perl/postscript csv->avery labels

labels.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl
# labels.pl reads csv records in the form:
# "Name","123 Street","Apt","City, ST ZIP"
# from a file named "addr.csv" and
# produces a postscript program on stdout
# suitable for piping into ps2pdf or
# even distiller, maybe
# CAVEATS: prototype produces at most
# one page. label and sheet sizes are hard-coded
# at 3 3-inch-width labels which are 4*17 points
# high. I don't have any real ones on hand
# to measure.

$IN = "addr.csv";
open IN or die "Can't open input: $!";

print <<PROLOG;
%!
/in{72 mul}def
/LEAD 17 def
/LM 10 def
/count 0 def
/TM 11 in LEAD sub def
/Palatino-Roman 15 selectfont

[
PROLOG

while(<IN>) {
        s/\n$//;
        s/^"/\[\(/;
        s/","/\)\(/g;
        s/"$/\)\]/;
        s/$/\n/;
        print;
}

print <<PSPROGRAM;
]

{ %each record
        LM TM moveto
        { %each address line
                dup () eq { pop } {   % skip empties
                        show      % paint the string
                        %currentpoint exch = = =    % diagnostic
                        LM currentpoint exch pop LEAD sub moveto  % reposition
                } ifelse
        } forall
        /LM LM 3 in add store % move over
        /count count 1 add store
        count 3 mod 0 eq {  % back to left after each 3
                /LM 10 store /TM TM LEAD 4 mul sub store
        } if
} forall

showpage

PSPROGRAM