2026-05-21 22:09 @216.73.216.105 CrawledBy Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)
NAME
B::Concise - Walk Perl syntax tree, printing concise info about ops
SYNOPSIS
perl -MO=Concise[,OPTIONS] foo.pl
use B::Concise qw(set_style add_callback);
DESCRIPTION
This compiler backend prints the internal OPs of a Perl program's syntax
tree in one of several space-efficient text formats suitable for
debugging the inner workings of perl or other compiler backends. It can
print OPs in the order they appear in the OP tree, in the order they
will execute, or in a text approximation to their tree structure, and
the format of the information displayed is customizable. Its function is
similar to that of perl's -Dx debugging flag or the B::Terse module, but
it is more sophisticated and flexible.
EXAMPLE
Here's two outputs (or 'renderings'), using the -exec and -basic (i.e.
default) formatting conventions on the same code snippet.
% perl -MO=Concise,-exec -e '$a = $b + 42'
1 <0> enter
2 <;> nextstate(main 1 -e:1) v
3 <#> gvsv[*b] s
4 <$> const[IV 42] s
* 5 <2> add[t3] sK/2
6 <#> gvsv[*a] s
7 <2> sassign vKS/2
8 <@> leave[1 ref] vKP/REFC
In this -exec rendering, each opcode is executed in the order shown. The
add opcode, marked with '*', is discussed in more detail.
The 1st column is the op's sequence number, starting at 1, and is
displayed in base 36 by default. Here they're purely linear; the
sequences are very helpful when looking at code with loops and branches.
The symbol between angle brackets indicates the op's type, for example;
<2> is a BINOP, <@> a LISTOP, and <#> is a PADOP, which is used in
threaded perls. (see "OP class abbreviations").
The opname, as in 'add[t1]', may be followed by op-specific information
in parentheses or brackets (ex '[t1]').
The op-flags (ex 'sK/2') are described in ("OP flags abbreviations").
% perl -MO=Concise -e '$a = $b + 42'
8 <@> leave[1 ref] vKP/REFC ->(end)
1 <0> enter ->2
2 <;> nextstate(main 1 -e:1) v ->3
7 <2> sassign vKS/2 ->8
* 5 <2> add[t1] sK/2 ->6
- <1> ex-rv2sv sK/1 ->4
3 <$> gvsv(*b) s ->4
4 <$> const(IV 42) s ->5
- <1> ex-rv2sv sKRM*/1 ->7
6 <$> gvsv(*a) s ->7
The default rendering is top-down, so they're not in execution order.
This form reflects the way the stack is used to parse and evaluate
expressions; the add operates on the two terms below it in the tree.
Nullops appear as "ex-opname", where *opname* is an op that has been
optimized away by perl. They're displayed with a sequence-number of '-',
because they are not executed (they don't appear in previous example),
they're printed here because they reflect the parse.
The arrow points to the sequence number of the next op; they're not
displayed in -exec mode, for obvious reasons.
Note that because this rendering was done on a non-threaded perl, the
PADOPs in the previous examples are now SVOPs, and some (but not all) of
the square brackets have been replaced by round ones. This is a subtle
feature to provide some visual distinction between renderings on
threaded and un-threaded perls.
OPTIONS
Arguments that don't start with a hyphen are taken to be the names of
subroutines or formats to render; if no such functions are specified,
the main body of the program (outside any subroutines, and not including
use'd or require'd files) is rendered. Passing "BEGIN", "UNITCHECK",
"CHECK", "INIT", or "END" will cause all of the corresponding special
blocks to be printed. Arguments must follow options.
Options affect how things are rendered (ie printed). They're presented
here by their visual effect, 1st being strongest. They're grouped
according to how they interrelate; within each group the options are
mutually exclusive (unless otherwise stated).
Options for Opcode Ordering
These options control the 'vertical display' of opcodes. The display
'order' is also called 'mode' elsewhere in this document.
-basic
Print OPs in the order they appear in the OP tree (a preorder
traversal, starting at the root). The indentation of each OP shows
its level in the tree, and the '->' at the end of the line indicates
the next opcode in execution order. This mode is the default, so the
flag is included simply for completeness.
-exec
Print OPs in the order they would normally execute (for the majority
of constructs this is a postorder traversal of the tree, ending at
the root). In most cases the OP that usually follows a given OP will
appear directly below it; alternate paths are shown by indentation.
In cases like loops when control jumps out of a linear path, a
'goto' line is generated.
-tree
Print OPs in a text approximation of a tree, with the root of the
tree at the left and 'left-to-right' order of children transformed
into 'top-to-bottom'. Because this mode grows both to the right and
down, it isn't suitable for large programs (unless you have a very
wide terminal).
Options for Line-Style
These options select the line-style (or just style) used to render each
opcode, and dictates what info is actually printed into each line.
-concise
Use the author's favorite set of formatting conventions. This is the
default, of course.
-terse
Use formatting conventions that emulate the output of B::Terse. The
basic mode is almost indistinguishable from the real B::Terse, and
the exec mode looks very similar, but is in a more logical order and
lacks curly brackets. B::Terse doesn't have a tree mode, so the tree
mode is only vaguely reminiscent of B::Terse.
-linenoise
Use formatting conventions in which the name of each OP, rather than
being written out in full, is represented by a one- or two-character
abbreviation. This is mainly a joke.
-debug
Use formatting conventions reminiscent of CPAN module B::Debug;
these aren't very concise at all.
-env
Use formatting conventions read from the environment variables
"B_CONCISE_FORMAT", "B_CONCISE_GOTO_FORMAT", and
"B_CONCISE_TREE_FORMAT".
Options for tree-specific formatting
-compact
Use a tree format in which the minimum amount of space is used for
the lines connecting nodes (one character in most cases). This
squeezes out a few precious columns of screen real estate.
-loose
Use a tree format that uses longer edges to separate OP nodes. This
format tends to look better than the compact one, especially in
ASCII, and is the default.
-vt Use tree connecting characters drawn from the VT100 line-drawing
set. This looks better if your terminal supports it.
-ascii
Draw the tree with standard ASCII characters like "+" and "|". These
don't look as clean as the VT100 characters, but they'll work with
almost any terminal (or the horizontal scrolling mode of less(1))
and are suitable for text documentation or email. This is the
default.
These are pairwise exclusive, i.e. compact or loose, vt or ascii.
Options controlling sequence numbering
-base*n*
Print OP sequence numbers in base *n*. If *n* is greater than 10,
the digit for 11 will be 'a', and so on. If *n* is greater than 36,
the digit for 37 will be 'A', and so on until 62. Values greater
than 62 are not currently supported. The default is 36.
-bigendian
Print sequence numbers with the most significant digit first. This
is the usual convention for Arabic numerals, and the default.
-littleendian
Print sequence numbers with the least significant digit first. This
is obviously mutually exclusive with bigendian.
Other options
-src
With this option, the rendering of each statement (starting with the
nextstate OP) will be preceded by the 1st line of source code that
generates it. For example:
1 <0> enter
# 1: my $i;
2 <;> nextstate(main 1 junk.pl:1) v:{
3 <0> padsv[$i:1,10] vM/LVINTRO
# 3: for $i (0..9) {
4 <;> nextstate(main 3 junk.pl:3) v:{
5 <0> pushmark s
6 <$> const[IV 0] s
7 <$> const[IV 9] s
8 <{> enteriter(next->j last->m redo->9)[$i:1,10] lKS
k <0> iter s
l <|> and(other->9) vK/1
# 4: print "line ";
9 <;> nextstate(main 2 junk.pl:4) v
a <0> pushmark s
b <$> const[PV "line "] s
c <@> print vK
# 5: print "$i\n";
...
-stash="somepackage"
With this, "somepackage" will be required, then the stash is
inspected, and each function is rendered.
The following options are pairwise exclusive.
-main
Include the main program in the output, even if subroutines were
also specified. This rendering is normally suppressed when a
subroutine name or reference is given.
-nomain
This restores the default behavior after you've changed it with
'-main' (it's not normally needed). If no subroutine name/ref is
given, main is rendered, regardless of this flag.
-nobanner
Renderings usually include a banner line identifying the function
name or stringified subref. This suppresses the printing of the
banner.
TBC: Remove the stringified coderef; while it provides a 'cookie'
for each function rendered, the cookies used should be 1,2,3.. not a
random hex-address. It also complicates string comparison of two
different trees.
-banner
restores default banner behavior.
-banneris => subref
TBC: a hookpoint (and an option to set it) for a user-supplied
function to produce a banner appropriate for users needs. It's not
ideal, because the rendering-state variables, which are a natural
candidate for use in concise.t, are unavailable to the user.
Option Stickiness
If you invoke Concise more than once in a program, you should know that
the options are 'sticky'. This means that the options you provide in the
first call will be remembered for the 2nd call, unless you re-specify or
change them.
ABBREVIATIONS
The concise style uses symbols to convey maximum info with minimal
clutter (like hex addresses). With just a little practice, you can start
to see the flowers, not just the branches, in the trees.
OP class abbreviations
These symbols appear before the op-name, and indicate the B:: namespace
that represents the ops in your Perl code.
0 OP (aka BASEOP) An OP with no children
1 UNOP An OP with one child
+ UNOP_AUX A UNOP with auxillary fields
2 BINOP An OP with two children
| LOGOP A control branch OP
@ LISTOP An OP that could have lots of children
/ PMOP An OP with a regular expression
$ SVOP An OP with an SV
" PVOP An OP with a string
{ LOOP An OP that holds pointers for a loop
; COP An OP that marks the start of a statement
# PADOP An OP with a GV on the pad
. METHOP An OP with method call info
OP flags abbreviations
OP flags are either public or private. The public flags alter the
behavior of each opcode in consistent ways, and are represented by 0 or
more single characters.
v OPf_WANT_VOID Want nothing (void context)
s OPf_WANT_SCALAR Want single value (scalar context)
l OPf_WANT_LIST Want list of any length (list context)
Want is unknown
K OPf_KIDS There is a firstborn child.
P OPf_PARENS This operator was parenthesized.
(Or block needs explicit scope entry.)
R OPf_REF Certified reference.
(Return container, not containee).
M OPf_MOD Will modify (lvalue).
S OPf_STACKED Some arg is arriving on the stack.
* OPf_SPECIAL Do something weird for this op (see op.h)
Private flags, if any are set for an opcode, are displayed after a '/'
8 <@> leave[1 ref] vKP/REFC ->(end)
7 <2> sassign vKS/2 ->8
They're opcode specific, and occur less often than the public ones, so
they're represented by short mnemonics instead of single-chars; see
B::Op_private and regen/op_private for more details.
FORMATTING SPECIFICATIONS
For each line-style ('concise', 'terse', 'linenoise', etc.) there are 3
format-specs which control how OPs are rendered.
The first is the 'default' format, which is used in both basic and exec
modes to print all opcodes. The 2nd, goto-format, is used in exec mode
when branches are encountered. They're not real opcodes, and are
inserted to look like a closing curly brace. The tree-format is tree
specific.
When a line is rendered, the correct format-spec is copied and scanned
for the following items; data is substituted in, and other manipulations
like basic indenting are done, for each opcode rendered.
There are 3 kinds of items that may be populated; special patterns,
#vars, and literal text, which is copied verbatim. (Yes, it's a set of
s///g steps.)
Special Patterns
These items are the primitives used to perform indenting, and to select
text from amongst alternatives.
(x(*exec_text*;*basic_text*)x)
Generates *exec_text* in exec mode, or *basic_text* in basic mode.
(*(*text*)*)
Generates one copy of *text* for each indentation level.
(*(*text1*;*text2*)*)
Generates one fewer copies of *text1* than the indentation level,
followed by one copy of *text2* if the indentation level is more
than 0.
(?(*text1*#*var**Text2*)?)
If the value of *var* is true (not empty or zero), generates the
value of *var* surrounded by *text1* and *Text2*, otherwise nothing.
~ Any number of tildes and surrounding whitespace will be collapsed to
a single space.
# Variables
These #vars represent opcode properties that you may want as part of
your rendering. The '#' is intended as a private sigil; a #var's value
is interpolated into the style-line, much like "read $this".
These vars take 3 forms:
#*var*
A property named 'var' is assumed to exist for the opcodes, and is
interpolated into the rendering.
#*var**N*
Generates the value of *var*, left justified to fill *N* spaces.
Note that this means while you can have properties 'foo' and 'foo2',
you cannot render 'foo2', but you could with 'foo2a'. You would be
wise not to rely on this behavior going forward ;-)
#*Var*
This ucfirst form of #var generates a tag-value form of itself for
display; it converts '#Var' into a 'Var => #var' style, which is
then handled as described above. (Imp-note: #Vars cannot be used for
conditional-fills, because the => #var transform is done after the
check for #Var's value).
The following variables are 'defined' by B::Concise; when they are used
in a style, their respective values are plugged into the rendering of
each opcode.
Only some of these are used by the standard styles, the others are
provided for you to delve into optree mechanics, should you wish to add
a new style (see "add_style" below) that uses them. You can also add new
ones using "add_callback".
#addr
The address of the OP, in hexadecimal.
#arg
The OP-specific information of the OP (such as the SV for an SVOP,
the non-local exit pointers for a LOOP, etc.) enclosed in
parentheses.
#class
The B-determined class of the OP, in all caps.
#classsym
A single symbol abbreviating the class of the OP.
#coplabel
The label of the statement or block the OP is the start of, if any.
#exname
The name of the OP, or 'ex-foo' if the OP is a null that used to be
a foo.
#extarg
The target of the OP, or nothing for a nulled OP.
#firstaddr
The address of the OP's first child, in hexadecimal.
#flags
The OP's flags, abbreviated as a series of symbols.
#flagval
The numeric value of the OP's flags.
#hints
The COP's hint flags, rendered with abbreviated names if possible.
An empty string if this is not a COP. Here are the symbols used:
$ strict refs
& strict subs
* strict vars
x$ explicit use/no strict refs
x& explicit use/no strict subs
x* explicit use/no strict vars
i integers
l locale
b bytes
{ block scope
% localise %^H
< open in
> open out
I overload int
F overload float
B overload binary
S overload string
R overload re
T taint
E eval
X filetest access
U utf-8
us use feature 'unicode_strings'
fea=NNN feature bundle number
#hintsval
The numeric value of the COP's hint flags, or an empty string if
this is not a COP.
#hyphseq
The sequence number of the OP, or a hyphen if it doesn't have one.
#label
'NEXT', 'LAST', or 'REDO' if the OP is a target of one of those in
exec mode, or empty otherwise.
#lastaddr
The address of the OP's last child, in hexadecimal.
#name
The OP's name.
#NAME
The OP's name, in all caps.
#next
The sequence number of the OP's next OP.
#nextaddr
The address of the OP's next OP, in hexadecimal.
#noise
A one- or two-character abbreviation for the OP's name.
#private
The OP's private flags, rendered with abbreviated names if possible.
#privval
The numeric value of the OP's private flags.
#seq
The sequence number of the OP. Note that this is a sequence number
generated by B::Concise.
#opt
Whether or not the op has been optimized by the peephole optimizer.
#sibaddr
The address of the OP's next youngest sibling, in hexadecimal.
#svaddr
The address of the OP's SV, if it has an SV, in hexadecimal.
#svclass
The class of the OP's SV, if it has one, in all caps (e.g., 'IV').
#svval
The value of the OP's SV, if it has one, in a short human-readable
format.
#targ
The numeric value of the OP's targ.
#targarg
The name of the variable the OP's targ refers to, if any, otherwise
the letter t followed by the OP's targ in decimal.
#targarglife
Same as #targarg, but followed by the COP sequence numbers that
delimit the variable's lifetime (or 'end' for a variable in an open
scope) for a variable.
#typenum
The numeric value of the OP's type, in decimal.
One-Liner Command tips
perl -MO=Concise,bar foo.pl
Renders only bar() from foo.pl. To see main, drop the ',bar'. To see
both, add ',-main'
perl -MDigest::MD5=md5 -MO=Concise,md5 -e1
Identifies md5 as an XS function. The export is needed so that BC
can find it in main.
perl -MPOSIX -MO=Concise,_POSIX_ARG_MAX -e1
Identifies _POSIX_ARG_MAX as a constant sub, optimized to an IV.
Although POSIX isn't entirely consistent across platforms, this is
likely to be present in virtually all of them.
perl -MPOSIX -MO=Concise,a -e 'print _POSIX_SAVED_IDS'
This renders a print statement, which includes a call to the
function. It's identical to rendering a file with a use call and
that single statement, except for the filename which appears in the
nextstate ops.
perl -MPOSIX -MO=Concise,a -e 'sub a{_POSIX_SAVED_IDS}'
This is very similar to previous, only the first two ops differ.
This subroutine rendering is more representative, insofar as a
single main program will have many subs.
perl -MB::Concise -e 'B::Concise::compile("-exec","-src",
\%B::Concise::)->()'
This renders all functions in the B::Concise package with the source
lines. It eschews the O framework so that the stashref can be passed
directly to B::Concise::compile(). See -stash option for a more
convenient way to render a package.
Using B::Concise outside of the O framework
The common (and original) usage of B::Concise was for command-line
renderings of simple code, as given in EXAMPLE. But you can also use
B::Concise from your code, and call compile() directly, and repeatedly.
By doing so, you can avoid the compile-time only operation of O.pm, and
even use the debugger to step through B::Concise::compile() itself.
Once you're doing this, you may alter Concise output by adding new
rendering styles, and by optionally adding callback routines which
populate new variables, if such were referenced from those (just added)
styles.
Example: Altering Concise Renderings
use B::Concise qw(set_style add_callback);
add_style($yourStyleName => $defaultfmt, $gotofmt, $treefmt);
add_callback
( sub {
my ($h, $op, $format, $level, $stylename) = @_;
$h->{variable} = some_func($op);
});
$walker = B::Concise::compile(@options,@subnames,@subrefs);
$walker->();
set_style()
set_style accepts 3 arguments, and updates the three format-specs
comprising a line-style (basic-exec, goto, tree). It has one minor
drawback though; it doesn't register the style under a new name. This
can become an issue if you render more than once and switch styles. Thus
you may prefer to use add_style() and/or set_style_standard() instead.
set_style_standard($name)
This restores one of the standard line-styles: "terse", "concise",
"linenoise", "debug", "env", into effect. It also accepts style names
previously defined with add_style().
add_style ()
This subroutine accepts a new style name and three style arguments as
above, and creates, registers, and selects the newly named style. It is
an error to re-add a style; call set_style_standard() to switch between
several styles.
add_callback ()
If your newly minted styles refer to any new #variables, you'll need to
define a callback subroutine that will populate (or modify) those
variables. They are then available for use in the style you've chosen.
The callbacks are called for each opcode visited by Concise, in the same
order as they are added. Each subroutine is passed five parameters.
1. A hashref, containing the variable names and values which are
populated into the report-line for the op
2. the op, as a B<B::OP> object
3. a reference to the format string
4. the formatting (indent) level
5. the selected stylename
To define your own variables, simply add them to the hash, or change
existing values if you need to. The level and format are passed in as
references to scalars, but it is unlikely that they will need to be
changed or even used.
Running B::Concise::compile()
compile accepts options as described above in "OPTIONS", and arguments,
which are either coderefs, or subroutine names.
It constructs and returns a $treewalker coderef, which when invoked,
traverses, or walks, and renders the optrees of the given arguments to
STDOUT. You can reuse this, and can change the rendering style used each
time; thereafter the coderef renders in the new style.
walk_output lets you change the print destination from STDOUT to another
open filehandle, or into a string passed as a ref (unless you've built
perl with -Uuseperlio).
my $walker = B::Concise::compile('-terse','aFuncName', \&aSubRef); # 1
walk_output(\my $buf);
$walker->(); # 1 renders -terse
set_style_standard('concise'); # 2
$walker->(); # 2 renders -concise
$walker->(@new); # 3 renders whatever
print "3 different renderings: terse, concise, and @new: $buf\n";
When $walker is called, it traverses the subroutines supplied when it
was created, and renders them using the current style. You can change
the style afterwards in several different ways:
1. call C<compile>, altering style or mode/order
2. call C<set_style_standard>
3. call $walker, passing @new options
Passing new options to the $walker is the easiest way to change amongst
any pre-defined styles (the ones you add are automatically recognized as
options), and is the only way to alter rendering order without calling
compile again. Note however that rendering state is still shared amongst
multiple $walker objects, so they must still be used in a coordinated
manner.
B::Concise::reset_sequence()
This function (not exported) lets you reset the sequence numbers (note
that they're numbered arbitrarily, their goal being to be human
readable). Its purpose is mostly to support testing, i.e. to compare the
concise output from two identical anonymous subroutines (but different
instances). Without the reset, B::Concise, seeing that they're separate
optrees, generates different sequence numbers in the output.
Errors
Errors in rendering (non-existent function-name, non-existent coderef)
are written to the STDOUT, or wherever you've set it via walk_output().
Errors using the various *style* calls, and bad args to walk_output(),
result in die(). Use an eval if you wish to catch these errors and
continue processing.
AUTHOR
Stephen McCamant, <smcc AT CSUA.EDU>.
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