Data::Swap 0.08
To install this module type the following:
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
make install
Module documentation:
NAME
Data::Swap - Swap type and contents of variables
SYNOPSIS
use Data::Swap;
my $p = [];
my $q = {};
print "$p $q\n"; # ARRAY(0x965cc) HASH(0x966b0)
swap $p, $q; # swap referenced variables
print "$p $q\n"; # HASH(0x965cc) ARRAY(0x966b0)
my $x = {};
my $y = $x; # $x and $y reference same var
swap $x, [1, 2, 3]; # swap referenced var with an array
print "@$y\n"; # 1 2 3
use Data::Swap 'deref';
my @refs = (\$x, \@y);
$_++ for deref @refs; # dereference a list of references
# Note that I omitted \%z from the @refs because $_++ would fail
# on a key, but deref does work on hash-refs too of course.
DESCRIPTION
This module allows you to swap the contents of two referenced variables,
even if they have different types.
The main application is to change the base type of an object after it
has been created, for example for dynamic loading of data structures:
swap $self, bless $replacement, $newclass;
This module additionally contain the function "deref" which acts like a
generic list-dereferencing operator.
FUNCTIONS
swap REF1, REF2
Swaps the contents (and if necessary, type) of two referenced variables.
deref LIST
Dereferences a list of scalar refs, array refs and hash refs. Mainly
exists because you can't use "map" for this application, as it makes
copies of the dereferenced values.
KNOWN ISSUES
You can't "swap" an overloaded object with a non-overloaded one, unless
you use Perl 5.10 or later.
Also, don't use "swap" to change the type of a directly accessible
variable -- like "swap \$x, \@y". That's just asking for segfaults.
Unfortunately there is no good way for me to detect and prevent this.
AUTHOR
Matthijs van Duin <xmath@cpan.org>
Copyright (C) 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 Matthijs van Duin. This program is
free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
terms as Perl itself.