(['a','b'], 'c')

Would return: false


- *Type*: rvalue

merge
-----
Merges two or more hashes together and returns the resulting hash.

For example:

    $hash1 = {'one' => 1, 'two', => 2}
    $hash2 = {'two' => 'dos', 'three', => 'tres'}
    $merged_hash = merge($hash1, $hash2)
    # The resulting hash is equivalent to:
    # $merged_hash =  {'one' => 1, 'two' => 'dos', 'three' => 'tres'}

When there is a duplicate key, the key in the rightmost hash will "win."



- *Type*: rvalue

num2bool
--------
This function converts a number into a true boolean. Zero becomes false. Numbers
higher then 0 become true.


- *Type*: rvalue

parsejson
---------
This function accepts JSON as a string and converts into the correct Puppet
structure.


- *Type*: rvalue

parseyaml
---------
This function accepts YAML as a string and converts it into the correct
Puppet structure.


- *Type*: rvalue

prefix
------
This function applies a prefix to all elements in an array.

*Examles:*

    prefix(['a','b','c'], 'p')

Will return: ['pa','pb','pc']


- *Type*: rvalue

range
-----
When given range in the form of (start, stop) it will extrapolate a range as
an array.

*Examples:*

    range("0", "9")

Will return: [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]

    range("00", "09")

Will return: [0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] (Zero padded strings are converted to
integers automatically)

    range("a", "c")

Will return: ["a","b","c"]

    range("host01", "host10")

Will return: ["host01", "host02", ..., "host09", "host10"]


- *Type*: rvalue

reverse
-------
Reverses the order of a string or array.


- *Type*: rvalue

rstrip
------
Strips leading spaces to the right of the string.


- *Type*: rvalue

shuffle
-------
Randomizes the order of a string or array elements.


- *Type*: rvalue

size
----
Returns the number of elements in a string or array.


- *Type*: rvalue

sort
----
Sorts strings and arrays lexically.


- *Type*: rvalue

squeeze
-------
Returns a new string where runs of the same character that occur in this set
are replaced by a single character.


- *Type*: rvalue

str2bool
--------
This converts a string to a boolean. This attempt to convert strings that
contain things like: y, 1, t, true to 'true' and strings that contain things
like: 0, f, n, false, no to 'false'.


- *Type*: rvalue

str2saltedsha512
----------------
This converts a string to a salted-SHA512 password hash (which is used for OS X
versions >= 10.7). Given any simple string, you will get a hex version of a
salted-SHA512 password hash that can be inserted into your Puppet manifests as
a valid password attribute.


- *Type*: rvalue

strftime
--------
This function returns formatted time.

*Examples:*

To return the time since epoch:

    strftime("%s")

To return the date:

    strftime("%Y-%m-%d")

*Format meaning:*

    %a - The abbreviated weekday name (``Sun'')
    %A - The  full  weekday  name (``Sunday'')
    %b - The abbreviated month name (``Jan'')
    %B - The  full  month  name (``January'')
    %c - The preferred local date and time representation
    %C - Century (20 in 2009)
    %d - Day of the month (01..31)
    %D - Date (%m/%d/%y)
    %e - Day of the month, blank-padded ( 1..31)
    %F - Equivalent to %Y-%m-%d (the ISO 8601 date format)
    %h - Equivalent to %b
    %H - Hour of the day, 24-hour clock (00..23)
    %I - Hour of the day, 12-hour clock (01..12)
    %j - Day of the year (001..366)
    %k - hour, 24-hour clock, blank-padded ( 0..23)
    %l - hour, 12-hour clock, blank-padded ( 0..12)
    %L - Millisecond of the second (000..999)
    %m - Month of the year (01..12)
    %M - Minute of the hour (00..59)
    %n - Newline (
)
    %N - Fractional seconds digits, default is 9 digits (nanosecond)
            %3N  millisecond (3 digits)
            %6N  microsecond (6 digits)
            %9N  nanosecond (9 digits)
    %p - Meridian indicator (``AM''  or  ``PM'')
    %P - Meridian indicator (``am''  or  ``pm'')
    %r - time, 12-hour (same as %I:%M:%S %p)
    %R - time, 24-hour (%H:%M)
    %s - Number of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.
    %S - Second of the minute (00..60)
    %t - Tab character (	)
    %T - time, 24-hour (%H:%M:%S)
    %u - Day of the week as a decimal, Monday being 1. (1..7)
    %U - Week  number  of the current year,
            starting with the first Sunday as the first
            day of the first week (00..53)
    %v - VMS date (%e-%b-%Y)
    %V - Week number of year according to ISO 8601 (01..53)
    %W - Week  number  of the current year,
            starting with the first Monday as the first
            day of the first week (00..53)
    %w - Day of the week (Sunday is 0, 0..6)
    %x - Preferred representation for the date alone, no time
    %X - Preferred representation for the time alone, no date
    %y - Year without a century (00..99)
    %Y - Year with century
    %z - Time zone as  hour offset from UTC (e.g. +0900)
    %Z - Time zone name
    %% - Literal ``%'' character


- *Type*: rvalue

strip
-----
This function removes leading and trailing whitespace from a string or from
every string inside an array.

*Examples:*

    strip("    aaa   ")

Would result in: "aaa"


- *Type*: rvalue

swapcase
--------
This function will swap the existing case of a string.

*Examples:*

    swapcase("aBcD")

Would result in: "AbCd"


- *Type*: rvalue

time
----
This function will return the current time since epoch as an integer.

*Examples:*

    time()

Will return something like: 1311972653


- *Type*: rvalue

to_bytes
--------
Converts the argument into bytes, for example 4 kB becomes 4096.
Takes a single string value as an argument.


- *Type*: rvalue

type
----
Returns the type when passed a variable. Type can be one of:

* string
* array
* hash
* float
* integer
* boolean


- *Type*: rvalue

unique
------
This function will remove duplicates from strings and arrays.

*Examples:*

    unique("aabbcc")

Will return:

    abc

You can also use this with arrays:

    unique(["a","a","b","b","c","c"])

This returns:

    ["a","b","c"]


- *Type*: rvalue

upcase
------
Converts a string or an array of strings to uppercase.

*Examples:*

    upcase("abcd")

Will return:

    ASDF


- *Type*: rvalue

validate_absolute_path
----------------------
Validate the string represents an absolute path in the filesystem.  This function works
for windows and unix style paths.

The following values will pass:

    $my_path = "C:/Program Files (x86)/Puppet Labs/Puppet"
    validate_absolute_path($my_path)
    $my_path2 = "/var/lib/puppet"
    validate_absolute_path($my_path2)


The following values will fail, causing compilation to abort:

    validate_absolute_path(true)
    validate_absolute_path([ 'var/lib/puppet', '/var/foo' ])
    validate_absolute_path([ '/var/lib/puppet', 'var/foo' ])
    $undefined = undef
    validate_absolute_path($undefined)



- *Type*: statement

validate_array
--------------
Validate that all passed values are array data structures. Abort catalog
compilation if any value fails this check.

The following values will pass:

    $my_array = [ 'one', 'two' ]
    validate_array($my_array)

The following values will fail, causing compilation to abort:

    validate_array(true)
    validate_array('some_string')
    $undefined = undef
    validate_array($undefined)



- *Type*: statement

validate_bool
-------------
Validate that all passed values are either true or false. Abort catalog
compilation if any value fails this check.

The following values will pass:

    $iamtrue = true
    validate_bool(true)
    validate_bool(true, true, false, $iamtrue)

The following values will fail, causing compilation to abort:

    $some_array = [ true ]
    validate_bool("false")
    validate_bool("true")
    validate_bool($some_array)



- *Type*: statement

validate_hash
-------------
Validate that all passed values are hash data structures. Abort catalog
compilation if any value fails this check.

The following values will pass:

    $my_hash = { 'one' => 'two' }
    validate_hash($my_hash)

The following values will fail, causing compilation to abort:

    validate_hash(true)
    validate_hash('some_string')
    $undefined = undef
    validate_hash($undefined)



- *Type*: statement

validate_re
-----------
Perform simple validation of a string against one or more regular
expressions. The first argument of this function should be a string to
test, and the second argument should be a stringified regular expression
(without the // delimiters) or an array of regular expressions.  If none
of the regular expressions match the string passed in, compilation will
abort with a parse error.

If a third argument is specified, this will be the error message raised and
seen by the user.

The following strings will validate against the regular expressions:

    validate_re('one', '^one$')
    validate_re('one', [ '^one', '^two' ])

The following strings will fail to validate, causing compilation to abort:

    validate_re('one', [ '^two', '^three' ])

A helpful error message can be returned like this:

    validate_re($::puppetversion, '^2.7', 'The $puppetversion fact value does not match 2.7')



- *Type*: statement

validate_slength
----------------
Validate that the first argument is a string (or an array of strings), and
less/equal to than the length of the second argument.  It fails if the first
argument is not a string or array of strings, and if arg 2 is not convertable
to a number.

The following values will pass:

  validate_slength("discombobulate",17)
  validate_slength(["discombobulate","moo"],17)

The following valueis will not:

  validate_slength("discombobulate",1)
  validate_slength(["discombobulate","thermometer"],5)



- *Type*: statement

validate_string
---------------
Validate that all passed values are string data structures. Abort catalog
compilation if any value fails this check.

The following values will pass:

    $my_string = "one two"
    validate_string($my_string, 'three')

The following values will fail, causing compilation to abort:

    validate_string(true)
    validate_string([ 'some', 'array' ])
    $undefined = undef
    validate_string($undefined)



- *Type*: statement

values
------
When given a hash this function will return the values of that hash.

*Examples:*

    $hash = {
      'a' => 1,
      'b' => 2,
      'c' => 3,
    }
    values($hash)

This example would return:

    [1,2,3]


- *Type*: rvalue

values_at
---------
Finds value inside an array based on location.

The first argument is the array you want to analyze, and the second element can
be a combination of:

* A single numeric index
* A range in the form of 'start-stop' (eg. 4-9)
* An array combining the above

*Examples*:

    values_at(['a','b','c'], 2)

Would return ['c'].

    values_at(['a','b','c'], ["0-1"])

Would return ['a','b'].

    values_at(['a','b','c','d','e'], [0, "2-3"])

Would return ['a','c','d'].


- *Type*: rvalue

zip
---
Takes one element from first array and merges corresponding elements from second array. This generates a sequence of n-element arrays, where n is one more than the count of arguments.

*Example:*

    zip(['1','2','3'],['4','5','6'])

Would result in:

    ["1", "4"], ["2", "5"], ["3", "6"]


- *Type*: rvalue