Method names with colons in them?

[dmitri]

Dear Brethren,

I have the following piece of code:

ABC::XYZ->new->$autoloaded;

Obviously, method specified in $autoloaded is handled by AUTOLOAD. This works well if the value of the variable is something like 'abc', but does not work if the value is 'abc::xyz', as this results in the following run-time error:

Can't locate object method "xyz" via package "abc::xyz"

However, I still want to get AUTOLOAD called even if there are colons in the value of $autoloaded. Is there any way to do it?

P.S. I am using 5.6.1.

Update Thank you all for your responses! I think I now understand this a bit better.

[artist]

Of course, you are allowed experiment and try new things, but why you need to have method with colons in it? It is syntax preserved for modules etc.

From perlmod:The symbol table for a package happens to be stored in the hash of that name with two colons appended. You can refer to variables and filehandles in other packages by prefixing the identifier with the package name and a double colon: $Package::Variable.

[VSarkiss]

However, I still want to get AUTOLOAD called

It will. The question is, which AUTOLOAD? More precisely, AUTOLOAD in which package?

In the example you wrote, Perl will search for AUTOLOAD in the abc::xyz package and any other packages up the @ISA chain. In other words, it won't look for AUTOLOAD in the abc package (unless abc::xyz ISA abc).

More detail on AUTOLOAD is in perlsub.

Unless I've completely misunderstood your question....

[runrig]

Actually, the error message is misleading (the 'def' package is called, not 'def::xyz'--update: the correct error message appears in perl 5.8.4, but not 5.6.1), and AUTOLOAD doesn't get called at all. The package called is 'def', and if you comment out the 'sub xyz...', you still get the error (maybe you could consider it a bug...I haven't read the docs lately, though):
Read more... (768 Bytes)

[Fletch]

Method names with colons are taken as a hint to start looking for the method in the named class (e.g. the call $bar->ABC::xyz() means to call the xyz method on $bar, but start looking in package ABC rather than in whatever class $bar isa). In your example it's looking for the method xyz starting in (the probably non-existent) package abc.