autouse(3)
NNAAMMEE
autouse - postpone load of modules until a function is
used
SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
use autouse 'Carp' => qw(carp croak);
carp "this carp was predeclared and autoused ";
DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
If the module Module is already loaded, then the
declaration
use autouse 'Module' => qw(func1 func2($;$) Module::func3);
is equivalent to
use Module qw(func1 func2);
if Module defines func2() with prototype ($;$), and
func1() and func3() have no prototypes. (At least if
Module uses Exporter's import, otherwise it is a fatal
error.)
If the module Module is not loaded yet, then the above
declaration declares functions func1() and func2() in the
current package, and declares a function Module::func3().
When these functions are called, they load the package
Module if needed, and substitute themselves with the
correct definitions.
WWAARRNNIINNGG
Using autouse will move important steps of your program's
execution from compile time to runtime. This can
+o Break the execution of your program if the module you
autoused has some initialization which it expects to
be done early.
+o hide bugs in your code since important checks (like
correctness of prototypes) is moved from compile time
to runtime. In particular, if the prototype you
specified on autouse line is wrong, you will not find
it out until the corresponding function is executed.
This will be very unfortunate for functions which are
not always called (note that for such functions
autouseing gives biggest win, for a workaround see
below).
To alleviate the second problem (partially) it is advised
to write your scripts like this:
use Module;
use autouse Module => qw(carp($) croak(&$));
carp "this carp was predeclared and autoused ";
The first line ensures that the errors in your argument
specification are found early. When you ship your
application you should comment out the first line, since
it makes the second one useless.
BBUUGGSS
If Module::func3() is autoused, and the module is loaded
between the autouse directive and a call to
Module::func3(), warnings about redefinition would appear
if warnings are enabled.
If Module::func3() is autoused, warnings are disabled when
loading the module via autoused functions.
AAUUTTHHOORR
Ilya Zakharevich ilya@math.ohio-state.edu
SSEEEE AALLSSOO
perl(1).