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.\" ========================================================================
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.IX Title "PPI::Token::Prototype 3pm"
.TH PPI::Token::Prototype 3pm "2019-07-21" "perl v5.28.1" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
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.SH "NAME"
PPI::Token::Prototype \- A subroutine prototype descriptor
.SH "INHERITANCE"
.IX Header "INHERITANCE"
.Vb 3
\&  PPI::Token::End
\&  isa PPI::Token
\&      isa PPI::Element
.Ve
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 1
\&  sub ($@) prototype;
.Ve
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
Although it sort of looks like a list or condition, a subroutine
prototype is a lot more like a string. Its job is to provide hints
to the perl compiler on what type of arguments a particular subroutine
expects, which the compiler uses to validate parameters at compile-time,
and allows programmers to use the functions without explicit parameter
parens.
.PP
Due to the rise of \s-1OO\s0 Perl coding, which ignores these prototypes, they
are most often used to allow for constant-like things, and to \*(L"extend\*(R"
the language and create things that act like keywords and core functions.
.PP
.Vb 2
\&  # Create something that acts like a constant
\&  sub MYCONSTANT () { 10 }
\&  
\&  # Create the "any" core\-looking function
\&  sub any (&@) { ... }
\&  
\&  if ( any { $_\->cute } @babies ) {
\&        ...
\&  }
.Ve
.SH "METHODS"
.IX Header "METHODS"
This class provides one additional method beyond those defined by the
PPI::Token and PPI::Element parent classes.
.SS "prototype"
.IX Subsection "prototype"
The \f(CW\*(C`prototype\*(C'\fR accessor returns the actual prototype pattern, stripped
of flanking parens and of all whitespace. This mirrors the behavior of
the Perl \f(CW\*(C`prototype\*(C'\fR builtin function.
.PP
Note that stripping parens and whitespace means that the return of
\&\f(CW\*(C`prototype\*(C'\fR can be an empty string.
.SH "SUPPORT"
.IX Header "SUPPORT"
See the support section in the main module.
.SH "AUTHOR"
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright 2001 \- 2011 Adam Kennedy.
.PP
This program is free software; you can redistribute
it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
.PP
The full text of the license can be found in the
\&\s-1LICENSE\s0 file included with this module.