phpman > man > Want(3pm)

NAME
    Want - A generalisation of "wantarray"

SYNOPSIS
      use Want;
      sub foo :lvalue {
          if    (want(qw'LVALUE ASSIGN')) {
            print "We have been assigned ", want('ASSIGN');
            lnoreturn;
          }
          elsif (want('LIST')) {
            rreturn (1, 2, 3);
          }
          elsif (want('BOOL')) {
            rreturn 0;
          }
          elsif (want(qw'SCALAR !REF')) {
            rreturn 23;
          }
          elsif (want('HASH')) {
            rreturn { foo => 17, bar => 23 };
          }
          return;  # You have to put this at the end to keep the compiler happy
      }

DESCRIPTION
    This module generalises the mechanism of the wantarray function, allowing a function to
    determine in some detail how its return value is going to be immediately used.

  Top-level contexts:
    The three kinds of top-level context are well known:

    VOID
        The return value is not being used in any way. It could be an entire statement like
        "foo();", or the last component of a compound statement which is itself in void context,
        such as "$test || foo();"n. Be warned that the last statement of a subroutine will be in
        whatever context the subroutine was called in, because the result is implicitly returned.

    SCALAR
        The return value is being treated as a scalar value of some sort:

          my $x = foo();
          $y += foo();
          print "123" x foo();
          print scalar foo();
          warn foo()->{23};
          ...etc...

    LIST
        The return value is treated as a list of values:

          my @x = foo();
          my ($x) = foo();
          () = foo();           # even though the results are discarded
          print foo();
          bar(foo());           # unless the bar subroutine has a prototype
          print @hash{foo()};   # (hash slice)
          ...etc...

  Lvalue subroutines:
    The introduction of lvalue subroutines in Perl 5.6 has created a new type of contextual
    information, which is independent of those listed above. When an lvalue subroutine is called, it
    can either be called in the ordinary way (so that its result is treated as an ordinary value, an
    rvalue); or else it can be called so that its result is considered updatable, an lvalue.

    These rather arcane terms (lvalue and rvalue) are easier to remember if you know why they are so
    called. If you consider a simple assignment statement "left = right", then the left-hand side is
    an lvalue and the right-hand side is an rvalue.

    So (for lvalue subroutines only) there are two new types of context:

    RVALUE
        The caller is definitely not trying to assign to the result:

          foo();
          my $x = foo();
          ...etc...

        If the sub is declared without the ":lvalue" attribute, then it will *always* be in RVALUE
        context.

        If you need to return values from an lvalue subroutine in RVALUE context, you should use the
        "rreturn" function rather than an ordinary "return". Otherwise you'll probably get a
        compile-time error in perl 5.6.1 and later.

    LVALUE
        Either the caller is directly assigning to the result of the sub call:

          foo() = $x;
          foo() = (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8);

        or the caller is making a reference to the result, which might be assigned to later:

          my $ref = \(foo());   # Could now have: $$ref = 99;

          # Note that this example imposes LIST context on the sub call.
          # So we're taking a reference to the first element to be
          # returned _in list context_.
          # If we want to call the function in scalar context, we can
          # do it like this:
          my $ref = \(scalar foo());

        or else the result of the function call is being used as part of the argument list for
        *another* function call:

          bar(foo());   # Will *always* call foo in lvalue context,
                        # (provided that foo is an C<:lvalue> sub)
                        # regardless of what bar actually does.

        The reason for this last case is that bar might be a sub which modifies its arguments.
        They're rare in contemporary Perl code, but perfectly possible:

          sub bar {
            $_[0] = 23;
          }

        (This is really a throwback to Perl 4, which didn't support explicit references.)

  Assignment context:
    The commonest use of lvalue subroutines is with the assignment statement:

      size() = 12;
      (list()) = (1..10);

    A useful motto to remember when thinking about assignment statements is *context comes from the
    left*. Consider code like this:

      my ($x, $y, $z);
      sub list () :lvalue { ($x, $y, $z) }
      list = (1, 2, 3);
      print "\$x = $x; \$y = $y; \$z = $z\n";

    This prints "$x = ; $y = ; $z = 3", which may not be what you were expecting. The reason is that
    the assignment is in scalar context, so the comma operator is in scalar context too, and
    discards all values but the last. You can fix it by writing "(list) = (1,2,3);" instead.

    If your lvalue subroutine is used on the left of an assignment statement, it's in ASSIGN
    context. If ASSIGN is the only argument to "want()", then it returns a reference to an array of
    the value(s) of the right-hand side.

    In this case, you should return with the "lnoreturn" function, rather than an ordinary "return".

    This makes it very easy to write lvalue subroutines which do clever things:

      use Want;
      use strict;
      sub backstr :lvalue {
        if (want(qw'LVALUE ASSIGN')) {
          my ($a) = want('ASSIGN');
          $_[0] = reverse $a;
          lnoreturn;
        }
        elsif (want('RVALUE')) {
          rreturn scalar reverse $_[0];
        }
        else {
          carp("Not in ASSIGN context");
        }
        return
      }

      print "foo -> ", backstr("foo"), "\n";        # foo -> oof
      backstr(my $robin) = "nibor";
      print "\$robin is now $robin\n";              # $robin is now robin

    Notice that you need to put a (meaningless) return statement at the end of the function,
    otherwise you will get the error *Can't modify non-lvalue subroutine call in lvalue subroutine
    return*.

    The only way to write that "backstr" function without using Want is to return a tied variable
    which is tied to a custom class.

  Reference context:
    Sometimes in scalar context the caller is expecting a reference of some sort to be returned:

        print foo()->();     # CODE reference expected
        print foo()->{bar};  # HASH reference expected
        print foo()->[23];   # ARRAY reference expected
        print ${foo()};      # SCALAR reference expected
        print foo()->bar();  # OBJECT reference expected

        my $format = *{foo()}{FORMAT} # GLOB reference expected

    You can check this using conditionals like "if (want('CODE'))". There is also a function
    "wantref()" which returns one of the strings "CODE", "HASH", "ARRAY", "GLOB", "SCALAR" or
    "OBJECT"; or the empty string if a reference is not expected.

    Because "want('SCALAR')" is already used to select ordinary scalar context, you have to use
    "want('REFSCALAR')" to find out if a SCALAR reference is expected. Or you could use "want('REF')
    eq 'SCALAR'" of course.

    Be warned that "want('ARRAY')" is a very different thing from "wantarray()".

  Item count
    Sometimes in list context the caller is expecting a particular number of items to be returned:

        my ($x, $y) = foo();   # foo is expected to return two items

    If you pass a number to the "want" function, then it will return true or false according to
    whether at least that many items are wanted. So if we are in the definition of a sub which is
    being called as above, then:

        want(1) returns true
        want(2) returns true
        want(3) returns false

    Sometimes there is no limit to the number of items that might be used:

        my @x = foo();
        do_something_with( foo() );

    In this case, want(2), "want(100)", "want(1E9)" and so on will all return true; and so will
    "want('Infinity')".

    The "howmany" function can be used to find out how many items are wanted. If the context is
    scalar, then want(1) returns true and "howmany()" returns 1. If you want to check whether your
    result is being assigned to a singleton list, you can say "if (want('LIST', 1)) { ... }".

  Boolean context
    Sometimes the caller is only interested in the truth or falsity of a function's return value:

        if (everything_is_okay()) {
            # Carry on
        }

        print (foo() ? "ok\n" : "not ok\n");

    In the following example, all subroutine calls are in BOOL context:

        my $x = ( (foo() && !bar()) xor (baz() || quux()) );

    Boolean context, like the reference contexts above, is considered to be a subcontext of SCALAR.

FUNCTIONS
    want(SPECIFIERS)
        This is the primary interface to this module, and should suffice for most purposes. You pass
        it a list of context specifiers, and the return value is true whenever all of the specifiers
        hold.

            want('LVALUE', 'SCALAR');   # Are we in scalar lvalue context?
            want('RVALUE', 3);          # Are at least three rvalues wanted?
            want('ARRAY');      # Is the return value used as an array ref?

        You can also prefix a specifier with an exclamation mark to indicate that you don't want it
        to be true

            want(2, '!3');              # Caller wants exactly two items.
            want(qw'REF !CODE !GLOB');  # Expecting a reference that
                                        #   isn't a CODE or GLOB ref.
            want(100, '!Infinity');     # Expecting at least 100 items,
                                        #   but there is a limit.

        If the *REF* keyword is the only parameter passed, then the type of reference will be
        returned. This is just a synonym for the "wantref" function: it's included because you might
        find it useful if you don't want to pollute your namespace by importing several functions,
        and to conform to Damian Conway's suggestion in RFC 21.

        Finally, the keyword *COUNT* can be used, provided that it's the only keyword you pass.
        Mixing COUNT with other keywords is an error. This is a synonym for the "howmany" function.

        A full list of the permitted keyword is in the ARGUMENTS section below.

    rreturn
        Use this function instead of "return" from inside an lvalue subroutine when you know that
        you're in RVALUE context. If you try to use a normal "return", you'll get a compile-time
        error in Perl 5.6.1 and above unless you return an lvalue. (Note: this is no longer true in
        Perl 5.16, where an ordinary return will once again work.)

    lnoreturn
        Use this function instead of "return" from inside an lvalue subroutine when you're in ASSIGN
        context and you've used "want('ASSIGN')" to carry out the appropriate action.

        If you use "rreturn" or "lnoreturn", then you have to put a bare "return;" at the very end
        of your lvalue subroutine, in order to stop the Perl compiler from complaining. Think of it
        as akin to the "1;" that you have to put at the end of a module. (Note: this is no longer
        true in Perl 5.16.)

    howmany()
        Returns the *expectation count*, i.e. the number of items expected. If the expectation count
        is undefined, that indicates that an unlimited number of items might be used (e.g. the
        return value is being assigned to an array). In void context the expectation count is zero,
        and in scalar context it is one.

        The same as "want('COUNT')".

    wantref()
        Returns the type of reference which the caller is expecting, or the empty string if the
        caller isn't expecting a reference immediately.

        The same as "want('REF')".

EXAMPLES
        use Carp 'croak';
        use Want 'howmany';
        sub numbers {
            my $count = howmany();
            croak("Can't make an infinite list") if !defined($count);
            return (1..$count);
        }
        my ($one, $two, $three) = numbers();


        use Want 'want';
        sub pi () {
            if    (want('ARRAY')) {
                return [3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9];
            }
            elsif (want('LIST')) {
                return (3, 1, 4, 1, 5, 9);
            }
            else {
                return 3;
            }
        }
        print pi->[2];      # prints 4
        print ((pi)[3]);    # prints 1

ARGUMENTS
    The permitted arguments to the "want" function are listed below. The list is structured so that
    sub-contexts appear below the context that they are part of.

    *   VOID

    *   SCALAR

        *   REF

            *   REFSCALAR

            *   CODE

            *   HASH

            *   ARRAY

            *   GLOB

            *   OBJECT

        *   BOOL

    *   LIST

        *   COUNT

        *   <number>

        *   Infinity

    *   LVALUE

        *   ASSIGN

    *   RVALUE

EXPORT
    The "want" and "rreturn" functions are exported by default. The "wantref" and/or "howmany"
    functions can also be imported:

      use Want qw'want howmany';

    If you don't import these functions, you must qualify their names as (e.g.) "Want::wantref".

INTERFACE
    This module is still under development, and the public interface may change in future versions.
    The "want" function can now be regarded as stable.

    I'd be interested to know how you're using this module.

SUBTLETIES
    There are two different levels of BOOL context. *Pure* boolean context occurs in conditional
    expressions, and the operands of the "xor" and "!"/"not" operators. Pure boolean context also
    propagates down through the "&&" and "||" operators.

    However, consider an expression like "my $x = foo() && "yes"". The subroutine is called in
    *pseudo*-boolean context - its return value isn't entirely ignored, because the undefined value,
    the empty string and the integer 0 are all false.

    At the moment "want('BOOL')" is true in either pure or pseudo boolean context. Let me know if
    this is a problem.

BUGS
     * Doesn't work from inside a tie-handler.

AUTHOR
    Robin Houston, <robin AT cpan.org>

    Thanks to Damian Conway for encouragement and good suggestions, and Father Chrysostomos for a
    patch.

SEE ALSO
    *   "wantarray" in perlfunc

    *   Perl6 RFC 21, by Damian Conway. http://dev.perl.org/rfc/21.html

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (c) 2001-2012, Robin Houston. All Rights Reserved. This module is free software. It
    may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the same terms as Perl itself.