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# dump

Perl 5 version 18.2 documentation
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# dump

Perl functions A-Z | Perl functions by category | The 'perlfunc' manpage

- dump LABEL

- dump EXPR
- dump

  This function causes an immediate core dump. See also the -u command-line switch in perlrun, which does the same thing. Primarily this is so that you can use the undump program (not supplied) to turn your core dump into an executable binary after having initialized all your variables at the beginning of the program. When the new binary is executed it will begin by executing a `goto LABEL` (with all the restrictions that `goto` suffers). Think of it as a goto with an intervening core dump and reincarnation. If `LABEL` is omitted, restarts the program from the top. The `dump EXPR` form, available starting in Perl 5.18.0, allows a name to be computed at run time, being otherwise identical to `dump LABEL` .

  WARNING: Any files opened at the time of the dump will not be open any more when the program is reincarnated, with possible resulting confusion by Perl.

  This function is now largely obsolete, mostly because it's very hard to convert a core file into an executable. That's why you should now invoke it as `CORE::dump()` , if you don't want to be warned against a possible typo.

  Unlike most named operators, this has the same precedence as assignment. It is also exempt from the looks-like-a-function rule, so `dump ("foo")."bar"` will cause "bar" to be part of the argument to `dump`.

  Portability issues: dump in perlport.