LexAlias

Section: User Contributed Perl Documentation (3pm)
Updated: 2013-01-16
Index Return to Main Contents

NAME

Devel::LexAlias - alias lexical variables

SYNOPSIS

 use Devel::LexAlias qw(lexalias);

 sub steal_my_x {
     my $foo = 1;
     lexalias(1, '$x', \$foo);
 }

 sub foo {
     my $x = 22;
     print $x; # prints 22

     steal_my_x;
     print $x; # prints 1
 }

DESCRIPTION

Devel::LexAlias provides the ability to alias a lexical variable in a subroutines scope to one of your choosing.

If you don't know why you'd want to do this, I'd suggest that you skip this module. If you think you have a use for it, I'd insist on it.

Still here?

lexalias( $where, $name, $variable )

$where refers to the subroutine in which to alias the lexical, it can be a coderef or a call level such that you'd give to "caller"

$name is the name of the lexical within that subroutine

$variable is a reference to the variable to install at that location

BUGS

lexalias delves into the internals of the interpreter to perform its actions and is so very sensitive to bad data, which will likely result in flaming death, or a core dump. Consider this a warning.

There is no checking that you are attaching a suitable variable back into the pad as implied by the name of the variable, so it is possible to do the following:

 lexalias( $sub, '$foo', [qw(an array)] );

The behaviour of this is untested, I imagine badness is very close on the horizon though.

AUTHOR

Richard Clamp <richardc@unixbeard.net> with close reference to PadWalker by Robin Houston

COPYRIGHT