Perl6: large gzipped files read line by line - gzip

Question

I'm trying to read a gz file line by line in Perl6, however, I'm getting blocked:
How to read gz file line by line in Perl6 however, this method, reading everything into :out uses far too much RAM to be usable except on very small files.
I don't understand how to use Perl6's Compress::Zlib to get everything line by line, although I opened an issue on their github https://github.com/retupmoca/P6-Compress-Zlib/issues/17
I'm trying Perl5's Compress::Zlib to translate this code, which works perfectly in Perl5:
use Compress::Zlib;
my $file = "data.txt.gz";
my $gz = gzopen($file, "rb") or die "Error reading $file: $gzerrno";
while ($gz->gzreadline($_) > 0) {
# Process the line read in $_
}
die "Error reading $file: $gzerrno" if $gzerrno != Z_STREAM_END ;
$gz->gzclose() ;
to something like this using Inline::Perl5 in Perl6:
use Compress::Zlib:from<Perl5>;
my $file = 'chrMT.1.vcf.gz';
my $gz = Compress::Zlib::new(gzopen($file, 'r');
while ($gz.gzreadline($_) > 0) {
print $_;
}
$gz.gzclose();
but I can't see how to translate this :(
I'm confused by Lib::Archive example https://github.com/frithnanth/perl6-Archive-Libarchive/blob/master/examples/readfile.p6 I don't see how I can get something like item 3 here
There should be something like
for $file.IO.lines(gz) -> $line { or something like that in Perl6, if it exists, I can't find it.
How can I read a large file line by line without reading everything into RAM in Perl6?

Answer 1

Update Now tested, which revealed an error, now fixed.
Solution #2
use Compress::Zlib;
my $file = "data.txt.gz" ;
my $handle = try open $file or die "Error reading $file: $!" ;
my $zwrap = zwrap($handle, :gzip) ;
for $zwrap.lines {
.print
}
CATCH { default { die "Error reading $file: $_" } }
$handle.close ;
I've tested this with a small gzipped text file.
I don't know much about gzip etc. but figured this out based on:
Knowing P6;
Reading Compress::Zlib's README and choosing the zwrap routine;
Looking at the module's source code, in particular the signature of the zwrap routine our sub zwrap ($thing, :$zlib, :$deflate, :$gzip);
And trial and error, mainly to guess that I needed to pass the :gzip adverb.
Please comment on whether my code works for you. I'm guessing the main thing is whether it's fast enough for the large files you have.
A failed attempt at solution #5
With solution #2 working I would have expected to be able to write just:
use Compress::Zlib ;
.print for "data.txt.gz".&zwrap(:gzip).lines ;
But that fails with:
No such method 'eof' for invocant of type 'IO::Path'
This is presumably because this module was written before the reorganization of the IO classes.
That led me to #MattOates' IO::Handle like object with .lines ? issue. I note no response and I saw no related repo at https://github.com/MattOates?tab=repositories.

Answer 2

I am focusing on the Inline::Perl5 solution that you tried.
For the call to $gz.gzreadline($_): it seems like gzreadline tries to return the line read from the zip file by modifying its input argument $_ (treated as an output argument, but it is not a true Perl 5 reference variable[1]), but the modified value is not returned to the Perl 6 script.
Here is a possoble workaround:
Create a wrapper module in the curent directory, e.g. ./MyZlibWrapper.pm:
package MyZlibWrapper;
use strict;
use warnings;
use Compress::Zlib ();
use Exporter qw(import);
our #EXPORT = qw(gzopen);
our $VERSION = 0.01;
sub gzopen {
my ( $fn, $mode ) = #_;
my $gz = Compress::Zlib::gzopen( $fn, $mode );
my $self = {gz => $gz};
return bless $self, __PACKAGE__;
}
sub gzreadline {
my ( $self ) = #_;
my $line = "";
my $res = $self->{gz}->gzreadline($line);
return [$res, $line];
}
sub gzclose {
my ( $self ) = #_;
$self->{gz}->gzclose();
}
1;
Then use Inline::Perl5 on this wrapper module instead of Compress::Zlib. For example ./p.p6:
use v6;
use lib:from<Perl5> '.';
use MyZlibWrapper:from<Perl5>;
my $file = 'data.txt.gz';
my $mode = 'rb';
my $gz = gzopen($file, $mode);
loop {
my ($res, $line) = $gz.gzreadline();
last if $res == 0;
print $line;
}
$gz.gzclose();
[1]
In Perl 5 you can modify an input argument that is not a reference, and the change will be reflected in the caller. This is done by modifying entries in the special #_ array variable. For example: sub quote { $_[0] = "'$_[0]'" } $str = "Hello"; quote($str) will quote $str even if $str is not passed by reference.