.\" Automatically generated by Pod::Man 4.14 (Pod::Simple 3.40)
.\"
.\" Standard preamble:
.\" ========================================================================
.de Sp \" Vertical space (when we can't use .PP)
.if t .sp .5v
.if n .sp
..
.de Vb \" Begin verbatim text
.ft CW
.nf
.ne \\$1
..
.de Ve \" End verbatim text
.ft R
.fi
..
.\" Set up some character translations and predefined strings.  \*(-- will
.\" give an unbreakable dash, \*(PI will give pi, \*(L" will give a left
.\" double quote, and \*(R" will give a right double quote.  \*(C+ will
.\" give a nicer C++.  Capital omega is used to do unbreakable dashes and
.\" therefore won't be available.  \*(C` and \*(C' expand to `' in nroff,
.\" nothing in troff, for use with C<>.
.tr \(*W-
.ds C+ C\v'-.1v'\h'-1p'\s-2+\h'-1p'+\s0\v'.1v'\h'-1p'
.ie n \{\
.    ds -- \(*W-
.    ds PI pi
.    if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=24u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-12u'-\" diablo 10 pitch
.    if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=20u) .ds -- \(*W\h'-12u'\(*W\h'-8u'-\"  diablo 12 pitch
.    ds L" ""
.    ds R" ""
.    ds C` ""
.    ds C' ""
'br\}
.el\{\
.    ds -- \|\(em\|
.    ds PI \(*p
.    ds L" ``
.    ds R" ''
.    ds C`
.    ds C'
'br\}
.\"
.\" Escape single quotes in literal strings from groff's Unicode transform.
.ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
.el       .ds Aq '
.\"
.\" If the F register is >0, we'll generate index entries on stderr for
.\" titles (.TH), headers (.SH), subsections (.SS), items (.Ip), and index
.\" entries marked with X<> in POD.  Of course, you'll have to process the
.\" output yourself in some meaningful fashion.
.\"
.\" Avoid warning from groff about undefined register 'F'.
.de IX
..
.nr rF 0
.if \n(.g .if rF .nr rF 1
.if (\n(rF:(\n(.g==0)) \{\
.    if \nF \{\
.        de IX
.        tm Index:\\$1\t\\n%\t"\\$2"
..
.        if !\nF==2 \{\
.            nr % 0
.            nr F 2
.        \}
.    \}
.\}
.rr rF
.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "Symbol 3perl"
.TH Symbol 3perl "2021-09-24" "perl v5.32.1" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
.if n .ad l
.nh
.SH "NAME"
Symbol \- manipulate Perl symbols and their names
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 1
\&    use Symbol;
\&
\&    $sym = gensym;
\&    open($sym, \*(Aq<\*(Aq, "filename");
\&    $_ = <$sym>;
\&    # etc.
\&
\&    ungensym $sym;      # no effect
\&
\&    # replace *FOO{IO} handle but not $FOO, %FOO, etc.
\&    *FOO = geniosym;
\&
\&    print qualify("x"), "\en";              # "main::x"
\&    print qualify("x", "FOO"), "\en";       # "FOO::x"
\&    print qualify("BAR::x"), "\en";         # "BAR::x"
\&    print qualify("BAR::x", "FOO"), "\en";  # "BAR::x"
\&    print qualify("STDOUT", "FOO"), "\en";  # "main::STDOUT" (global)
\&    print qualify(\e*x), "\en";              # returns \e*x
\&    print qualify(\e*x, "FOO"), "\en";       # returns \e*x
\&
\&    use strict refs;
\&    print { qualify_to_ref $fh } "foo!\en";
\&    $ref = qualify_to_ref $name, $pkg;
\&
\&    use Symbol qw(delete_package);
\&    delete_package(\*(AqFoo::Bar\*(Aq);
\&    print "deleted\en" unless exists $Foo::{\*(AqBar::\*(Aq};
.Ve
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
\&\f(CW\*(C`Symbol::gensym\*(C'\fR creates an anonymous glob and returns a reference
to it.  Such a glob reference can be used as a file or directory
handle.
.PP
For backward compatibility with older implementations that didn't
support anonymous globs, \f(CW\*(C`Symbol::ungensym\*(C'\fR is also provided.
But it doesn't do anything.
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`Symbol::geniosym\*(C'\fR creates an anonymous \s-1IO\s0 handle.  This can be
assigned into an existing glob without affecting the non-IO portions
of the glob.
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`Symbol::qualify\*(C'\fR turns unqualified symbol names into qualified
variable names (e.g. \*(L"myvar\*(R" \-> \*(L"MyPackage::myvar\*(R").  If it is given a
second parameter, \f(CW\*(C`qualify\*(C'\fR uses it as the default package;
otherwise, it uses the package of its caller.  Regardless, global
variable names (e.g. \*(L"\s-1STDOUT\*(R", \*(L"ENV\*(R", \*(L"SIG\*(R"\s0) are always qualified with
\&\*(L"main::\*(R".
.PP
Qualification applies only to symbol names (strings).  References are
left unchanged under the assumption that they are glob references,
which are qualified by their nature.
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`Symbol::qualify_to_ref\*(C'\fR is just like \f(CW\*(C`Symbol::qualify\*(C'\fR except that it
returns a glob ref rather than a symbol name, so you can use the result
even if \f(CW\*(C`use strict \*(Aqrefs\*(Aq\*(C'\fR is in effect.
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`Symbol::delete_package\*(C'\fR wipes out a whole package namespace.  Note
this routine is not exported by default\*(--you may want to import it
explicitly.
.SH "BUGS"
.IX Header "BUGS"
\&\f(CW\*(C`Symbol::delete_package\*(C'\fR is a bit too powerful. It undefines every symbol that
lives in the specified package. Since perl, for performance reasons, does not
perform a symbol table lookup each time a function is called or a global
variable is accessed, some code that has already been loaded and that makes use
of symbols in package \f(CW\*(C`Foo\*(C'\fR may stop working after you delete \f(CW\*(C`Foo\*(C'\fR, even if
you reload the \f(CW\*(C`Foo\*(C'\fR module afterwards.