The Test::Data module

This is the README for the Test::Data Perl module. It provides convenience methods to test things about Perl data type instead of their values.

You're probably looking at this because you don't know where else to find what you're looking for. Read this once and you might never have to read one again for any Perl module.

Documentation

To read about Test::Data, look at the embedded documentation in the module itself. Inside the distribution, you can format it with perldoc:

% perldoc lib/Test/Data.pm

If you have already installed the module, you can specify the module name instead of the file location:

% perldoc Test::Data

You can read the documentation and inspect the meta data at MetaCPAN.

The standard module documentation has example uses in the SYNOPSIS section, but you can also look in the examples/ directory (if it's there), or look at the test files in t/.

Installation

You can install this module with a CPAN client, which will resolve and install the dependencies:

% cpan Test::Data
% cpanm Test::Data

You can also install directly from the distribution directory, which will also install the dependencies:

% cpan .
% cpanm .

You could install just this module manually:

% perl Makefile.PL
% make
% make test
% make install

You probably don't want to do that unless you're fiddling with the module and only want to run the tests without installing anything.

Source location

The meta data, such as the source repository and bug tracker, is in Makefile.PL or the META.* files it creates. You can find that on those CPAN web interfaces, but you can also look at files directly in the source repository:

• https://github.com/briandfoy/test-data

If you find a problem, file a ticket in the issue tracker:

• https://github.com/briandfoy/test-data/issues

Getting help

Although I'm happy to hear from module users in private email, that's the best way for me to forget to do something.

Besides the issue trackers, you can find help at Perlmonks or Stackoverflow, both of which have many competent Perlers who can answer your question, almost in real time. They might not know the particulars of this module, but they can help you diagnose your problem.

You might like to read brian's Guide to Solving Any Perl Problem.

Copyright and License

You should have received a LICENSE file, but the license is also noted in the module files. About the only thing you can't do is pretend that you wrote code that you didn't.

Good luck!

Enjoy,

brian d foy, briandfoy@pobox.com

cpanm Test::Data

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Test::Data