Internals(3pm)

NAME
Internals - Write-protect variables, manipulate refcounts

SYNOPSIS
  use Internals qw(IsWriteProtected SetReadOnly SetReadWrite GetRefCount SetRefCount);

  use Internals qw(:all);

  $object = My::Class->new(@parameters);

  SetReadOnly($object);

  SetReadWrite($object);

  if (IsWriteProtected($object)) { ... }

  $value = GetRefCount($object);

  SetRefCount($object,$value);

or

  package My::Class;

  use Internals;

  @ISA = qw(Internals);

  $object = My::Class->new(@parameters)->SetReadOnly();

  $object->SetReadWrite();

  if ($object->IsWriteProtected()) { ... }

  $value = $object->GetRefCount();

  $object->SetRefCount($value);

or

  use Internals qw(IsWriteProtected SetReadOnly SetReadWrite GetRefCount SetRefCount);

  use Internals qw(:all);

  SetReadOnly(\$scalar);

  SetReadOnly(\@array);

  SetReadOnly(\%hash);

  SetReadOnly(\$hash{$element});

  SetReadOnly(\$reference);

etc.

DESCRIPTION
This module allows you to write-protect and write-enable your Perl variables, objects and data structures.

Moreover, the reference count of any Perl variable can be read and set.

You can never pass the object directly on which to perform the desired action, you always have to pass a reference to the variable or data structure in question.

This comes in handy for objects and anonymous data structures, where you only have a reference anyway!

BEWARE: This module is DANGEROUS!

DO NOT attempt to unlock Perl's built-in variables!

DO NOT manipulate reference counts unless you know exactly what you're doing!

ANYTHING might happen! Hell might break loose! ":-)"

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

VERSION
This man page documents "Internals" version 1.1.

AUTHOR
  Steffen Beyer
  mailto:sb@engelschall.com
  http://www.engelschall.com/u/sb/download/

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2001 by Steffen Beyer. All rights reserved.

LICENSE
This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, i.e., under the terms of the "Artistic License" or the "GNU General Public License".

Please refer to the files "Artistic.txt" and "GNU_GPL.txt" in this distribution for details!

DISCLAIMER
This package is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

See the "GNU General Public License" for more details.