NAME Package::CopyFrom - Copy (some) contents from another package VERSION This document describes version 0.001 of Package::CopyFrom (from Perl distribution Package-CopyFrom), released on 2020-02-15. SYNOPSIS package My::Package; use Package::CopyFrom; # exports copy_from() copy_from 'Your::Package'; DESCRIPTION This module provides "copy_from" to fill the contents of the specifed (source) package into the caller's (target) package, with some options. "copy_from" can be used for reuse purpose, as a "poor man"'s "non-inheritance" OO: you copy routines (as well as package variables) from another "base" package then add/modify some. FUNCTIONS copy_from Usage: copy_from [ \%opts, ] $source_package Load module $source_package if not already loaded (unless the "load" option is set to false), then copy the contents of package into the caller's package. Currently only subroutines, scalars, arrays, and hashes are copied. Options: * overwrite Boolean, default false. When this setting is false, if a symbol (variable/subroutine) already exists in the target package, it will not be overwritten. Setting this option to true will overwrite. See "GOTCHAS". * load Boolean, default true. If set to false, no attempt to load module named $source_package is made. * skip_sub Boolean, default false. Whether to exclude all subs. * skip_scalar Boolean. Whether to exclude all scalar variables. * skip_array Boolean, default false. Whether to exclude all array variables. * skip_hash Boolean, default false. Whether to exclude all hash variables. * exclude Arrayref. List of names to exclude. Examples: exclude => ['@EXPORT', '@EXPORT_OK', '%EXPORT_TAGS', '$VERSION']; * dclone Boolean, default false. By default, only shallow copying of arrays and hashes are done. If this option is true, Storable's "dclone" is used. HOMEPAGE Please visit the project's homepage at . SOURCE Source repository is at . BUGS Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature. GOTCHAS During parsing (compile-time), whenever a variable is mentioned (even if the corresponding statement never gets executed) it will spring into existence. If you do "copy_from" during run-time, you will miss copying the mentioned variable unintendedly. Consider this example: # in lib/Cwd2.pm package Cwd2; use Package::CopyFrom; copy_from 'Cwd'; # in main.pl require Cwd2; say @Cwd2::EXPORT if 0; # Cwd2's @EXPORT will not be copied from Cwd's @EXPORT because Cwd2's @EXPORT # springs into existence during compile-time due to the above statement. SEE ALSO Package::Rename can also copy packages. AUTHOR perlancar COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2020 by perlancar@cpan.org. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.