NAME
List::AssignRef - assign an arrayref to an array sensibly
SYNOPSIS
# You can't do this in Perl...
my \@array = $arrayref;
# But you can do this...
use List::AssignRef;
deref my @array = $arrayref;
DESCRIPTION
OK, so you might ask yourself, why would you want to do this:
my \@array = $arrayref;
When you can just do this:
my @array = @{ $arrayref };
Well, in that simple case List::AssignRef is overkill.
However, what about cases when you have a function that returns a list of
arrayrefs, such as `part` from List::MoreUtils. For example:
my ($staff, $managers) = part { $_->title =~ /Manager/ } @employees;
If you want @staff and @managers arrays (as against arrayrefs), you need
to dereference each separately. Something like:
my @parted = part { $_->title =~ /Manager/ } @employees;
my @staff = @{$parted[0]};
my @managers = @{$parted[1]};
List::AssignRef makes this slightly prettier:
(deref my @staff, deref my @managers)
= part { $_->title =~ /Manager/ } @employees;
List::AssignRef exports exactly one function...
`deref ARRAY|HASH|SCALAR`
`deref` must be given a (non-reference) array, hash or scalar. It acts
as an lvalue, allowing a reference array, hash or scalar respectively
to be assigned to it.
This module uses Sub::Exporter which means that you can rename the
exported function easily:
use List::AssignRef deref => { -as => 'dereference' };
LEGACY PERL SUPPORT
The examples above rely on a parsing improvement in Perl 5.14. Although
this module does support earlier versions of Perl (5.6 and above), prior
to 5.14 you may need to add additional parentheses:
(deref(my @staff), deref(my @managers))
= part { $_->title =~ /Manager/ } @employees;
BUGS
Please report any bugs to
<
http://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=List-AssignRef>.
SEE ALSO
List::Util, List::MoreUtils.
Ref::List is not dissimilar but without the prototype trickery and lvalue
stuff, so doesn't satisfy this module's use case.
AUTHOR
Toby Inkster <
[email protected]>.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE
This software is copyright (c) 2012 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.
