NAME Exporter::Tiny - an exporter with the features of Sub::Exporter but only core dependencies SYNOPSIS package MyUtils; use base "Exporter::Tiny"; our @EXPORT = qw(frobnicate); sub frobnicate { my $n = shift; ... } 1; package MyScript; use MyUtils "frobnicate" => { -as => "frob" }; print frob(42); exit; DESCRIPTION Exporter::Tiny supports many of Sub::Exporter's external-facing features including renaming imported functions with the `-as`, `-prefix` and `-suffix` options; explicit destinations with the `into` option; and alternative installers with the `installler` option. But it's written in only about 40% as many lines of code and with zero non-core dependencies. Its internal-facing interface is closer to Exporter.pm, with configuration done through the @EXPORT, @EXPORT_OK and %EXPORT_TAGS package variables. Exporter::Tiny performs most of its internal duties (including resolution of tag names to sub names, resolution of sub names to coderefs, and installation of coderefs into the target package) as method calls, which means they can be overridden to provide interesting behaviour. Utility Functions These are really for internal use, but can be exported if you need them. `mkopt(\@array)` Similar to `mkopt` from Data::OptList. It doesn't support all the fancy options that Data::OptList does (`moniker`, `require_unique`, `must_be` and `name_test`) but runs about 50% faster. `mkopt_hash(\@array)` Similar to `mkopt_hash` from Data::OptList. See also `mkopt`. TIPS AND TRICKS IMPORTING FROM EXPORTER::TINY For the purposes of this discussion we'll assume we have a module called `MyUtils` which exports one function, `frobnicate`. `MyUtils` inherits from Exporter::Tiny. Many of these tricks may seem familiar from Sub::Exporter. That is intentional. Exporter::Tiny doesn't attempt to provide every feature of Sub::Exporter, but where it does it usually uses a fairly similar API. Basic importing # import "frobnicate" function use MyUtils "frobnicate"; # import all functions that MyUtils offers use MyUtils -all; Renaming imported functions # call it "frob" use MyUtils "frobnicate" => { -as => "frob" }; # call it "my_frobnicate" use MyUtils "frobnicate" => { -prefix => "my_" }; # call it "frobnicate_util" use MyUtils "frobnicate" => { -suffix => "_util" }; # import it twice with two different names use MyUtils "frobnicate" => { -as => "frob" }, "frobnicate" => { -as => "frbnct" }; Lexical subs { use Sub::Exporter::Lexical lexical_installer => { -as => "lex" }; use MyUtils { installer => lex }, "frobnicate"; frobnicate(...); # ok } frobnicate(...); # not ok Import functions into another package use MyUtils { into => "OtherPkg" }, "frobnicate"; OtherPkg::frobincate(...); Import functions into a scalar my $func; use MyUtils "frobnicate" => { -as => \$func }; $func->(...); Import functions into a hash OK, Sub::Exporter doesn't do this... my %funcs; use MyUtils { into => \%funcs }, "frobnicate"; $funcs{frobnicate}->(...); TIPS AND TRICKS EXPORTING USING EXPORTER::TINY Simple configuration works the same as Exporter; inherit from this module, and use the @EXPORT, @EXPORT_OK and %EXPORT_TAGS package variables to list subs to export. Generators Exporter::Tiny has always allowed exported subs to be generated (like Sub::Exporter), but until version 0.025 did not have an especially nice API for it. Now, it's easy. If you want to generate a sub `foo` to export, list it in @EXPORT or @EXPORT_OK as usual, and then simply give your exporter module a class method called `_generate_foo`. push @EXPORT_OK, 'foo'; sub _generate_foo { my $class = shift; my ($name, $args, $globals) = @_; return sub { ...; } } You can also generate tags: my %constants = (FOO => 1, BAR => 2); use constant \%constants; $EXPORT_TAGS{constants} = sub { my $class = shift; my ($name, $args, $globals) = @_; return keys(%constants); }; Overriding Internals An important difference between Exporter and Exporter::Tiny is that the latter calls all its internal functions as *class methods*. This means that your subclass can *override them* to alter their behaviour. The following methods are available to be overridden. Despite being named with a leading underscore, they are considered public methods. (The underscore is there to avoid accidentally colliding with any of your own function names.) `_exporter_validate_opts($globals)` This method is called once each time `import` is called. It is passed a reference to the global options hash. (That is, the optional leading hashref in the `use` statement, where the `into` and `installer` options can be provided.) You may use this method to munge the global options, or validate them, throwing an exception or printing a warning. The default implementation does nothing interesting. `_exporter_expand_tag($name, $args, $globals)` This method is called to expand an import tag (e.g. ":constants"). It is passed the tag name (minus the leading ":"), an optional hashref of options (like `{ -prefix => "foo_" }`), and the global options hashref. It is expected to return a list of ($name, $args) arrayref pairs. These names can be sub names to export, or further tag names (which must have their ":"). If returning tag names, be careful to avoid creating a tag expansion loop! The default implementation uses %EXPORT_TAGS to expand tags, and provides fallbacks for the `:default` and `:all` tags. `_exporter_expand_sub($name, $args, $globals)` This method is called to translate a sub name to a hash of name => coderef pairs for exporting to the caller. In general, this would just be a hash with one key and one value, but, for example, Type::Library overrides this method so that "+Foo" gets expanded to: ( Foo => sub { $type }, is_Foo => sub { $type->check(@_) }, to_Foo => sub { $type->assert_coerce(@_) }, assert_Foo => sub { $type->assert_return(@_) }, ) The default implementation checks that the name is allowed to be exported (using the `_exporter_permitted_regexp` method), gets the coderef using the generator if there is one (or by calling `can` on your exporter otherwise) and calls `_exporter_fail` if it's unable to generate or retrieve a coderef. `_exporter_permitted_regexp($globals)` This method is called to retrieve a regexp for validating the names of exportable subs. If a sub doesn't match the regexp, then the default implementation of `_exporter_expand_sub` will refuse to export it. (Of course, you may override the default `_exporter_expand_sub`.) The default implementation of this method assembles the regexp from @EXPORT and @EXPORT_OK. `_exporter_fail($name, $args, $globals)` Called by `_exporter_expand_sub` if it can't find a coderef to export. The default implementation just throws an exception. But you could emit a warning instead, or just ignore the failed export. If you don't throw an exception then you should be aware that this method is called in list context, and any list it returns will be treated as an `_exporter_expand_sub`-style hash of names and coderefs for export. `_exporter_install_sub($name, $args, $globals, $coderef)` This method actually installs the exported sub into its new destination. Its return value is ignored. The default implementation handles sub renaming (i.e. the `-as`, `-prefix` and `-suffix` functions. This method does a lot of stuff; if you need to override it, it's probably a good idea to just pre-process the arguments and then call the super method rather than trying to handle all of it yourself. HISTORY Type::Library had a bunch of custom exporting code which poked coderefs into its caller's stash. It needed this to be something more powerful than most exporters so that it could switch between exporting Moose, Mouse and Moo-compatible objects on request. Sub::Exporter would have been capable, but had too many dependencies for the Type::Tiny project. Meanwhile Type::Utils, Types::TypeTiny and Test::TypeTiny each used the venerable Exporter.pm. However, this meant they were unable to use the features like Sub::Exporter-style function renaming which I'd built into Type::Library: ## import "Str" but rename it to "String". use Types::Standard "Str" => { -as => "String" }; And so I decided to factor out code that could be shared by all Type-Tiny's exporters into a single place: Exporter::TypeTiny. As of version 0.026, Exporter::TypeTiny was also made available as Exporter::Tiny, distributed independently on CPAN. CHOCOLATEBOY had convinced me that it was mature enough to live a life of its own. As of version 0.030, Type-Tiny depends on Exporter::Tiny and Exporter::TypeTiny is being phased out. OBLIGATORY EXPORTER COMPARISON Exporting is unlikely to be your application's performance bottleneck, but nonetheless here are some comparisons. Comparative sizes according to Devel::SizeMe: Exporter 217.1Kb Sub::Exporter::Progressive 263.2Kb Exporter::Tiny 267.7Kb Exporter + Exporter::Heavy 281.5Kb Exporter::Renaming 406.2Kb Sub::Exporter 701.0Kb Performance exporting a single sub: Rate SubExp ExpTiny SubExpProg ExpPM SubExp 2489/s -- -56% -85% -88% ExpTiny 5635/s 126% -- -67% -72% SubExpProg 16905/s 579% 200% -- -16% ExpPM 20097/s 707% 257% 19% -- (Exporter::Renaming globally changes the behaviour of Exporter.pm, so could not be included in the same benchmarks.) (Non-Core) Dependencies: Exporter -1 Exporter::Renaming 0 Exporter::Tiny 0 Sub::Exporter::Progressive 0 Sub::Exporter 3 Features: ExpPM ExpTiny SubExp SubExpProg Can export code symbols............. Yes Yes Yes Yes Can export non-code symbols......... Yes Groups/tags......................... Yes Yes Yes Yes Config avoids package variables..... Yes Allows renaming of subs............. Yes Yes Maybe Install code into scalar refs....... Yes Yes Maybe Can be passed an "into" parameter... Yes Yes Maybe Can be passed an "installer" sub.... Yes Yes Maybe Supports generators................. Yes Yes Sane API for generators............. Yes Yes (Certain Sub::Exporter::Progressive features are only available if Sub::Exporter is installed.) BUGS Please report any bugs to . SEE ALSO Exporter::TypeTiny, Sub::Exporter, Exporter. AUTHOR Toby Inkster . COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE This software is copyright (c) 2013 by Toby Inkster. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.