+----------------------------------------+
                        |         Unix Flatfile to RDFizer       |
                        +----------------------------------------+

  What is this?
  -------------

It's a perl script that converts classic unix text database files,
like /etc/passwd, into RDF/N3.

  What is the current status?
  ---------------------------
  
Not known not to work.

  Usage & Examples
  ----------------

Usage: 

flat2rdf.pl [-n <namespace>]* [-s <split>] [-c <charset>] [-C] [-m <mappings>] <input> <output>
  <input> -- flat file to process
  <output> -- RDF/N3 file to write
  <split> -- perl regex to split fields, default /:/
  <mappings> -- list of <mapping>; split via /,w*/
  <mapping> -- <rdf-predicate-name>[[;<type>];<prefix>]
  <type> -- integer, string, url, qstring, qurl; name; default is string
            when the type is name the prefix (default :) is prefixed on 
            the token.
  <charset> -- perl charset name of the input, default is iso-8859-1.
  -C -- do not discard lines that begin with '#', i.e. comments.

For example converting the groups file into RDF/N#
    % ./flat2rdf.pl /etc/group /tmp/foo
    % head -3 /tmp/foo
    [:f1 "nobody"; :f2 "*"; :f3 "-2"].
    [:f1 "nogroup"; :f2 "*"; :f3 "-1"].
    [:f1 "wheel"; :f2 "*"; :f3 "0"; :f4 "root"].

Usually you want to use the -m argument.
    % MAP=':group;name;, drop, :groupid;integer'
    % ./flat2rdf.pl -m "$MAP" /etc/group /tmp/foo
    % head -2 /tmp/foo
    [:group nobody; :groupid -2].
    [:group nogroup; :groupid -1].

or alternately if you wanted to have the group id as the subject.

    % MAP='subject,name,g:; drop; :groupid,integer'
    % ./flat2rdf.pl -m "$MAP" /etc/group /tmp/foo
    % head -2 /tmp/foo
    g:nobody :groupid -2 .
    g:nogroup :groupid -1 .

You can define the g: prefix with the -n switch, 
   i.e.: -n '@PREFIX g: <tag:example.com:1886-09-18:13:> .'

  Credits
  -------

"There is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go if he
doesn't mind who gets the credit." - Robert Woodruff

					    Ben Hyde <bhyde@pobox.com>