NAME perl5i - Fix as much of Perl 5 as possible in one pragma SYNOPSIS use perl5i::2; or $ perl5i your_script.pl DESCRIPTION Perl 5 has a lot of warts. There's a lot of individual modules and techniques out there to fix those warts. perl5i aims to pull the best of them together into one module so you can turn them on all at once. This includes adding features, changing existing core functions and changing defaults. It will likely not be 100% backwards compatible with Perl 5, though it will be 99%, perl5i will try to have a lexical effect. Please add to this imaginary world and help make it real, either by telling me what Perl looks like in your imagination (http://github.com/schwern/perl5i/issues) or make a fork (forking on github is like a branch you control) and implement it yourself. Using perl5i Because perl5i *plans* to be incompatible in the future, you do not simply `use perl5i'. You must declare which major version of perl5i you are using. You do this like so: # Use perl5i major version 1 use perl5i::2; Thus the code you write with, for example, `perl5i::2' will always remain compatible even as perl5i moves on. If you want to be daring, you can `use perl5i::latest' to get the latest version. If you want your module to depend on perl5i, you should depend on the versioned class. For example, depend on `perl5i::2' and not `perl5i'. See VERSIONING for more information about perl5i's versioning scheme. What it does perl5i enables each of these modules and adds/changes these functions. We'll provide a brief description here, but you should look at each of their documentation for full details. The Meta Object Every object (and everything is an object) now has a meta object associated with it. Using the meta object you can ask things about the object which were previously over complicated. For example... # the object's class my $class = $obj->mo->class; # its parent classes my @isa = $obj->mo->isa; # the complete inheritance hierarchy my @complete_isa = $obj->mo->linear_isa; # the reference type of the object my $reftype = $obj->mo->reftype; A meta object is used to avoid polluting the global method space. `mo' was chosen to avoid clashing with Moose's meta object. See perl5i::Meta for complete details. Autoboxing autobox allows methods to be defined for and called on most unblessed variables. This means you can call methods on ordinary strings, lists and hashes! It also means perl5i can add a lot of functionality without polluting the global namespace. autobox::Core wraps a lot of Perl's built in functions so they can be called as methods on unblessed variables. `@a->pop' for example. alias() $scalar_reference->alias( @identifiers ); @alias->alias( @identifiers ); %hash->alias( @identifiers ); (\&code)->alias( @identifiers ); Aliases a variable to a new global name. my $code = sub { 42 }; $code->alias( "foo" ); print foo(); # prints 42 It will work on everything except scalar references. our %stuff; %other_hash->alias( "stuff" ); # %stuff now aliased to %other_hash It is not a copy, changes to one will change the other. my %things = (foo => 23); our %stuff; %things->alias( "stuff" ); # alias %things to %stuff $stuff{foo} = 42; # change %stuff say $things{foo}; # and it will show up in %things Multiple @identifiers will be joined with '::' and used as the fully qualified name for the alias. my $class = "Some::Class"; my $name = "foo"; sub { 99 }->alias( $class, $name ); print Some::Class->foo; # prints 99 If there is just one @identifier and it has no "::" in it, the current caller will be prepended. `$thing->alias("name")' is shorthand for `$thing->alias(CLASS, "name")' Due to limitations in autobox, non-reference scalars cannot be aliased. Alias a scalar ref instead. my $thing = 23; $thing->alias("foo"); # error my $thing = \23; $thing->alias("foo"); # $foo is now aliased to $thing This is basically a nicer way to say: no strict 'refs'; *{$package . '::'. $name} = $reference; Scalar Autoboxing perl5i adds some methods to scalars of its own. center() my $centered_string = $string->center($length); my $centered_string = $string->center($length, $character); Centers $string between $character. $centered_string will be of length $length. `$character' defaults to " ". say "Hello"->center(10); # " Hello "; say "Hello"->center(10, '-'); # "---Hello--"; `center()' will never truncate `$string'. If $length is less than `$string->length' it will just return `$string'. say "Hello"->center(4); # "Hello"; round my $rounded_number = $number->round; Round to the nearest integer. round_up ceil my $new_number = $number->round_up; Rounds the $number up. 2.45->round_up; # 3 ceil() is a synonym for round_up(). round_down floor my $new_number = $number->round_down; Rounds the $number down. 2.45->round_down; # 2 floor() is a synonyn for round_down(). is_number $is_a_number = $thing->is_number; Returns true if $thing is a number understood by Perl. 12.34->is_number; # true "12.34"->is_number; # also true "eleven"->is_number; # false is_positive $is_positive = $thing->is_positive; Returns true if $thing is a positive number. 0 is not positive. is_negative $is_negative = $thing->is_negative; Returns true if $thing is a negative number. 0 is not negative. is_integer $is_an_integer = $thing->is_integer; Returns true if $thing is an integer. 12->is_integer; # true 12.34->is_integer; # false "eleven"->is_integer; # false is_int A synonym for is_integer is_decimal $is_a_decimal_number = $thing->is_decimal; Returns true if $thing is a decimal number. 12->is_decimal; # false 12.34->is_decimal; # true ".34"->is_decimal; # true "point five"->is_decimal; # false require my $module = $module->require; Will `require' the given $module. This avoids funny things like `eval qq[require $module] or die $@'. It accepts only module names. On failure it will throw an exception, just like `require'. On a success it returns the $module. This is mostly useful so that you can immediately call $module's `import' method to emulate a `use'. # like "use $module qw(foo bar);" if that worked $module->require->import(qw(foo bar)); # like "use $module;" if that worked $module->require->import; wrap() my $wrapped = $string->wrap( width => $cols, separator => $sep ); Wraps $string to width $cols, breaking lines at word boundries using separator $sep. If no width is given, $cols defaults to 76. Default line separator is the newline character "\n". See Text::Wrap for details. ltrim() rtrim() trim() my $trimmed = $string->trim; my $trimmed = $string->trim($character_set); Trim whitespace. ltrim() trims off the start of the string (left), rtrim() off the end (right) and trim() off both the start and end. my $string = ' testme'->ltrim; # 'testme' my $string = 'testme '->rtrim; # 'testme' my $string = ' testme '->trim; # 'testme' They all take an optional $character_set which will determine what characters should be trimmed. It follows regex character set syntax so `A-Z' will trim everything from A to Z. Defaults to `\s', whitespace. my $string = '-> test <-'->trim('-><'); # ' test ' title_case() my $name = 'joe smith'->title_case; # Joe Smith Will uppercase every word character that follows a wordbreak character. path2module() my $module = $path->path2module; Given a relative $path it will return the Perl module this represents. For example, "Foo/Bar.pm"->path2module; # "Foo::Bar" It will throw an exception if given something which could not be a path to a Perl module. module2path() my $path = $module->module2path; Will return the relative $path in which the Perl $module can be found. For example, "Foo::Bar"->module2path; # "Foo/Bar.pm" List Autoboxing All the functions from List::Util and select ones from List::MoreUtils are all available as methods on unblessed arrays and array refs. first, max, maxstr, min, minstr, minmax, shuffle, reduce, sum, any, all, none, true, false, uniq and mesh. The have all been altered to return array refs where applicable in order to allow chaining. @array->grep(sub{ $_->is_number })->sum->say; diff() Calculate the difference between two (or more) arrays: my @a = ( 1, 2, 3 ); my @b = ( 3, 4, 5 ); my @diff_a = @a->diff(\@b) # [ 1, 2 ] my @diff_b = @b->diff(\@a) # [ 4, 5 ] Diff returns all elements in array `@a' that are not present in array `@b'. Item order is not considered: two identical elements in both arrays will be recognized as such disregarding their index. [ qw( foo bar ) ]->diff( [ qw( bar foo ) ] ) # empty, they are equal For comparing more than two arrays: @a->diff(\@b, \@c, ... ) All comparisons are against the base array (`@a' in this example). The result will be composed of all those elements that were present in `@a' and in none other. It also works with nested data structures; it will traverse them depth-first to assess whether they are identical or not. For instance: [ [ 'foo ' ], { bar => 1 } ]->diff([ 'foo' ]) # [ { bar => 1 } ] In the case of overloaded objects (i.e., DateTime, URI, Path::Class, etc.), it tries its best to treat them as strings or numbers. my $uri = URI->new("http://www.perl.com"); my $uri2 = URI->new("http://www.perl.com"); [ $uri ]->diff( [ "http://www.perl.com" ] ); # empty, they are equal [ $uri ]->diff( [ $uri2 ] ); # empty, they are equal intersect() my @a = (1 .. 10); my @b = (5 .. 15); my @intersection = @a->intersect(\@b) # [ 5 .. 10 ]; Performs intersection between arrays, returning those elements that are present in all of the argument arrays simultaneously. As with `diff()', it works with any number of arrays, nested data structures of arbitrary depth, and handles overloaded objects graciously. Hash Autoboxing flip() Exchanges values for keys in a hash. my %things = ( foo => 1, bar => 2, baz => 5 ); my %flipped = %things->flip; # { 1 => foo, 2 => bar, 5 => baz } If there is more than one occurence of a certain value, any one of the keys may end up as the value. This is because of the random ordering of hash keys. # Could be { 1 => foo }, { 1 => bar }, or { 1 => baz } { foo => 1, bar => 1, baz => 1 }->flip; Because hash references cannot usefully be keys, it will not work on nested hashes. { foo => [ 'bar', 'baz' ] }->flip; # dies merge() Recursively merge two or more hashes together using Hash::Merge::Simple. my $a = { a => 1 }; my $b = { b => 2, c => 3 }; $a->merge($b); # { a => 1, b => 2, c => 3 } For conflicting keys, rightmost precedence is used: my $a = { a => 1 }; my $b = { a => 100, b => 2}; $a->merge($b); # { a => 100, b => 2 } $b->merge($a); # { a => 1, b => 2 } It also works with nested hashes, although it won't attempt to merge array references or objects. For more information, look at the Hash::Merge::Simple docs. diff() my %staff = ( bob => 42, martha => 35, timmy => 23 ); my %promoted = ( timmy => 23 ); %staff->diff(\%promoted); # { bob => 42, martha => 35 } Returns the key/value pairs present in the first hash that are not present in the subsequent hash arguments. Otherwise works as `@array->diff'. intersect() %staff->intersect(\%promoted); # { timmy => 23 } Returns the key/value pairs that are present simultaneously in all the hash arguments. Otherwise works as `@array->intersect'. caller() Perl6::Caller causes `caller' to return an object in scalar context. die() `die' now always returns an exit code of 255 instead of trying to use `$!' or `$?' which makes the exit code unpredictable. If you want to exit with a message and a special exit code, use `warn' then `exit'. utf8 utf8 lets you put UTF8 encoded strings into your source code. This means UTF8 variable and method names, strings and regexes. It means strings will be treated as a set of characters rather than a set of bytes. For example, `length' will return the number of characters, not the number of bytes. length("perl5i is MËTÁŁ"); # 15, not 18 `@ARGV' will be read as UTF8. STDOUT, STDIN, STDERR and all newly opened filehandles will have UTF8 encoding turned on. Consequently, if you want to output raw bytes to a file, such as outputting an image, you must set `binmode $fh'. Carp `croak' and `carp' from Carp are always available. English English gives English names to the punctuation variables; for instance, `<$@'> is also `<$EVAL_ERROR'>. See perlvar for details. It does not load the regex variables which affect performance. `$PREMATCH', `$MATCH', and `$POSTMATCH' will not exist. See the `p' modifier in perlre for a better alternative. Modern::Perl Modern::Perl turns on strict and warnings, enables all the 5.10 features like `given/when', `say' and `state', and enables C3 method resolution order. CLASS Provides `CLASS' and `$CLASS' alternatives to `__PACKAGE__'. File::chdir File::chdir gives you `$CWD' representing the current working directory and it's assignable to `chdir'. You can also localize it to safely chdir inside a scope. File::stat File::stat causes `stat' to return an object in scalar context. DateTime `time', `localtime', and `gmtime' are replaced with DateTime objects. They will all act like the core functions. # Sat Jan 10 13:37:04 2004 say scalar gmtime(2**30); # 2004 say gmtime(2**30)->year; # 2009 (when this was written) say time->year; Time::y2038 `gmtime()' and `localtime()' will now safely work with dates beyond the year 2038 and before 1901. The exact range is not defined, but we guarantee at least up to 2**47 and back to year 1. IO::Handle Turns filehandles into objects so you can call methods on them. The biggest one is `autoflush' rather than mucking around with `$|' and `select'. $fh->autoflush(1); autodie autodie causes system and file calls which can fail (`open', `system', and `chdir', for example) to die when they fail. This means you don't have to put `or die' at the end of every system call, but you do have to wrap it in an `eval' block if you want to trap the failure. autodie's default error messages are pretty smart. All of autodie will be turned on. autovivification autovivification fixes the bug/feature where this: $hash = {}; $hash->{key1}{key2}; Results in `$hash->{key1}' coming into existence. That will no longer happen. No indirect object syntax perl5i turns indirect object syntax, ie. `new $obj', into a compile time error. Indirect object syntax is largely unnecessary and removing it avoids a number of ambiguous cases where Perl will mistakenly try to turn a function call into an indirect method call. See indirect for details. want() `want()' generalizes the mechanism of the wantarray function, allowing a function to determine the context it's being called in. Want distinguishes not just scalar v. array context, but void, lvalue, rvalue, boolean, reference context, and more. See perldoc Want for full details. Try::Tiny Try::Tiny gives support for try/catch blocks as an alternative to `eval BLOCK'. This allows correct error handling with proper localization of $@ and a nice syntax layer: # handle errors with a catch handler try { die "foo"; } catch { warn "caught error: $_"; }; # just silence errors try { die "foo"; }; See perldoc Try::Tiny for details. Command line program There is a perl5i command line program installed with perl5i (Windows users get perl5i.bat). This is handy for writing one liners. perl5i -e 'gmtime->year->say' And you can use it on the `#!' line. #!/usr/bin/perl5i gmtime->year->say; BUGS Some parts are not lexical. See http://github.com/schwern/perl5i/issues/labels/bug for a complete list. Please report bugs at http://github.com/schwern/perl5i/issues/ or email mailto:perl5i@googlegroups.com. VERSIONING perl5i follows the Semantic Versioning policy, http://semver.org. In short... Versions will be of the form X.Y.Z. 0.Y.Z may change anything at any time. Incrementing X (ie. 1.2.3 -> 2.0.0) indicates a backwards incompatible change. Incrementing Y (ie. 1.2.3 -> 1.3.0) indicates a new feature. Incrementing Z (ie. 1.2.3 -> 1.2.4) indicates a bug fix or other internal change. NOTES Inspired by chromatic's Modern::Perl and in particular http://www.modernperlbooks.com/mt/2009/04/ugly-perl-a-lesson-in-the-impo rtance-of-language-design.html. I totally didn't come up with the "Perl 5 + i" joke. I think it was Damian Conway. THANKS Thanks to our contributors: Chas Owens, Darian Patrick, rjbs, chromatic, Ben Hengst, Bruno Vecchi and anyone else I've forgotten. Thanks to Flavian and Matt Trout for their signature and Devel::Declare work. Thanks to all the CPAN authors upon whom this builds. LICENSE Copyright 2009-2010, Michael G Schwern This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html SEE ALSO Repository: http://github.com/schwern/perl5i/tree/master Issues/Bugs: http://github.com/schwern/perl5i/issues IRC: irc.perl.org on the #perl5i channel Mailing List: http://groups.google.com/group/perl5i/ Frequently Asked Questions about perl5i: perl5ifaq Some modules with similar purposes include: Modern::Perl, Common::Sense For a complete object declaration system, see Moose and MooseX::Declare.