NAME Geography::States - Map states and provinces to their codes, and vica versa.
SYNOPSIS use Geography::States;
my $obj = Geography::States -> new (COUNTRY [, STRICT]);
EXAMPLES my $canada = Geography::States -> new ('Canada');
my $name = $canada -> state ('NF'); # Newfoundland.
my $code = $canada -> state ('Ontario'); # ON.
my ($code, $name) = $canada -> state ('BC'); # BC, British Columbia.
my @all_states = $canada -> state; # List code/name pairs.
DESCRIPTION This module lets you map states and provinces to their codes, and codes to names of provinces and states.
The "Geography::States -" new ()> call takes 1 or 2 arguments. The
first, required, argument is the country we are interested in. Current
supported countries are *USA*, *Brazil*, *Canada*, *The Netherlands*,
and *Australia*. If a second non-false argument is given, we use *strict
mode*. In non-strict mode, we will map territories and alternative codes
as well, while we do not do that in strict mode. For example, if the
country is USA, in non-strict mode, we will map GU to Guam, while in
strict mode, neither GU and Guam will be found.
The state() method All queries are done by calling the "state" method in the object. This method takes an optional argument. If an argument is given, then in scalar context, it will return the name of the state if a code of a state is given, and the code of a state, if the argument of the method is a name of a state. In list context, both the code and the state will be returned.
If no argument is given, then the "state" method in list context will
return a list of all code/name pairs for that country. In scalar
context, it will return the number of code/name pairs. Each code/name
pair is a 2 element anonymous array.
Arguments can be given in a case insensitive way; if a name consists of
multiple parts, the number of spaces does not matter, as long as there
is some whitespace. (That is "NewYork" is wrong, but "new YORK" is
fine.)
ODDITIES AND OPEN QUESTIONS I found conflicting abbreviations for the US Northern Mariana Islands, listed as NI and MP. I picked MP from the USPS site.
One site listed *Midway Islands* as having code *MD*. It is not listed
by the USPS site, and because it conflicts with *Maryland*, it is not
put in this listing.
The USPS also has so-called *Military "States"*, with non-unique codes.
Those are not listed here.
Canada's *Quebec* has two codes, the older *PQ* and the modern *QC*.
Both *PQ* and *QC* will map to *Quebec*, but *Quebec* will only map to
*QC*. With strict mode, *PQ* will not be listed. Similary, Newfoundland
has an old code *NF*, and a new code *NL* (the province is now called
*Newfoundland and Labrador*).
DEVELOPMENT The current sources of this module are found on github, git://github.com/Abigail/geography--states.git.
AUTHOR Abigail mailto:geography-states@abigail.be.
COPYRIGHT and LICENSE Copyright (C) 1999 - 2001, 2009 by Abigail.
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