# phpman > perldoc > metaclass

## NAME
    metaclass - a pragma for installing and using [Class::MOP](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Class%3A%3AMOP/markdown) metaclasses

## VERSION
    version 2.2200

## SYNOPSIS
      package MyClass;

      # use [Class::MOP::Class](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Class%3A%3AMOP%3A%3AClass/markdown)
      use metaclass;

      # ... or use a custom metaclass
      use metaclass 'MyMetaClass';

      # ... or use a custom metaclass
      # and custom attribute and method
      # metaclasses
      use metaclass 'MyMetaClass' => (
          'attribute_metaclass' => 'MyAttributeMetaClass',
          'method_metaclass'    => 'MyMethodMetaClass',
      );

      # ... or just specify custom attribute
      # and method classes, and [Class::MOP::Class](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Class%3A%3AMOP%3A%3AClass/markdown)
      # is the assumed metaclass
      use metaclass (
          'attribute_metaclass' => 'MyAttributeMetaClass',
          'method_metaclass'    => 'MyMethodMetaClass',
      );

      # if we'd rather not install a 'meta' method, we can do this
      use metaclass meta_name => undef;
      # or if we'd like it to have a different name,
      use metaclass meta_name => 'my_meta';

## DESCRIPTION
    This is a pragma to make it easier to use a specific metaclass and a set of custom attribute and
    method metaclasses. It also installs a "meta" method to your class as well, unless "undef" is
    passed to the "meta_name" option.

    Note that if you are using Moose, you most likely do not want to be using this - look into
    [Moose::Util::MetaRole](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/Moose%3A%3AUtil%3A%3AMetaRole/markdown) instead.

## AUTHORS
    *   Stevan Little <<stevan@cpan.org>>

    *   Dave Rolsky <<autarch@urth.org>>

    *   Jesse Luehrs <<doy@cpan.org>>

    *   Shawn M Moore <<sartak@cpan.org>>

    *   יובל קוג'מן (Yuval Kogman) <<nothingmuch@woobling.org>>

    *   Karen Etheridge <<ether@cpan.org>>

    *   Florian Ragwitz <<rafl@debian.org>>

    *   Hans Dieter Pearcey <<hdp@cpan.org>>

    *   Chris Prather <<chris@prather.org>>

    *   Matt S Trout <<mstrout@cpan.org>>

## COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
    This software is copyright (c) 2006 by Infinity Interactive, Inc.

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