Script to comment parts of code in a source file

A friend of mine wanted a script to comment parts of code in a source file. We were chatting & i gave him this solution:

me: perl --i.bak -pe 's/^(.*)$/#$1/gi if ($. >=start_line_number && $. <= end_line_number)' filename

Try above command in terminal. Where start_line_number is the line number where u shud start commenting & end_line_number is where u want to stop commenting.

But he wanted that the script should take a function name as input rather than line numbers ... this is what he says: (name not published ;))

myfrend: hey vikas, i need a script to start commenting the codes without using line numbers, but using function name....is it possible?

me: u mean to say u have function names ... & u want to comment the whole functions?

u mean to say u have function names ... & u want to comment the whole functions?

myfrend: yeah

s

me: it is possible ... if u can get correct start&end boundaries for the functions

myfrend: yeah..how to get it....its difficult

me: how big can the file be .. that is MAX big file size?

myfrend: say around 3000 lines

I was asking a lot of questions about the source files like do they follow coding standards, etc .. & all that. So he suggested what he wanted to do ... i mean the logic ... he said:

myfrend: my logic is : search for function name, then keep a counter to increment/decrement when { or } is found, when counter is zero, exit the prgm

me: this is holds good ... but u have to account for { } occuring on same line ... & account for comments, etc

myfrend: ok

Got some free time to think about it ... & wrote a script for this. This may not be a complete solution, but a good starting point i guess.

Here is the link to the script:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2jxmfs_43gbtd2jfq

PS - myfrend :

If you permit I can publish your name ... with a hyperlink possibly to your blog ;)