A here document (also called a here-document, a heredoc, a hereis, a here-string or a here-script) is a way of specifying a string literal in command line shells including all the Unix shells (sh, csh, ksh, Bash and zsh) and in programming or scripting languages such as Perl, PHP, Python, PowerShell and Ruby. It preserves the line breaks and other whitespace (including indentation) in the text. Some languages allow variable substitution and command substitution inside the string.

The general syntax is << followed by a delimiting identifier, followed, starting on the next line, by the text to be quoted, and then closed by the same identifier on its own line. Under the Unix shells, here documents are generally used as a way of providing input to commands.

Specific implementations

The following sections provide examples of specific implementations in different programming languages and environments. Most of these use syntax identical or substantially similar to the general syntax specified above, although some environments provide similar functionality but with different conventions and under different names.

Command-line shells

Unix Shells

In the following example, text is passed to the tr command using a here document.

$ tr a-z A-Z < one two three > uno dos tres > END_TEXT ONE TWO THREE UNO DOS TRES END_TEXT was used as the delimiting identifier. It specified the start and end of the here document. ONE TWO THREE and UNO DOS TRES are outputs from tr after execution.

Appending a minus sign to the << has the effect that leading tabs are ignored. This allows indenting here documents in shell scripts without changing their value. (Note that you will probably need to type CTRL-V, TAB to actually enter a TAB character on the command line. Tab emulated here with spaces; don't copy and paste.)

$ tr a-z A-Z <<-END_TEXT > one two three > uno dos tres > END_TEXT ONE TWO THREE UNO DOS TRES

By default variables and also commands in backticks are evaluated:

$ cat << EOF > Working dir $PWD > EOF Working dir /home/user

This can be disabled by quoting any part of the label. For example by setting it in single or double quotes:

$ cat << "EOF" > Working dir $PWD > EOF Working dir $PWD

Also you can use a here-string in Bash:

$ tr a-z A-Z <<<"Yes it is a string" YES IT IS A STRING

Windows PowerShell

In Windows PowerShell, here documents are referred to as here-strings. A here-string is a string which starts with an open delimiter (@" or @') and ends with a close delimiter ("@ or '@) on a line by itself, which terminates the string. All characters between the open and close delimiter are considered the string literal. Using a here-string with double quotes allows variables to be interpreted, using single quotes doesn't. Variable interpolation occurs with simple variables (e.g. $x but NOT $x.y or $x[0]). You can execute a set of statements by putting them in $() (e.g. $($x.y) or $(Get-Process | Out-String)).

In the following PowerShell code, text is passed to a function using a here-string. The function ConvertTo-UpperCase is defined as follows:

PS> function ConvertTo-UpperCase($string) { $string.ToUpper() }

PS> ConvertTo-UpperCase @' >> one two three >> eins zwei drei >> '@ >> ONE TWO THREE EINS ZWEI DREI

Here is an example that demonstrates variable interpolation and statement execution using a here-string with double quotes:

$doc, $marty = 'Dr. Emmett Brown', 'Marty McFly' $time = [DateTime]'Friday, October 25, 1985 8:00:00 AM' $diff = New-TimeSpan -Minutes 25 @" $doc : Are those my clocks I hear? $marty : Yeah! Uh, it's $($time.Hour) o'clock! $doc : Perfect! My experiment worked! They're all exactly $($diff.Minutes) minutes slow. $marty : Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Doc... Are you telling me that it's $(($time + $diff).ToShortTimeString())? $doc : Precisely. $marty : Damn! I'm late for school! "@

Output:

Dr. Emmett Brown : Are those my clocks I hear? Marty McFly : Yeah! Uh, it's 8 o'clock! Dr. Emmett Brown : Perfect! My experiment worked! They're all exactly 25 minutes slow. Marty McFly : Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Doc... Are you telling me that it's 08:25? Dr. Emmett Brown : Precisely. Marty McFly : Damn! I'm late for school!

Using a here-string with single quotes instead, the output would look like this:

$doc : Are those my clocks I hear? $marty : Yeah! Uh, it's $($time.Hour) o'clock! $doc : Perfect! My experiment worked! They're all exactly $($diff.Minutes) minutes slow. $marty : Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Doc... Are you telling me that it's $(($time + $diff).ToShortTimeString())? $doc : Precisely. $marty : Damn! I'm late for school!

Programming languages

D

Since version 2.0, D has support for delimiter strings using the 'q' prefix character. These strings begin and end with a delimiter character (any of () <> {} or []), or an identifier immediately followed by a newline.

The following D code shows 2 examples using delimiter characters and an identifier. int main() { string list = q"[1. Item One 2. Item Two 3. Item Three]"; writef( list ); }

Using an identifier. int main() { string list = q"IDENT 1. Item One 2. Item Two 3. Item Three IDENT"; writef( list ); }

PHP

In PHP, here documents are referred to as heredocs.

$name = "Joe Smith"; $occupation = "Programmer"; echo << This is a heredoc section. For more information talk to $name, your local $occupation.

Thanks!

EOF;

$toprint = <<

Hey $name! You can actually assign the heredoc section to a variable!

EOF; echo strtolower($toprint);

?>

Outputs

This is a heredoc section. For more information talk to Joe Smith, your local Programmer.

Thanks!

hey joe smith! you can actually assign the heredoc section to a variable!

The line containing the closing identifier must not contain any other characters, except an optional ending semicolon. Otherwise, it will not be considered to be a closing identifier, and PHP will continue looking for one. If a proper closing identifier is not found, a parse error will result with the line number being at the end of the script. As of PHP 5.3.0 HereDoc in PHP can be initiated with double quotes (not unlike Python which uses triple quotes).

Perl

In Perl there are several different ways to invoke here docs. Using double quotes around the tag allows variables to be interpolated, using single quotes doesn't and using the tag without either behaves like double quotes. Using backticks as the delimiter runs the contents of the heredoc as a shell script. It is necessary to make sure that the end tag is at the beginning of the line or the tag will not be recognized by the interpreter.

Here is an example with double quotes:

my $sender = "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"; my $recipient = "Spike";

print <<"END";

Dear $recipient,

I wish you to leave Sunnydale and never return.

Not Quite Love, $sender

END

Output:

Dear Spike,

I wish you to leave Sunnydale and never return.

Not Quite Love, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Here is an example with single quotes:

print <<'END'; Dear $recipient,

I wish you to leave Sunnydale and never return.

Not Quite Love, $sender END

Output:

Dear $recipient,

I wish you to leave Sunnydale and never return.

Not Quite Love, $sender

And an example with backticks (may not be portable):

my $shell_script_stdout = <<`END`; echo foo echo bar END

Python

Python supports heredocs delimited by single or double quotes repeated three times (i.e. ''' or """).

A simple example with variable interpolation that yields the same result as the first Perl example above, is:

print """Dear %(recipient)s,

I wish you to leave Sunnydale and never return.

Not Quite Love, %(sender)s """ % {'sender': 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer', 'recipient': 'Spike'}

(note that the 's' after the closing parenthesis indicates the type of the substitution, in this case a string). The Template class described in PEP 292 (Simpler String Substitutions) provides similar functionality for variable interpolation and may be used in combination with the Python triple-quotes syntax.

Ruby

The following Ruby code displays a grocery list by using a here document.

puts <

Organic

GROCERY_LIST

The result:

$ ruby grocery-list.rb Grocery list ------------ 1. Salad mix. 2. Strawberries.* 3. Cereal. 4. Milk.*

* Organic

Writing to a file with a here document involves a profusion of chevron ('<') symbols:

File::open("grocery-list", "w") do |f| f << <

Organic

GROCERY_LIST end

Ruby also allows for the delimiting identifier not to start on the first column of a line, if the start of the here document is marked with the slightly different starter "<<-". Besides, Ruby treats here documents as a double-quoted string, and as such, it is possible to use the #{} construct to interpolate code. The following example illustrates both of these features :

now = Time.now puts <<-EOF It's #{now.hour} o'clock John, where are your kids? EOF

Ruby also allows for starting multiple here documents in one line:

puts <\n" + <

# this equals this expression: puts "This is the beginning:\n<--- middle --->\nAnd now it is over!"

Tcl

Tcl has no special syntax for heredocs, because the ordinary string syntaxes already allow embedded newlines and preserve indentation. Brace-delimited strings have no substitution (interpolation):

puts { Grocery list ------------ 1. Salad mix. 2. Strawberries.* 3. Cereal. 4. Milk.*

Organic

}

Quote-delimited strings are substituted at runtime:

set sender "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" set recipient "Spike"

puts " Dear $recipient,

I wish you to leave Sunnydale and never return.

Not Quite Love, $sender "

In brace-delimited strings, there is the restriction that they must be balanced with respect to unescaped braces. In quote-delimited strings, braces can be unbalanced but backslashes, dollar signs, and left brackets all trigger substitution, and the first unescaped double quote terminates the string.

A point to note is that both the above strings have a newline as first and last character, since that is what comes immediately after and before respectively the delimiters. string trim can be used to remove these if they are unwanted:

puts [string trim " Dear $recipient,

I wish you to leave Sunnydale and never return.

Not Quite Love, $sender " \n]

Similarly, string map can be used to effectively set up variant syntaxes, e.g. undoing a certain indentation or introducing nonstandard escape sequences to achieve unbalanced braces.

See also

tr (program) for information about tr(1)

Pipeline (Unix) for information about pipes

String literal

Docstring

References

Category:Programming constructs

Anthony David Weiner (; born September 4, 1964) is a U.S. Representative who has served since January 1999. A Democrat, Weiner was first elected to fill the seat previously occupied by Democrat Charles Schumer. He won seven terms, never receiving less than 59 percent of the vote. He was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York City in the 2005 election, and had begun to amass a campaign fund to run again for mayor in 2013. Weiner has resigned from Congress, effective at midnight, June 21, 2011. Pressure for him to resign mounted over the following ten days, with President Obama implying and leaders of both parties suggesting that he should step down. On June 16, 2011, he announced his intention to resign from Congress. His formal letter of resignation said it was effective June 21, 2011.

Early life, education, and family

Weiner was born in Brooklyn, New York, one of three sons of Mort Weiner, a lawyer, and Fran Weiner, a mathematics teacher at Midwood High School. The family lived for a time in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Weiner was raised Jewish: he told Moment Magazine in 2011, "We weren't a very religious household, but we had a very strong sense of our Judaism." Weiner's 39-year-old older brother Seth was killed in a hit-and-run pedestrian–car accident in May 2000. His other brother, Jason, is a chef and co-owner of New York restaurants.

Weiner took the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT), and entered Brooklyn Technical High School. He says he had missed admission to Stuyvesant High School by one point. After graduating from Brooklyn Tech in 1981, he attended the State University of New York at Plattsburgh (Political Science; 1985), where he played hockey and was named most effective student senator.

New York City Councilman: 1992–98

After six years of working for Schumer, Weiner's first chance at political office came in 1991 when the New York City Council was expanded from 35 to 51 seats.

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on public housing, he fought to increase federal funding, to ban dangerous dogs, and to add more police officers to the beat. His investigation into the cause of sudden, fatal stairwell fires made headlines; he exposed dangerous practices that eventually led the city to replace the paint in developments citywide.

In April 2008, Weiner created the bi-partisan Congressional Middle Class Caucus. Weiner received an "A" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.

In late July 2009, Weiner succeeded in securing a full House floor vote for single payer health care when Congress returned from its August recess, in exchange for not amending America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (AAHCA) in Committee mark-up with a single-payer plan.

Weiner is known to be one of the most intense and demanding members of Congress. He often works long hours with his staff fact-checking documents, resulting in one of the highest staff turn-over rates of any member of Congress, including, at one point, three chiefs of staff in 18 months. Weiner admitted, "I push people pretty hard... I have nothing but love for people who endured it, even if they endured it for a short period of time."

According to the non-partisan GovTrack web site, between 1999 and 2011 Representative Weiner had been the primary sponsor of 191 Bills, none of which have been enacted. During the same period he was a co-sponsor of 1,909 Bills or Resolutions.

Committees

Committee on Energy and Commerce

* Subcommittee on Health

* Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Domestic policy

Weiner is an advocate of the United States National Health Care Act, which expands Medicare to all Americans. He remarked that while Medicare has a 4% overhead rate, private insurers put 30% of their customer's money into profits and overhead instead of into health care.

Weiner said that a public option "gets you some of the way" Weiner attracted wide attention when, on February 24, 2010, he proclaimed in front of Congress: "Make no mistake about it, every single Republican I have ever met in my entire life is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry."

In 2003, he received a 100% rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League and a 0% rating from National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). He voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which made it a crime for a doctor to perform intact dilation and extractions. He was critical of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which places limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the context of the November 2009 Affordable Health Care for America Act.

The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT) of 2009, co-sponsored by Weiner, was signed into law in March 2010. The bill makes it a felony to sell tobacco in violation of any state tax law, and effectively ends Internet tobacco smuggling by stopping shipments of cigarettes through the United States Postal Service. Weiner said:

This new law will give states and localities a major revenue boost by cracking down on the illegal sale of tobacco and close a major source of finances for international terrorists and criminals. Every day we delay is another day that New York loses significant amounts of tax revenue and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the internet.

On July 29, 2010, Weiner criticized Republicans for opposing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. This act would provide for funds for sick first responders to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, many of whom reside in Weiner's district. In a speech on the floor of the House, he accused Republicans of hiding behind procedural questions as an excuse to vote against the bill.

In October 2010, Weiner urged YouTube to take down Anwar al-Awlaki's videos from its website, saying that by hosting al-Awlaki's messages, "We are facilitating the recruitment of homegrown terror." In November 2010, YouTube removed from its site some of the hundreds of videos featuring al-Awlaki's calls to jihad.

Foreign policy

Weiner voted for the authorization to use force in Iraq in 2002, which he later said he regretted. In a conversation with talk show host Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor, Weiner proposed a withdrawal from Iraq.

In May 2006, Weiner attempted to bar entry by the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations. He claimed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not represent the PLO, and implied that this was because the group is listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Weiner further stated that the delegation "should start packing their little Palestinian terrorist bags." Weiner went on to claim that Human Rights Watch, The New York Times, and, in particular, Amnesty International are biased against Israel.

Weiner, along with several other members of Congress, have criticized the Obama administration proposal to sell over $60 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia. Weiner said:

"Saudi Arabia is not deserving of our aid, and by arming them with advanced American weaponry we are sending the wrong message"

He described Saudi Arabia as having a "history of financing terrorism" and teaching "hatred of Christians and Jews" to their schoolchildren.

The Tax Relief Bill 2010

Weiner voted against the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. He said the Republicans turned out to be "better poker players" than Obama.

Local NYC issues

In June 2008, Weiner sponsored a bill that would increase the number of O-visas available to foreign models. Weiner argued that increasing the number of visas would help boost the fashion industry in New York City.

Weiner has criticized United Nations diplomats for failing to pay parking tickets in New York City, claiming foreign nations owed $18,000,000 to the city.

Treatment of staffers

In July 2008, The New York Times printed a front page story on Weiner's demanding treatment of his staffers. The piece reported that Weiner was known for yelling at his staffers when he believed they had failed to perform their duties adequately and physically abusing his office furniture when upset. As a result of Weiner's demanding nature, the Times reported that a "sizable number" of his staff members had resigned following "abbreviated stints." According to Congressional data at the time, Weiner had "presided over more turnover than any other member of the New York House delegation in the last six years." At the time of the report, about half of Weiner's staff had been his employees for less than a year and since early 2007, he had gone through three chiefs of staff. He often worked long hours with his staff. Weiner admitted, "I push people pretty hard... I have nothing but love for people who endured it, even if they endured it for a short period of time."

Parking tickets and vehicle registration

On March 29, 2010, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported that Weiner had accumulated $2,180 in parking tickets in Washington, D.C., between 2007 and 2010 and that all but one had yet to be paid (before the release of the story). Some tickets included instances in which he appeared to have incurred multiple violations at the same time, such as failing to display current tags while parked in a taxi stand zone. A spokesman for his office stated that all the parking tickets had since "been paid. He is pleased to have helped decrease the D.C. budget deficit." On June 13, 2011, the New York Daily News reported that Weiner's license plates on his 20-year-old Nissan Pathfinder had expired in 2006 and were not registered to that vehicle, but rather to another vehicle he owned at the time.

Sexting scandal and resignation

On May 27, 2011, Weiner sent a link via Twitter to a photograph on yfrog showing his erect penis concealed by briefs to a 21-year-old woman in Bellingham, Washington, who was "following" him on the social media website. He initially said he had not posted the image, and that his account had been "hacked".

On June 6, 2011, conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted a cropped shirtless picture Weiner had sent to another woman on his BigGovernment.com blog, and indicated that there were more. That afternoon, Weiner held a press conference at which he apologized, saying "I have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends and supporters, and the media" and that, "to be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it." He added that he had been involved in "six inappropriate relationships over the past three years" using Twitter and other media. Answering questions, he said that he had his wife's continuing support, and that he did not intend to resign his congressional seat. After Weiner's press conference, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced that she had requested an investigation by the House Ethics Committee to determine "whether any official resources were used or any other violation of House rules occurred". On June 8, his spokeswoman commented, concerning an explicit nude picture of erect genitalia leaked through the The Opie & Anthony Show: "As Representative Weiner said on Monday when he took responsibility for his actions, he has sent explicit photos." On June 9, a NY1-Marist Poll showed that 56% of registered voters in Weiner's congressional district wanted him to stay in Congress, and 33% thought he should resign, with 12% uncertain. On June 6, a poll of New York City residents by TV station NY1 and Marist College found that 51% believed Weiner should remain in Congress, 30% thought he should step down, and 18% were unsure, while another survey found 46 percent thought he should resign and 41 percent thought Weiner should stay in office. On June 11, after several Democrats in Congress called for Weiner's resignation, Pelosi, DCCC Steve Israel, and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz did so as well. In a TV interview on June 13, President Barack Obama said that if he were Weiner, he would resign. On June 16, 2011, Weiner announced at a press conference that he would resign from Congress.

Mayoral run

Weiner sought the Democratic nomination to run for New York City mayor in 2005, vying against three other candidates. He had a three-part pitch to voters that included criticizing sitting Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his top-down style of management and promising a more democratic approach; against "passivity in City Hall" and for getting more federal money for the city; and a series of ideas on how to get the city to work better. However, in May 2009, after the New York City Council voted to extend term limits for Mayor Bloomberg, Weiner announced his decision not to run against the popular incumbent.

By July 2010, Weiner had raised $3.9 million for a potential campaign in the 2013 mayoral election, and was considered a leading contender in early polls.

Personal life

Weiner proposed to Huma Abedin, a longtime personal aide of Hillary Clinton, on May 23, 2009. Weiner married Abedin on July 10, 2010. Former president Bill Clinton officiated the wedding. Abedin is now pregnant with their first child.

Weiner is a friend of actor Ben Affleck, whom he met while Affleck was researching his role for the film State of Play, in 2008. "We got into a chest-to-chest shouting match over Obama–Clinton within about four minutes. Literally, people were outside the office wondering if they should go in and separate us," Weiner has said about one of their first encounters.

References

External links

Anthony Weiner official campaign site

Anthony Weiner on YouTube

Live from New York, It's Anthony Weiner. Daphna Berman, Moment Magazine, May/June 2011

Video of Weiner's June 6, 2011 Press conference (CBS News), with transcript (New York Post), June 6, 2011

Category:1964 births Category:American Jews Category:Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York Category:New York City Council members Category:New York City politicians Category:New York Democrats Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Public officeholders of Rockaway, Queens Category:State University of New York at Plattsburgh alumni