What is Exported from modules

[merrymonk]

I am using a number of my own modules that have grown over several years.
The problem is that some are not modified very often and I forget what is exported from them.
Therefore I wondered in any Monk could tell me how, after loading a module
I can get a list of variables and subs exported from that module.
I appreciate that I can look in the original but I wanted to other things with the list that I obtained.
Many thanks

[Joost]

If the module uses Exporter and you're not explicitly stating what to import when you use the module, you could do something like:

sub exported_by_default {
  my ($packagename) = @_;
  no strict 'refs';
  return @{"${packagename}::EXPORT"};
}

untested, by the way.

[gellyfish]

If you want to see what is explicitly exported then (as long as you are not doing something hair-curling in your import) you can do something like:

perl -MMyModule -e'print "@MyModule::EXPORT"'

or some variation thereof.

/J\

[gam3]

I don't think you can get all the imports from inside the module becuase you would not be sure what had been imported from the EXPORT_OK array. But by looking at @_module_::EXPORT and @_module_::EXPORT_OK you should be able to get a good idea of what was imported. The problem would be if you have 2 modules that export the name in the EXPORT_OK array.

Update: Added example code.

Read more... (2 kB)

[Codon]

You could look in your namespace:

use Some::Module;
my %subs = map { $_ => \&$_ } grep { defined &$_ } keys %main:: ;

[broquaint]

To reliably find what was exported from another package you need to do a little symbol table interrogation e.g

sub find_exported_symbols {
  my($in, $from) = @_;
  no strict 'refs';
  my($in_tbl, $from_tbl) = ( \%{"$in\::"}, \%{"$from\::"} );

  return grep {
    my $sym = $_;
    grep { \*$sym == \*$_ } keys %$from_tbl;
  } keys %$in_tbl;
}

use Symbol qw/ gensym qualify delete_package /;

print "found $_ in main from Symbol\n"
  for find_exported_symbols( 'main', 'Symbol' );

[tye]

Never:

    use Some::Module;

Instead either:

    use Some::Module qw( Things Used From This Module );
#or
    require Some::Module;

and you won't have this problem. If you're confused, just think how confused your replacement will be.

This is why module authors should use @EXPORT_OK and never @EXPORT.

And when I say "never" remember this: All things in the strictest of moderation, including moderation.

[Codon]

If you want to really confuse your replacement, do what my predecessor did: write class (has a new() method which returns a blessed reference) with methods that are named (by convention) as private ( sub _do_something { } ) or "double private" ( sub __double_secret_probation { } ) and then add them to @EXPORT. Oh, and while you're at it, add every subroutine to @EXPORT. That'll teach people to learn a convention and then have unfair expectations when they see it used elsewere.

I think my predecessor lived (and may die) by this.