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NAME |
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Devel::FindRef - where is that reference to my scalar hiding? |
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|
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SYNOPSIS |
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use Devel::FindRef; |
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|
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DESCRIPTION |
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Tracking down reference problems (e.g. you expect some object to be |
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destroyed, but there are still references to it that keep it alive) can |
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be very hard. Fortunately, perl keeps track of all its values, so |
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tracking references "backwards" is usually possible. |
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|
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The "track" function can help track down some of those references back |
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to the variables containing them. |
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|
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For example, for this fragment: |
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|
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package Test; |
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|
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our $var = "hi\n"; |
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my $x = \$var; |
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our %hash = (ukukey => \$var); |
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our $hash2 = {ukukey2 => \$var}; |
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|
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sub testsub { |
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my $local = $hash2; |
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print Devel::FindRef::track \$var; |
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} |
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|
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testsub; |
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|
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The output is as follows (or similar to this, in case I forget to update |
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the manpage after some changes): |
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|
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SCALAR(0x676fa0) is |
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referenced by REF(0x676fb0), which is |
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in the lexical '$x' in CODE(0x676370), which is |
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not found anywhere I looked :( |
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referenced by REF(0x676360), which is |
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in the member 'ukukey' of HASH(0x756660), which is |
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in the global %Test::hash. |
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in the global $Test::var. |
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referenced by REF(0x6760e0), which is |
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in the member 'ukukey2' of HASH(0x676f30), which is |
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referenced by REF(0x77bcf0), which is |
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in the lexical '$local' in CODE(0x77bcb0), which is |
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in the global &Test::testsub. |
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referenced by REF(0x77bc80), which is |
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in the global $Test::hash2. |
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|
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It is a bit convoluted to read, but basically it says that the value |
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stored in $var can be found: |
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|
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- in some variable $x whose origin is not known (I frankly have no idea |
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why, hints accepted). |
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- in the hash element with key "ukukey" in the hash stored in |
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%Test::hash. |
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- in the global variable named $Test::var. |
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- in the hash element "ukukey2", in the hash in the my variable $local |
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in the sub "Test::testsub" and also in the hash referenced by |
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$Test::hash2. |
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|
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EXPORTS |
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None. |
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|
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FUNCTIONS |
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$string = Devel::FindRef::track $ref[, $depth] |
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Track the perl value pointed to by $ref up to a depth of $depth |
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and return a descriptive string. $ref can point at any perl |
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value, be it anonymous sub, hash, array, scalar etc. |
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|
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This is the function you most often use. |
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|
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@references = Devel::FindRef::find $ref |
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Return arrayrefs that contain [$message, $ref] pairs. The |
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message describes what kind of reference was found and the $ref |
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is the reference itself, which cna be omitted if "find" decided |
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to end the search. |
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|
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The "track" function uses this to find references to the value |
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you are interested in and recurses on the returned references. |
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|
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$ref = Devel::FindRef::ref2ptr $ptr |
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Sometimes you know (from debugging output) the address of a perl |
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scalar you are interested in. This function can be used to turn |
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the address into a reference to that scalar. It is quite safe to |
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call on valid addresses, but extremely dangerous to call on |
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invalid ones. |
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|
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AUTHOR |
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Marc Lehmann <pcg@goof.com>. |
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|
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BUGS |
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Only code values, arrays, hashes, scalars and magic are being looked |
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at. |
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|
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This is a quick hack only. |
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|
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COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE |
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Copyright (C) 2007 by Marc Lehmann. |
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|
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This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify |
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it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.8 |
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or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have |
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available. |
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