NAME¶
Readonly - Facility for creating read-only scalars, arrays, hashes
Synopsis¶
use Readonly;
# Deep Read-only scalar
Readonly::Scalar $sca => $initial_value;
Readonly::Scalar my $sca => $initial_value;
# Deep Read-only array
Readonly::Array @arr => @values;
Readonly::Array my @arr => @values;
# Deep Read-only hash
Readonly::Hash %has => (key => value, key => value, ...);
Readonly::Hash my %has => (key => value, key => value, ...);
# or:
Readonly::Hash %has => {key => value, key => value, ...};
# You can use the read-only variables like any regular variables:
print $sca;
$something = $sca + $arr[2];
next if $has{$some_key};
# But if you try to modify a value, your program will die:
$sca = 7;
push @arr, 'seven';
delete $has{key};
# The error message is "Modification of a read-only value attempted"
# Alternate form (Perl 5.8 and later)
Readonly $sca => $initial_value;
Readonly my $sca => $initial_value;
Readonly @arr => @values;
Readonly my @arr => @values;
Readonly %has => (key => value, key => value, ...);
Readonly my %has => (key => value, key => value, ...);
Readonly my $sca; # Implicit undef, readonly value
# Alternate form (for Perls earlier than v5.8)
Readonly \$sca => $initial_value;
Readonly \my $sca => $initial_value;
Readonly \@arr => @values;
Readonly \my @arr => @values;
Readonly \%has => (key => value, key => value, ...);
Readonly \my %has => (key => value, key => value, ...);
Description¶
This is a facility for creating non-modifiable variables. This is useful for
configuration files, headers, etc. It can also be useful as a development and
debugging tool for catching updates to variables that should not be changed.
Variable Depth¶
Readonly has the ability to create both deep and shallow readonly variables.
If any of the values you pass to "Scalar", "Array",
"Hash", or the standard "Readonly" are references, then
those functions recurse over the data structures, marking everything as
Readonly. The entire structure is nonmodifiable. This is normally what you
want.
If you want only the top level to be Readonly, use the alternate (and poorly
named) "Scalar1", "Array1", and "Hash1"
functions.
The Past¶
The following sections are updated versions of the previous authors
documentation.
Comparison with "use constant"¶
Perl provides a facility for creating constant values, via the constant pragma.
There are several problems with this pragma.
- •
- The constants created have no leading sigils.
- •
- These constants cannot be interpolated into strings.
- •
- Syntax can get dicey sometimes. For example:
use constant CARRAY => (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13);
$a_prime = CARRAY[2]; # wrong!
$a_prime = (CARRAY)[2]; # right -- MUST use parentheses
- •
- You have to be very careful in places where barewords are allowed.
For example:
use constant SOME_KEY => 'key';
%hash = (key => 'value', other_key => 'other_value');
$some_value = $hash{SOME_KEY}; # wrong!
$some_value = $hash{+SOME_KEY}; # right
(who thinks to use a unary plus when using a hash to scalarize the
key?)
- •
- "use constant" works for scalars and arrays, not hashes.
- •
- These constants are global to the package in which they're declared;
cannot be lexically scoped.
- •
- Works only at compile time.
- •
- Can be overridden:
use constant PI => 3.14159;
...
use constant PI => 2.71828;
(this does generate a warning, however, if you have warnings enabled).
- •
- It is very difficult to make and use deep structures (complex data
structures) with "use constant".
Comparison with typeglob constants¶
Another popular way to create read-only scalars is to modify the symbol table
entry for the variable by using a typeglob:
*a = \'value';
This works fine, but it only works for global variables ("my"
variables have no symbol table entry). Also, the following similar constructs
do
not work:
*a = [1, 2, 3]; # Does NOT create a read-only array
*a = { a => 'A'}; # Does NOT create a read-only hash
Pros¶
Readonly.pm, on the other hand, will work with global variables and with lexical
("my") variables. It will create scalars, arrays, or hashes, all of
which look and work like normal, read-write Perl variables. You can use them
in scalar context, in list context; you can take references to them, pass them
to functions, anything.
Readonly.pm also works well with complex data structures, allowing you to tag
the whole structure as nonmodifiable, or just the top level.
Also, Readonly variables may not be reassigned. The following code will die:
Readonly::Scalar $pi => 3.14159;
...
Readonly::Scalar $pi => 2.71828;
Cons¶
Readonly.pm used to impose a performance penalty. It was pretty slow. How slow?
Run the "eg/benchmark.pl" script that comes with Readonly. On my
test system, "use constant" (const), typeglob constants (tglob),
regular read/write Perl variables (normal/literal), and the new Readonly
(ro/ro_simple) are all about the same speed, the old, tie based Readonly.pm
constants were about 1/22 the speed.
However, there is relief. There is a companion module available, Readonly::XS.
You won't need this if you're using Perl 5.8.x or higher.
I repeat, you do not need Readonly::XS if your environment has perl 5.8.x or
higher. Please see section entitled Internals for more.
Functions¶
- Readonly::Scalar $var => $value;
- Creates a nonmodifiable scalar, $var, and assigns a value of $value to it.
Thereafter, its value may not be changed. Any attempt to modify the value
will cause your program to die.
A value must be supplied. If you want the variable to have
"undef" as its value, you must specify "undef".
If $value is a reference to a scalar, array, or hash, then this function
will mark the scalar, array, or hash it points to as being Readonly as
well, and it will recursively traverse the structure, marking the whole
thing as Readonly. Usually, this is what you want. However, if you want
only the $value marked as Readonly, use "Scalar1".
If $var is already a Readonly variable, the program will die with an error
about reassigning Readonly variables.
- Readonly::Array @arr => (value, value, ...);
- Creates a nonmodifiable array, @arr, and assigns the specified list of
values to it. Thereafter, none of its values may be changed; the array may
not be lengthened or shortened or spliced. Any attempt to do so will cause
your program to die.
If any of the values passed is a reference to a scalar, array, or hash, then
this function will mark the scalar, array, or hash it points to as being
Readonly as well, and it will recursively traverse the structure, marking
the whole thing as Readonly. Usually, this is what you want. However, if
you want only the hash %@arr itself marked as Readonly, use
"Array1".
If @arr is already a Readonly variable, the program will die with an error
about reassigning Readonly variables.
- Readonly::Hash %h => (key => value, key => value, ...);
- Readonly::Hash %h => {key => value, key => value, ...};
- Creates a nonmodifiable hash, %h, and assigns the specified keys and
values to it. Thereafter, its keys or values may not be changed. Any
attempt to do so will cause your program to die.
A list of keys and values may be specified (with parentheses in the synopsis
above), or a hash reference may be specified (curly braces in the synopsis
above). If a list is specified, it must have an even number of elements,
or the function will die.
If any of the values is a reference to a scalar, array, or hash, then this
function will mark the scalar, array, or hash it points to as being
Readonly as well, and it will recursively traverse the structure, marking
the whole thing as Readonly. Usually, this is what you want. However, if
you want only the hash %h itself marked as Readonly, use
"Hash1".
If %h is already a Readonly variable, the program will die with an error
about reassigning Readonly variables.
- Readonly $var => $value;
- Readonly @arr => (value, value, ...);
- Readonly %h => (key => value, ...);
- Readonly %h => {key => value, ...};
- Readonly $var;
- The "Readonly" function is an alternate to the
"Scalar", "Array", and "Hash" functions. It
has the advantage (if you consider it an advantage) of being one function.
That may make your program look neater, if you're initializing a whole
bunch of constants at once. You may or may not prefer this uniform style.
It has the disadvantage of having a slightly different syntax for versions
of Perl prior to 5.8. For earlier versions, you must supply a backslash,
because it requires a reference as the first parameter.
Readonly \$var => $value;
Readonly \@arr => (value, value, ...);
Readonly \%h => (key => value, ...);
Readonly \%h => {key => value, ...};
You may or may not consider this ugly.
Note that you can create implicit undefined variables with this function
like so "Readonly my $var;" while a verbose undefined value must
be passed to the standard "Scalar", "Array", and
"Hash" functions.
- Readonly::Scalar1 $var => $value;
- Readonly::Array1 @arr => (value, value, ...);
- Readonly::Hash1 %h => (key => value, key => value, ...);
- Readonly::Hash1 %h => {key => value, key => value, ...};
- These alternate functions create shallow Readonly variables, instead of
deep ones. For example:
Readonly::Array1 @shal => (1, 2, {perl=>'Rules', java=>'Bites'}, 4, 5);
Readonly::Array @deep => (1, 2, {perl=>'Rules', java=>'Bites'}, 4, 5);
$shal[1] = 7; # error
$shal[2]{APL}='Weird'; # Allowed! since the hash isn't Readonly
$deep[1] = 7; # error
$deep[2]{APL}='Weird'; # error, since the hash is Readonly
Examples¶
These are a few very simple examples:
Scalars¶
A plain old read-only value
Readonly::Scalar $a => "A string value";
The value need not be a compile-time constant:
Readonly::Scalar $a => $computed_value;
Arrays/Lists¶
A read-only array:
Readonly::Array @a => (1, 2, 3, 4);
The parentheses are optional:
Readonly::Array @a => 1, 2, 3, 4;
You can use Perl's built-in array quoting syntax:
Readonly::Array @a => qw/1 2 3 4/;
You can initialize a read-only array from a variable one:
Readonly::Array @a => @computed_values;
A read-only array can be empty, too:
Readonly::Array @a => ();
Readonly::Array @a; # equivalent
Hashes¶
Typical usage:
Readonly::Hash %a => (key1 => 'value1', key2 => 'value2');
A read-only hash can be initialized from a variable one:
Readonly::Hash %a => %computed_values;
A read-only hash can be empty:
Readonly::Hash %a => ();
Readonly::Hash %a; # equivalent
If you pass an odd number of values, the program will die:
Readonly::Hash %a => (key1 => 'value1', "value2");
# This dies with "May not store an odd number of values in a hash"
Exports¶
Historically, this module exports the "Readonly" symbol into the
calling program's namespace by default. The following symbols are also
available for import into your program, if you like: "Scalar",
"Scalar1", "Array", "Array1", "Hash",
and "Hash1".
Internals¶
Some people simply do not understand the relationship between this module and
Readonly::XS so I'm adding this section. Odds are, they still won't understand
but I like to write so...
In the past, Readonly's "magic" was performed by "tie()"-ing
variables to the "Readonly::Scalar", "Readonly::Array",
and "Readonly::Hash" packages (not to be confused with the functions
of the same names) and acting on "WRITE", "READ", et. al.
While this worked well, it was slow. Very slow. Like 20-30 times slower than
accessing variables directly or using one of the other const-related modules
that have cropped up since Readonly was released in 2003.
To 'fix' this, Readonly::XS was written. If installed, Readonly::XS used the
internal methods "SvREADONLY" and "SvREADONLY_on" to lock
simple scalars. On the surface, everything was peachy but things weren't the
same behind the scenes. In edge cases, code perfromed very differently if
Readonly::XS was installed and because it wasn't a required dependency in most
code, it made downstream bugs very hard to track.
In the years since Readonly::XS was released, the then private internal methods
have been exposed and can be used in pure perl. Similar modules were written
to take advantage of this and a patch to Readonly was created. We no longer
need to build and install another module to make Readonly useful on modern
builds of perl.
- •
- You do not need to install Readonly::XS.
- •
- You should stop listing Readonly::XS as a dependency or expect it to be
installed.
- •
- Stop testing the $Readonly::XSokay variable!
Requirements¶
Please note that most users of Readonly no longer need to install the companion
module Readonly::XS which is recommended but not required for perl 5.6.x and
under. Please do not force it as a requirement in new code and do not use the
package variable $Readonly::XSokay in code/tests. For more, see
"Internals" in the section on Readonly's new internals.
There are no non-core requirements.
Bug Reports¶
If email is better for you, my address is mentioned below but I would rather
have bugs sent through the issue tracker found at
http://github.com/sanko/readonly/issues.
Please check the TODO file included with this distribution in case your bug is
already known (...I probably won't file bug reports to myself).
Acknowledgements¶
Thanks to Slaven Rezic for the idea of one common function (Readonly) for all
three types of variables (13 April 2002).
Thanks to Ernest Lergon for the idea (and initial code) for deeply-Readonly data
structures (21 May 2002).
Thanks to Damian Conway for the idea (and code) for making the Readonly function
work a lot smoother under perl 5.8+.
Author¶
Sanko Robinson <sanko@cpan.org> -
http://sankorobinson.com/
CPAN ID: SANKO
Original author: Eric J. Roode, roode@cpan.org
License and Legal¶
Copyright (C) 2013, 2014 by Sanko Robinson <sanko@cpan.org>
Copyright (c) 2001-2004 by Eric J. Roode. All Rights Reserved.
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
same terms as Perl itself.