NAME

Lexical::Alias - makes a lexical an alias for another variable

SYNOPSIS

require 5.008;
use Lexical::Alias;

my ($src, $dst);
alias $src, $dst;

my (@src, @dst);
alias @src, @dst;

my (%src, %dst);
alias %src, %dst;

# modifying $src/@src/%src
# modifies $dst/@dst/%dst,
# and vice-versa

# or, if supporting Perls prior to v5.8:

use Lexical::Alias qw( alias_r alias_s alias_a alias_h );

my ($src, $dst);
alias_s $src, $dst;

my (@src, @dst);
alias_a @src, @dst;

my (%src, %dst);
alias_h %src, %dst;

alias_r \$src, \$dst;
alias_r \@src, \@dst;
alias_r \%src, \%dst;

DESCRIPTION

This module allows you to alias a lexical (declared with my) variable to another variable (package or lexical). You will receive a fatal error if you try aliasing a scalar to something that is not a scalar (etc.).

Exported Functions

• alias(src, dst)

  Makes dst (which must be lexical) an alias to src (which can be either lexical or a package variable). src and dst must be the same data type (scalar and scalar, array and array, hash and hash).

  This is only available in Perl v5.8 and later, where it is exported automatically.

• alias_s($src, $dst)

  Makes dst (which must be lexical) an alias to src (which can be either lexical or a package variable). This is not exported by default.

• alias_a(@src, @dst)

  Makes dst (which must be lexical) an alias to src (which can be either lexical or a package variable). This is not exported by default.

• alias_h(%src, %dst)

  Makes dst (which must be lexical) an alias to src (which can be either lexical or a package variable). This is not exported by default.

• alias_r(\src, \dst)

  Makes dst (which must be lexical) an alias to src (which can be either lexical or a package variable). src and dst must be the same data type (scalar and scalar, array and array, hash and hash). This is not exported by default.

Caveats

Because one variable is an alias for the other, making either one an alias for another variable makes them both aliases for it:

use Lexical::Alias;

my ($x, $y, $z);
alias $x => $y;  # $y is an alias for $x
alias $z => $y;  # $y (and thus $x) is an alias for $z
$z = 10;
print $x;        # 10

This is not a bug.

AUTHOR

Jeff japhy Pinyan, japhy@pobox.com

Thanks to Tye McQueen for a bug fix -- this module should work from 5.005 on.

http://www.pobox.com/~japhy/

SEE ALSO

Devel::LexAlias, by Richard Clamp, from which I got (and modified) the code necessary for this module. I've wanted this feature for some time, and Richard opened the door with this module.