# Package::Stash - phpMan ## NAME [Package::Stash] - Routines for manipulating stashes ## VERSION version 0.39 ## SYNOPSIS my $stash = [Package::Stash]->new('Foo'); $stash->add_symbol('%foo', {bar => 1}); # $[Foo::foo]{bar} == 1 $stash->has_symbol('$foo') # false my $namespace = $stash->namespace; *{ $namespace->{foo} }{HASH} # {bar => 1} ## DESCRIPTION Manipulating stashes (Perl's symbol tables) is occasionally necessary, but incredibly messy, and easy to get wrong. This module hides all of that behind a simple API. NOTE: Most methods in this class require a variable specification that includes a sigil. If this sigil is absent, it is assumed to represent the IO slot. Due to limitations in the typeglob API available to perl code, and to typeglob manipulation in perl being quite slow, this module provides two implementations - one in pure perl, and one using XS. The XS implementation is to be preferred for most usages; the pure perl one is provided for cases where XS modules are not a possibility. The current implementation in use can be set by setting $ENV{PACKAGE_STASH_IMPLEMENTATION} or $[Package::Stash::IMPLEMENTATION] before loading [Package::Stash] (with the environment variable taking precedence), otherwise, it will use the XS implementation if possible, falling back to the pure perl one. ## METHODS new $package_name Creates a new "[Package::Stash]" object, for the package given as the only argument. name Returns the name of the package that this object represents. namespace Returns the raw stash itself. add_symbol $variable $value %opts Adds a new package symbol, for the symbol given as $variable, and optionally gives it an initial value of $value. $variable should be the name of variable including the sigil, so [Package::Stash]->new('Foo')->add_symbol('%foo') will create %[Foo::foo]. Valid options (all optional) are "filename", "first_line_num", and "last_line_num". $opts{filename}, $opts{first_line_num}, and $opts{last_line_num} can be used to indicate where the symbol should be regarded as having been defined. Currently these values are only used if the symbol is a subroutine ('"&"' sigil) and only if "$^P & 0x10" is true, in which case the special %[DB::sub] hash is updated to record the values of "filename", "first_line_num", and "last_line_num" for the subroutine. If these are not passed, their values are inferred (as much as possible) from "caller" information. remove_glob $name Removes all package variables with the given name, regardless of sigil. has_symbol $variable Returns whether or not the given package variable (including sigil) exists. get_symbol $variable Returns the value of the given package variable (including sigil). get_or_add_symbol $variable Like "get_symbol", except that it will return an empty hashref or arrayref if the variable doesn't exist. remove_symbol $variable Removes the package variable described by $variable (which includes the sigil); other variables with the same name but different sigils will be untouched. list_all_symbols $type_filter Returns a list of package variable names in the package, without sigils. If a "type_filter" is passed, it is used to select package variables of a given type, where valid types are the slots of a typeglob ('SCALAR', 'CODE', 'HASH', etc). Note that if the package contained any "BEGIN" blocks, perl will leave an empty typeglob in the "BEGIN" slot, so this will show up if no filter is used (and similarly for "INIT", "END", etc). get_all_symbols $type_filter Returns a hashref, keyed by the variable names in the package. If $type_filter is passed, the hash will contain every variable of that type in the package as values, otherwise, it will contain the typeglobs corresponding to the variable names (basically, a clone of the stash). This is especially useful for debuggers and profilers, which use %[DB::sub] to determine where the source code for a subroutine can be found. See <> for more information about %[DB::sub]. ## WORKING WITH VARIABLES It is important to note, that when working with scalar variables, the default behavior is to copy values. my $stash = [Package::Stash]->new('[Some::Namespace]'); my $variable = 1; # $[Some::Namespace::name] is a copy of $variable $stash->add_symbol('$name', $variable); $variable++ # $[Some::Namespace::name] == 1 , $variable == 2 This will likely confuse people who expect it to work the same as typeglob assignment, which simply creates new references to existing variables. my $variable = 1; { no strict 'refs'; # assign $[Package::Stash::name] = $variable *{'[Package::Stash::name]'} = \$variable; } $variable++ # affects both names If this behaviour is desired when working with [Package::Stash], simply pass [Package::Stash] a scalar ref: my $stash = [Package::Stash]->new('[Some::Namespace]'); my $variable = 1; # $[Some::Namespace::name] is now $variable $stash->add_symbol('$name', \$variable); $variable++ # $[Some::Namespace::name] == 2 , $variable == 2 This will be what you want as well if you're ever working with Readonly variables: use Readonly; Readonly my $value, 'hello'; $stash->add_symbol('$name', \$value); # reference print $[Some::Namespace::name]; # hello # Tries to modify the read-only 'hello' and dies. $[Some::Namespace::name] .= " world"; $stash->add_symbol('$name', $value); # copy print $[Some::Namespace::name]; # hello # No problem, modifying a copy, not the original $[Some::Namespace::name] .= " world"; ## SEE ALSO * [Class::MOP::Package] This module is a factoring out of code that used to live here ## HISTORY Based on code from [Class::MOP::Package], by Stevan Little and the Moose Cabal. BUGS / CAVEATS * Prior to perl 5.10, scalar slots are only considered to exist if they are defined This is due to a shortcoming within perl itself. See "Making References" in perlref point 7 for more information. * GLOB and FORMAT variables are not (yet) accessible through this module. * Also, see the BUGS section for the specific backends ([Package::Stash::XS] and [Package::Stash::PP]) Bugs may be submitted through the RT bug tracker <> (or >). ## AUTHORS * Stevan Little <> * Jesse Luehrs <> ## CONTRIBUTORS * Karen Etheridge <> * Carlos Lima * Dave Rolsky <> * Justin Hunter <> * Christian Walde <> * Kent Fredric <> * Niko Tyni <> * Renee <> * Tim Bunce <> ## COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2020 by Jesse Luehrs. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.