/code></pre>

<p>The following chart illustrates the logic used to decide how to treat a parameter.</p>

<pre><code>   ref($param)  $param is assumed to be:
   -----------  ---------------------
   undef        a filename
   SCALAR       ref to string
   ARRAY        ref to array
   (other)      object with getline (if source) or print method</code></pre>

<p>If the parameter is an object, and the object has a <b>close</b> method, that close method will be called at the end of the stream.</p>

<dl>

<dt id=