NAME Package::CopyContents - Copy (some) contents from another package VERSION This document describes version 0.004 of Package::CopyContents (from Perl distribution Package-CopyContents), released on 2020-02-16. SYNOPSIS package My::Package; use Package::CopyContents; # exports copy_contents_from() BEGIN { copy_contents_from 'Your::Package' } # provide your own variables/subroutines our $scalar = 'foo'; sub func1 { ... } ... 1; DESCRIPTION This module provides "copy_contents_from" to fill the contents of the caller's (target) package from the specified (source) package, with some options. "copy_contents_from" can be used as an alternative to OO inheritance: you copy routines from another "base" package then add/modify some other. FUNCTIONS copy_contents_from Usage: copy_contents_from [ \%opts, ] $source_package Load module $source_package if not already loaded (unless the "load" option is set to false, in which case no module loading is done), then copy the contents of the package into the caller's package. Currently only coderefs, scalars, arrays, and hashes are copied. Options: * to String. Default to "copy_contents_from"'s caller package. Can be used to explicitly set the target package. * load Boolean, default true. If set to false, no attempt to load module named $source_package is made. * dclone Boolean, default false. By default, only shallow copying of arrays and hashes are done. If this option is true, Storable's "dclone" is used. * skip_sub Boolean, default false. Whether to exclude all subs. * skip_scalar Boolean. Whether to exclude all scalar variables. * skip_array Boolean, default false. Whether to exclude all array variables. * skip_hash Boolean, default false. Whether to exclude all hash variables. * exclude Arrayref. List of names to exclude. Examples: exclude => ['@EXPORT', '@EXPORT_OK', '%EXPORT_TAGS', '$VERSION']; HOMEPAGE Please visit the project's homepage at . SOURCE Source repository is at . BUGS Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature. GOTCHAS If your copying module is loaded by user during runtime instead of compile-time, then subroutine name from your module will be overwritten by the runtime "copy_contents_from" invocation. Illustration: # in Source.pm package Source; sub func1 { ... } sub func2 { print "Source's version" } 1; # in YourModule.pm package YourModule; use Package::CopyContents; copy_contents_from 'Source'; # modify func2 sub func2 { "YourModule's version" } 1; # in script1.pl use YourModule; YourModule::func2(); # prints "YourModule's version", ok. # in script2.pl require YourModule; YourModule::func2(); # prints "Source's version"! To ensure that your subroutines do not get copied (overwritten) by the source package's that have the same name, perform the copying at compile-time: # in YourModule.pm package YourModule; BEGIN { use Package::CopyContents; copy_contents_from 'Source' } # modify func2 sub func2 { "YourModule's version" } 1; SEE ALSO Package::Rename can also copy packages. Variants: Perinci::Package::CopyContents AUTHOR perlancar COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2020 by perlancar@cpan.org. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.