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📛 NAME

B::Xref – Generates cross reference reports for Perl programs

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
Generate a human‑readable report	perl -MO=Xref your_script.pl	Default cross reference to STDOUT
Save report to a file	perl -MO=Xref,-oreport your_script.pl	Redirect output to report
Raw machine‑readable output	perl -MO=Xref,-r your_script.pl	One line per definition/use
Suppress definitions section	perl -MO=Xref,-d your_script.pl	Omit (definitions) block
Debug object stack (internal)	perl -MO=Xref,-Dt your_script.pl	Prints top‑of‑stack objects
Debug operators (internal)	perl -MO=Xref,-DO your_script.pl	Prints each processed operator

📋 SYNOPSIS

perl -MO=Xref[,OPTIONS] foo.pl

📖 DESCRIPTION

The B::Xref module generates a cross reference listing of all definitions and uses of variables, subroutines and formats in a Perl program. It is implemented as a backend for the Perl compiler.

The report generated is in the following format:

File filename1
  Subroutine subname1
    Package package1
      object1        line numbers
      object2        line numbers
      ...
    Package package2
    ...

Each File section reports on a single file. Each Subroutine section reports on a single subroutine apart from the special cases (definitions) and (main). These report, respectively, on subroutine definitions found by the initial symbol table walk and on the main part of the program or module external to all subroutines.

The report is then grouped by the Package of each variable, subroutine or format with the special case (lexicals) meaning lexical variables. Each object name (implicitly qualified by its containing Package) includes its type character(s) at the beginning where possible. Lexical variables are easier to track and even include dereferencing information where possible.

The line numbers are a comma separated list of line numbers (some preceded by code letters) where that object is used in some way. Simple uses aren't preceded by a code letter. Introductions (such as where a lexical is first defined with my) are indicated with the letter i. Subroutine and method calls are indicated by the character &. Subroutine definitions are indicated by s and format definitions by f.

For instance, here’s part of the report from the pod2man program that comes with Perl:

Subroutine clear_noremap
  Package (lexical)
    $ready_to_print   i1069, 1079
  Package main
    $&                1086
    $.                1086
    $0                1086
    $1                1087
    $2                1085, 1085
    $3                1085, 1085
    $ARGV             1086
    %HTML_Escapes     1085, 1085

This shows the variables used in the subroutine clear_noremap. The variable $ready_to_print is a my() (lexical) variable, introduced (first declared with my()) on line 1069, and used on line 1079. The variable $& from the main package is used on 1086, and so on.

A line number may be prefixed by a single letter:

• i – Lexical variable introduced (declared with my()) for the first time.
• & – Subroutine or method call.
• s – Subroutine defined.
• r – Format defined.

The most useful option the cross referencer has is to save the report to a separate file. For instance, to save the report on myperlprogram to the file report:

$ perl -MO=Xref,-oreport myperlprogram

⚙️ OPTIONS

Option words are separated by commas (not whitespace) and follow the usual conventions of compiler backend options.

• -oFILENAME 📁 Directs output to FILENAME instead of standard output.
• -r 🔣 Raw output. Instead of producing a human‑readable report, outputs a line in machine‑readable form for each definition/use of a variable/sub/format.
• -d 🗑️ Don’t output the (definitions) sections.
• -D[tO] 🔍 (Internal) debug options, probably only useful if -r is included. The t option prints the object on the top of the stack as it’s being tracked. The O option prints each operator as it’s being processed in the execution order of the program.

🐞 BUGS

Non‑lexical variables are quite difficult to track through a program. Sometimes the type of a non‑lexical variable’s use is impossible to determine. Introductions of non‑lexical non‑scalars don’t seem to be reported properly.

👤 AUTHOR

Malcolm Beattie, mbeattie AT sable.uk.

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perl v5.34.0 – 2026-06-23 – B::Xref(3perl)

📛 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📋 SYNOPSIS 📖 DESCRIPTION ⚙️ OPTIONS 🐞 BUGS 👤 AUTHOR