phpman > perldoc > Class::Inspector(3pm)

NAME
    Class::Inspector - Get information about a class and its structure

VERSION
    version 1.36

SYNOPSIS
      use Class::Inspector;

      # Is a class installed and/or loaded
      Class::Inspector->installed( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->loaded( 'Foo::Class' );

      # Filename related information
      Class::Inspector->filename( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->resolved_filename( 'Foo::Class' );

      # Get subroutine related information
      Class::Inspector->functions( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->function_refs( 'Foo::Class' );
      Class::Inspector->function_exists( 'Foo::Class', 'bar' );
      Class::Inspector->methods( 'Foo::Class', 'full', 'public' );

      # Find all loaded subclasses or something
      Class::Inspector->subclasses( 'Foo::Class' );

DESCRIPTION
    Class::Inspector allows you to get information about a loaded class. Most or all of this
    information can be found in other ways, but they aren't always very friendly, and usually
    involve a relatively high level of Perl wizardry, or strange and unusual looking code.
    Class::Inspector attempts to provide an easier, more friendly interface to this information.

METHODS
  installed
     my $bool = Class::Inspector->installed($class);

    The "installed" static method tries to determine if a class is installed on the machine, or at
    least available to Perl. It does this by wrapping around "resolved_filename".

    Returns true if installed/available, false if the class is not installed, or "undef" if the
    class name is invalid.

  loaded
     my $bool = Class::Inspector->loaded($class);

    The "loaded" static method tries to determine if a class is loaded by looking for symbol table
    entries.

    This method it uses to determine this will work even if the class does not have its own file,
    but is contained inside a single file with multiple classes in it. Even in the case of some sort
    of run-time loading class being used, these typically leave some trace in the symbol table, so
    an Autoload or Class::Autouse-based class should correctly appear loaded.

    Returns true if the class is loaded, false if not, or "undef" if the class name is invalid.

  filename
     my $filename = Class::Inspector->filename($class);

    For a given class, returns the base filename for the class. This will NOT be a fully resolved
    filename, just the part of the filename BELOW the @INC entry.

      print Class->filename( 'Foo::Bar' );
      > Foo/Bar.pm

    This filename will be returned with the right separator for the local platform, and should work
    on all platforms.

    Returns the filename on success or "undef" if the class name is invalid.

  resolved_filename
     my $filename = Class::Inspector->resolved_filename($class);
     my $filename = Class::Inspector->resolved_filename($class, @try_first);

    For a given class, the "resolved_filename" static method returns the fully resolved filename for
    a class. That is, the file that the class would be loaded from.

    This is not necessarily the file that the class WAS loaded from, as the value returned is
    determined each time it runs, and the @INC include path may change.

    To get the actual file for a loaded class, see the "loaded_filename" method.

    Returns the filename for the class, or "undef" if the class name is invalid.

  loaded_filename
     my $filename = Class::Inspector->loaded_filename($class);

    For a given loaded class, the "loaded_filename" static method determines (via the %INC hash) the
    name of the file that it was originally loaded from.

    Returns a resolved file path, or false if the class did not have it's own file.

  functions
     my $arrayref = Class::Inspector->functions($class);

    For a loaded class, the "functions" static method returns a list of the names of all the
    functions in the classes immediate namespace.

    Note that this is not the METHODS of the class, just the functions.

    Returns a reference to an array of the function names on success, or "undef" if the class name
    is invalid or the class is not loaded.

  function_refs
     my $arrayref = Class::Inspector->function_refs($class);

    For a loaded class, the "function_refs" static method returns references to all the functions in
    the classes immediate namespace.

    Note that this is not the METHODS of the class, just the functions.

    Returns a reference to an array of "CODE" refs of the functions on success, or "undef" if the
    class is not loaded.

  function_exists
     my $bool = Class::Inspector->function_exists($class, $functon);

    Given a class and function name the "function_exists" static method will check to see if the
    function exists in the class.

    Note that this is as a function, not as a method. To see if a method exists for a class, use the
    "can" method for any class or object.

    Returns true if the function exists, false if not, or "undef" if the class or function name are
    invalid, or the class is not loaded.

  methods
     my $arrayref = Class::Inspector->methods($class, @options);

    For a given class name, the "methods" static method will returns ALL the methods available to
    that class. This includes all methods available from every class up the class' @ISA tree.

    Returns a reference to an array of the names of all the available methods on success, or "undef"
    if the class name is invalid or the class is not loaded.

    A number of options are available to the "methods" method that will alter the results returned.
    These should be listed after the class name, in any order.

      # Only get public methods
      my $method = Class::Inspector->methods( 'My::Class', 'public' );

    public
        The "public" option will return only 'public' methods, as defined by the Perl convention of
        prepending an underscore to any 'private' methods. The "public" option will effectively
        remove any methods that start with an underscore.

    private
        The "private" options will return only 'private' methods, as defined by the Perl convention
        of prepending an underscore to an private methods. The "private" option will effectively
        remove an method that do not start with an underscore.

        Note: The "public" and "private" options are mutually exclusive

    full
        "methods" normally returns just the method name. Supplying the "full" option will cause the
        methods to be returned as the full names. That is, instead of returning "[ 'method1',
        'method2', 'method3' ]", you would instead get "[ 'Class::method1', 'AnotherClass::method2',
        'Class::method3' ]".

    expanded
        The "expanded" option will cause a lot more information about method to be returned. Instead
        of just the method name, you will instead get an array reference containing the method name
        as a single combined name, a la "full", the separate class and method, and a CODE ref to the
        actual function ( if available ). Please note that the function reference is not guaranteed
        to be available. "Class::Inspector" is intended at some later time, to work with modules
        that have some kind of common run-time loader in place ( e.g "Autoloader" or
        "Class::Autouse" for example.

        The response from "methods( 'Class', 'expanded' )" would look something like the following.

          [
            [ 'Class::method1',   'Class',   'method1', \&Class::method1   ],
            [ 'Another::method2', 'Another', 'method2', \&Another::method2 ],
            [ 'Foo::bar',         'Foo',     'bar',     \&Foo::bar         ],
          ]

  subclasses
     my $arrayref = Class::Inspector->subclasses($class);

    The "subclasses" static method will search then entire namespace (and thus all currently loaded
    classes) to find all classes that are subclasses of the class provided as a the parameter.

    The actual test will be done by calling "isa" on the class as a static method. (i.e.
    "My::Class->isa($class)".

    Returns a reference to a list of the loaded classes that match the class provided, or false is
    none match, or "undef" if the class name provided is invalid.

SEE ALSO
    <http://ali.as/>, Class::Handle, Class::Inspector::Functions

AUTHOR
    Original author: Adam Kennedy <adamk AT cpan.org>

    Current maintainer: Graham Ollis <plicease AT cpan.org>

    Contributors:

    Tom Wyant

    Steffen Müller

    Kivanc Yazan (KYZN)

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    This software is copyright (c) 2002-2019 by Adam Kennedy.

    This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl
    5 programming language system itself.