Re: stronger than eval?

[chorny]

Try

eval {
    require Cache::File;
};

or eval "use Cache::File;";
Use is executed in BEGIN stage, before eval is executed. It is valid even for eval BLOCK. eval SCALAR is other case.

[cephas]

with require, you'll have to handle import manually.

[ikegami]

I see that as a plus, since it probably doesn't make sense to import from something which is conditionally imported. However, it's not hard to import if so desired.

BEGIN {
   eval { require Cache::File }
      or warn("Proceeding without Cache::File\n");

   Cache::File->import(qw( ... ))
      if Cache::File->can("import");
}

or

BEGIN {
   my @imports = qw( ... );

   eval "use Cache::File \@imports"
      or warn("Proceeding without Cache::File\n");
}

The BEGIN ensures prototypes are properly loaded.