NAME¶
B - The Perl Compiler Backend
SYNOPSIS¶
use B;
DESCRIPTION¶
The "B" module supplies classes which allow a Perl program to delve
into its own innards. It is the module used to implement the
"backends" of the Perl compiler. Usage of the compiler does not
require knowledge of this module: see the
O module for the user-visible
part. The "B" module is of use to those who want to write new
compiler backends. This documentation assumes that the reader knows a fair
amount about perl's internals including such things as SVs, OPs and the
internal symbol table and syntax tree of a program.
OVERVIEW¶
The "B" module contains a set of utility functions for querying the
current state of the Perl interpreter; typically these functions return
objects from the B::SV and B::OP classes, or their derived classes. These
classes in turn define methods for querying the resulting objects about their
own internal state.
Utility Functions¶
The "B" module exports a variety of functions: some are simple utility
functions, others provide a Perl program with a way to get an initial
"handle" on an internal object.
Functions Returning "B::SV", "B::AV",
"B::HV", and "B::CV" objects¶
For descriptions of the class hierarchy of these objects and the methods that
can be called on them, see below, "OVERVIEW OF CLASSES" and
"SV-RELATED CLASSES".
- sv_undef
- Returns the SV object corresponding to the C variable
"sv_undef".
- sv_yes
- Returns the SV object corresponding to the C variable
"sv_yes".
- sv_no
- Returns the SV object corresponding to the C variable
"sv_no".
- svref_2object(SVREF)
- Takes a reference to any Perl value, and turns the
referred-to value into an object in the appropriate B::OP-derived or
B::SV-derived class. Apart from functions such as "main_root",
this is the primary way to get an initial "handle" on an
internal perl data structure which can then be followed with the other
access methods.
The returned object will only be valid as long as the underlying OPs and SVs
continue to exist. Do not attempt to use the object after the underlying
structures are freed.
- amagic_generation
- Returns the SV object corresponding to the C variable
"amagic_generation".
- init_av
- Returns the AV object (i.e. in class B::AV) representing
INIT blocks.
- check_av
- Returns the AV object (i.e. in class B::AV) representing
CHECK blocks.
- unitcheck_av
- Returns the AV object (i.e. in class B::AV) representing
UNITCHECK blocks.
- begin_av
- Returns the AV object (i.e. in class B::AV) representing
BEGIN blocks.
- end_av
- Returns the AV object (i.e. in class B::AV) representing
END blocks.
- comppadlist
- Returns the AV object (i.e. in class B::AV) of the global
comppadlist.
- regex_padav
- Only when perl was compiled with ithreads.
- main_cv
- Return the (faked) CV corresponding to the main part of the
Perl program.
Functions for Examining the Symbol Table¶
- walksymtable(SYMREF, METHOD, RECURSE, PREFIX)
- Walk the symbol table starting at SYMREF and call METHOD on
each symbol (a B::GV object) visited. When the walk reaches package
symbols (such as "Foo::") it invokes RECURSE, passing in the
symbol name, and only recurses into the package if that sub returns true.
PREFIX is the name of the SYMREF you're walking.
For example:
# Walk CGI's symbol table calling print_subs on each symbol.
# Recurse only into CGI::Util::
walksymtable(\%CGI::, 'print_subs', sub { $_[0] eq 'CGI::Util::' },
'CGI::');
print_subs() is a B::GV method you have declared. Also see
"B::GV Methods", below.
Functions Returning "B::OP" objects or for walking op
trees¶
For descriptions of the class hierarchy of these objects and the methods that
can be called on them, see below, "OVERVIEW OF CLASSES" and
"OP-RELATED CLASSES".
- main_root
- Returns the root op (i.e. an object in the appropriate
B::OP-derived class) of the main part of the Perl program.
- main_start
- Returns the starting op of the main part of the Perl
program.
- walkoptree(OP, METHOD)
- Does a tree-walk of the syntax tree based at OP and calls
METHOD on each op it visits. Each node is visited before its children. If
"walkoptree_debug" (see below) has been called to turn debugging
on then the method "walkoptree_debug" is called on each op
before METHOD is called.
- walkoptree_debug(DEBUG)
- Returns the current debugging flag for
"walkoptree". If the optional DEBUG argument is non-zero, it
sets the debugging flag to that. See the description of
"walkoptree" above for what the debugging flag does.
Miscellaneous Utility Functions¶
- ppname(OPNUM)
- Return the PP function name (e.g. "pp_add") of op
number OPNUM.
- hash(STR)
- Returns a string in the form "0x..." representing
the value of the internal hash function used by perl on string STR.
- cast_I32(I)
- Casts I to the internal I32 type used by that perl.
- minus_c
- Does the equivalent of the "-c" command-line
option. Obviously, this is only useful in a BEGIN block or else the flag
is set too late.
- cstring(STR)
- Returns a double-quote-surrounded escaped version of STR
which can be used as a string in C source code.
- perlstring(STR)
- Returns a double-quote-surrounded escaped version of STR
which can be used as a string in Perl source code.
- class(OBJ)
- Returns the class of an object without the part of the
classname preceding the first "::". This is used to turn
"B::UNOP" into "UNOP" for example.
- threadsv_names
- In a perl compiled for threads, this returns a list of the
special per-thread threadsv variables.
Exported utility variables¶
- @optype
-
my $op_type = $optype[$op_type_num];
A simple mapping of the op type number to its type (like 'COP' or
'BINOP').
- @specialsv_name
-
my $sv_name = $specialsv_name[$sv_index];
Certain SV types are considered 'special'. They're represented by B::SPECIAL
and are referred to by a number from the specialsv_list. This array maps
that number back to the name of the SV (like 'Nullsv' or
'&PL_sv_undef').
OVERVIEW OF CLASSES¶
The C structures used by Perl's internals to hold SV and OP information (PVIV,
AV, HV, ..., OP, SVOP, UNOP, ...) are modelled on a class hierarchy and the
"B" module gives access to them via a true object hierarchy.
Structure fields which point to other objects (whether types of SV or types of
OP) are represented by the "B" module as Perl objects of the
appropriate class.
The bulk of the "B" module is the methods for accessing fields of
these structures.
Note that all access is read-only. You cannot modify the internals by using this
module. Also, note that the B::OP and B::SV objects created by this module are
only valid for as long as the underlying objects exist; their creation doesn't
increase the reference counts of the underlying objects. Trying to access the
fields of a freed object will give incomprehensible results, or worse.
B::IV, B::NV, B::RV, B::PV, B::PVIV, B::PVNV, B::PVMG, B::BM (5.9.5 and
earlier), B::PVLV, B::AV, B::HV, B::CV, B::GV, B::FM, B::IO. These classes
correspond in the obvious way to the underlying C structures of similar names.
The inheritance hierarchy mimics the underlying C "inheritance". For
the 5.10.x branch, (
ie 5.10.0, 5.10.1
etc) this is:
B::SV
|
+------------+------------+------------+
| | | |
B::PV B::IV B::NV B::RV
\ / /
\ / /
B::PVIV /
\ /
\ /
\ /
B::PVNV
|
|
B::PVMG
|
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | | | |
B::AV B::GV B::HV B::CV B::IO
| |
| |
B::PVLV B::FM
For 5.9.0 and earlier, PVLV is a direct subclass of PVMG, and BM is still
present as a distinct type, so the base of this diagram is
|
|
B::PVMG
|
+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | | | | | |
B::PVLV B::BM B::AV B::GV B::HV B::CV B::IO
|
|
B::FM
For 5.11.0 and later, B::RV is abolished, and IVs can be used to store
references, and a new type B::REGEXP is introduced, giving this structure:
B::SV
|
+------------+------------+
| | |
B::PV B::IV B::NV
\ / /
\ / /
B::PVIV /
\ /
\ /
\ /
B::PVNV
|
|
B::PVMG
|
+-------+-------+---+---+-------+-------+
| | | | | |
B::AV B::GV B::HV B::CV B::IO B::REGEXP
| |
| |
B::PVLV B::FM
Access methods correspond to the underlying C macros for field access, usually
with the leading "class indication" prefix removed (Sv, Av, Hv,
...). The leading prefix is only left in cases where its removal would cause a
clash in method name. For example, "GvREFCNT" stays as-is since its
abbreviation would clash with the "superclass" method
"REFCNT" (corresponding to the C function "SvREFCNT").
B::SV Methods¶
- REFCNT
- FLAGS
- object_2svref
- Returns a reference to the regular scalar corresponding to
this B::SV object. In other words, this method is the inverse operation to
the svref_2object() subroutine. This scalar and other data it
points at should be considered read-only: modifying them is neither safe
nor guaranteed to have a sensible effect.
B::IV Methods¶
- IV
- Returns the value of the IV, interpreted as a
signed integer. This will be misleading if "FLAGS &
SVf_IVisUV". Perhaps you want the "int_value" method
instead?
- IVX
- UVX
- int_value
- This method returns the value of the IV as an integer. It
differs from "IV" in that it returns the correct value
regardless of whether it's stored signed or unsigned.
- needs64bits
- packiv
B::NV Methods¶
- NV
- NVX
B::RV Methods¶
- RV
B::PV Methods¶
- PV
- This method is the one you usually want. It constructs a
string using the length and offset information in the struct: for ordinary
scalars it will return the string that you'd see from Perl, even if it
contains null characters.
- RV
- Same as B::RV::RV, except that it will die() if the
PV isn't a reference.
- PVX
- This method is less often useful. It assumes that the
string stored in the struct is null-terminated, and disregards the length
information.
It is the appropriate method to use if you need to get the name of a lexical
variable from a padname array. Lexical variable names are always stored
with a null terminator, and the length field (SvCUR) is overloaded for
other purposes and can't be relied on here.
B::PVMG Methods¶
- MAGIC
- SvSTASH
B::MAGIC Methods¶
- MOREMAGIC
- precomp
- Only valid on r-magic, returns the string that generated
the regexp.
- PRIVATE
- TYPE
- FLAGS
- OBJ
- Will die() if called on r-magic.
- PTR
- REGEX
- Only valid on r-magic, returns the integer value of the
REGEX stored in the MAGIC.
B::PVLV Methods¶
- TARGOFF
- TARGLEN
- TYPE
- TARG
B::BM Methods¶
- USEFUL
- PREVIOUS
- RARE
- TABLE
B::GV Methods¶
- is_empty
- This method returns TRUE if the GP field of the GV is
NULL.
- NAME
- SAFENAME
- This method returns the name of the glob, but if the first
character of the name is a control character, then it converts it to ^X
first, so that *^G would return "^G" rather than
"\cG".
It's useful if you want to print out the name of a variable. If you restrict
yourself to globs which exist at compile-time then the result ought to be
unambiguous, because code like "${"^G"} = 1" is
compiled as two ops - a constant string and a dereference (rv2gv) - so
that the glob is created at runtime.
If you're working with globs at runtime, and need to disambiguate *^G from
*{"^G"}, then you should use the raw NAME method.
- STASH
- SV
- IO
- FORM
- AV
- HV
- EGV
- CV
- CVGEN
- LINE
- FILE
- FILEGV
- GvREFCNT
- FLAGS
B::IO Methods¶
- LINES
- PAGE
- PAGE_LEN
- LINES_LEFT
- TOP_NAME
- TOP_GV
- FMT_NAME
- FMT_GV
- BOTTOM_NAME
- BOTTOM_GV
- SUBPROCESS
- IoTYPE
- IoFLAGS
- IsSTD
- Takes one arguments ( 'stdin' | 'stdout' | 'stderr' ) and
returns true if the IoIFP of the object is equal to the handle whose name
was passed as argument ( i.e. $io->IsSTD('stderr') is true if
IoIFP($io) == PerlIO_stdin() ).
B::AV Methods¶
- FILL
- MAX
- ARRAY
- ARRAYelt
- Like "ARRAY", but takes an index as an argument
to get only one element, rather than a list of all of them.
- OFF
- This method is deprecated if running under Perl 5.8, and is
no longer present if running under Perl 5.9
- AvFLAGS
- This method returns the AV specific flags. In Perl 5.9
these are now stored in with the main SV flags, so this method is no
longer present.
B::CV Methods¶
- STASH
- START
- ROOT
- GV
- FILE
- DEPTH
- PADLIST
- OUTSIDE
- OUTSIDE_SEQ
- XSUB
- XSUBANY
- For constant subroutines, returns the constant SV returned
by the subroutine.
- CvFLAGS
- const_sv
B::HV Methods¶
- FILL
- MAX
- KEYS
- RITER
- NAME
- ARRAY
- PMROOT
- This method is not present if running under Perl 5.9, as
the PMROOT information is no longer stored directly in the hash.
"B::OP", "B::UNOP", "B::BINOP",
"B::LOGOP", "B::LISTOP", "B::PMOP",
"B::SVOP", "B::PADOP", "B::PVOP",
"B::LOOP", "B::COP".
These classes correspond in the obvious way to the underlying C structures of
similar names. The inheritance hierarchy mimics the underlying C
"inheritance":
B::OP
|
+---------------+--------+--------+-------+
| | | | |
B::UNOP B::SVOP B::PADOP B::COP B::PVOP
,' `-.
/ `--.
B::BINOP B::LOGOP
|
|
B::LISTOP
,' `.
/ \
B::LOOP B::PMOP
Access methods correspond to the underlying C structre field names, with the
leading "class indication" prefix ("op_") removed.
B::OP Methods¶
These methods get the values of similarly named fields within the OP data
structure. See top of "op.h" for more info.
- next
- sibling
- name
- This returns the op name as a string (e.g. "add",
"rv2av").
- ppaddr
- This returns the function name as a string (e.g.
"PL_ppaddr[OP_ADD]", "PL_ppaddr[OP_RV2AV]").
- desc
- This returns the op description from the global C
PL_op_desc array (e.g. "addition" "array deref").
- targ
- type
- opt
- flags
- private
- spare
B::UNOP METHOD¶
- first
B::BINOP METHOD¶
- last
B::LOGOP METHOD¶
- other
B::LISTOP METHOD¶
- children
B::PMOP Methods¶
- pmreplroot
- pmreplstart
- pmnext
- Only up to Perl 5.9.4
- pmflags
- extflags
- Since Perl 5.9.5
- precomp
- pmoffset
- Only when perl was compiled with ithreads.
B::SVOP METHOD¶
- sv
- gv
B::PADOP METHOD¶
- padix
B::PVOP METHOD¶
- pv
B::LOOP Methods¶
- redoop
- nextop
- lastop
B::COP Methods¶
- label
- stash
- stashpv
- file
- cop_seq
- arybase
- line
- warnings
- io
- hints
- hints_hash
AUTHOR¶
Malcolm Beattie, "mbeattie@sable.ox.ac.uk"