Sponsoring The Perl Toolchain Summit 2025: Help make this important event another success Learn more

NAME
Pragmatic - Adds pragmata to Exporter
SYNOPSIS
In module MyModule.pm:
package MyModule;
require Pragmatic;
@ISA = qw (Pragmatic);
%PRAGMATA = (mypragma => sub {...});
In other files which wish to use MyModule:
use MyModule qw (-mypragma); # Execute pragma at import time
use MyModule qw (-mypragma=1,2,3); # Pass pragma argument list
DESCRIPTION
Pragmatic implements a default "import" method for processing pragmata
before passing the rest of the import to Exporter.
Perl automatically calls the "import" method when processing a "use"
statement for a module. Modules and "use" are documented in perlfunc and
perlmod.
(Do not confuse Pragmatic with *pragmatic modules*, such as *less*,
*strict* and the like. They are standalone pragmata, and are not
associated with any other module.)
Using Pragmatic Modules
Using Pragmatic modules is very simple. To invoke any particular pragma
for a given module, include it in the argument list to "use" preceded by
a hyphen:
use MyModule qw (-mypragma);
"Pragmatic::import" will filter out these arguments, and pass the
remainder of the argument list from the "use" statement to
"Exporter::import" (actually, to "Exporter::export_to_level" so that
Pragmatic is transparent).
If you want to pass the pragma arguments, use syntax similar to that of
the *-M* switch to perl (see perlrun):
use MyModule qw (-mypragma=abc,1,2,3);
If there are any warnings or fatal errors, they will appear to come from
the "use" statement, not from "Pragmatic::import".
Writing Pragmatic Modules
Writing Pragmatic modules with Pragmatic is straight-forward. First,
"require Pragmatic" (you could "use" it instead, but it exports nothing,
so there is little to gain thereby). Declare a package global %PRAGMATA,
the keys of which are the names of the pragmata and their corresponding
values the code references to invoke. Like this:
package MyPackage;
require Pragmatic;
use strict;
use vars qw (%PRAGMATA);
sub something_else { 1; }
%PRAGMATA =
(first => sub { print "@_: first\n"; },
second => sub { $SOME_GLOBAL = 1; },
third => \&something_else,
fourth => 'name_of_sub');
When a pragma is given in a "use" statement, the leading hyphen is
removed, and the code reference corresponding to that key in %PRAGMATA,
or a subroutine with the value's name, is invoked with the name of the
package as the first member of the argument list (this is the same as
what happens with "import"). Additionally, any arguments given by the
caller are included (see "Using Pragmatic Modules", above).
EXAMPLES
Using Pragmatic Modules
1. Simple use:
use MyModule; # no pragmas
use MyModule qw (-abc); # invoke C<abc>
use MyModule qw (-p1 -p2); # invoke C<p1>, then C<p2>
2. Using an argument list:
use MyModule qw (-abc=1,2,3); # invoke C<abc> with (1, 2, 3)
use MyModule qw (-p1 -p2=here); # invoke C<p1>, then C<p2>
# with (1, 2, 3)
3. Mixing with arguments for Exporter:
(Please see Exporter for a further explanatation.)
use MyModule ( ); # no pragmas, no exports
use MyModule qw (fun1 -abc fun2); # import C<fun1>, invoke C<abc>,
# then import C<fun2>
use MyModule qw (:set1 -abc=3); # import set C<set1>, invoke C<abc>
# with (3)
Writing Pragmatic Modules
1. Setting a package global:
%PRAGMATA = (debug => sub { $DEBUG = 1; });
2. Selecting a method:
my $fred = sub { 'fred'; };
my $barney = sub { 'barney'; };
%PRAGMATA =
(fred => sub {
local $^W = 0;
*flintstone = $fred;
},
barney => sub {
local $^W = 0;
*flintstone = $barney;
});
3. Changing inheritance:
%PRAGMATA = (super => sub { shift; push @ISA, @_; });
4. Inheriting pragmata:
package X;
@ISA = qw(Pragmatic);
%PRAGMATA = (debug => 'debug');
$DEBUG = 0;
sub debug { ${"$_[0]::DEBUG"} = 1; }
package Y:
@ISA = qw(X);
%PRAGMATA = (debug => 'debug');
$DEBUG = 0;
SEE ALSO
Exporter
Exporter does all the heavy-lifting (and is a very interesting module to
study) after Pragmatic has stripped out the pragmata from the "use".
DIAGNOSTICS
The following are the diagnostics generated by Pragmatic. Items marked
"(W)" are non-fatal (invoke "Carp::carp"); those marked "(F)" are fatal
(invoke "Carp::croak").
No such pragma '%s'
(F) The caller tried something like "use MyModule (-xxx)" where
there was no pragma *xxx* defined for MyModule.
Invalid pragma '%s'
(F) The writer of the called package tried something like "%PRAGMATA
= (xxx => not_a_sub)" and either assigned *xxx* a non-code
reference, or *xxx* is not a method in that package.
Pragma '%s' failed
(W) The pramga returned a false value. The module is possibly in an
inconsisten state after this. Proceed with caution.
AUTHORS
B. K. Oxley (binkley) <binkley@alumni.rice.edu>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1999-2005, B. K. Oxley.
This library is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
THANKS
Thanks to Kevin Caswick <KCaswick@wspackaging.com> for a great patch to
run under Perl 5.8.