3 perlguts - Introduction to the Perl API
7 This document attempts to describe how to use the Perl API, as well as
8 to provide some info on the basic workings of the Perl core. It is far
9 from complete and probably contains many errors. Please refer any
10 questions or comments to the author below.
16 Perl has three typedefs that handle Perl's three main data types:
22 Each typedef has specific routines that manipulate the various data types.
24 =head2 What is an "IV"?
26 Perl uses a special typedef IV which is a simple signed integer type that is
27 guaranteed to be large enough to hold a pointer (as well as an integer).
28 Additionally, there is the UV, which is simply an unsigned IV.
30 Perl also uses two special typedefs, I32 and I16, which will always be at
31 least 32-bits and 16-bits long, respectively. (Again, there are U32 and U16,
32 as well.) They will usually be exactly 32 and 16 bits long, but on Crays
33 they will both be 64 bits.
35 =head2 Working with SVs
37 An SV can be created and loaded with one command. There are five types of
38 values that can be loaded: an integer value (IV), an unsigned integer
39 value (UV), a double (NV), a string (PV), and another scalar (SV).
40 ("PV" stands for "Pointer Value". You might think that it is misnamed
41 because it is described as pointing only to strings. However, it is
42 possible to have it point to other things For example, it could point
43 to an array of UVs. But,
44 using it for non-strings requires care, as the underlying assumption of
45 much of the internals is that PVs are just for strings. Often, for
46 example, a trailing NUL is tacked on automatically. The non-string use
47 is documented only in this paragraph.)
49 The seven routines are:
54 SV* newSVpv(const char*, STRLEN);
55 SV* newSVpvn(const char*, STRLEN);
56 SV* newSVpvf(const char*, ...);
59 C<STRLEN> is an integer type (Size_t, usually defined as size_t in
60 F<config.h>) guaranteed to be large enough to represent the size of
61 any string that perl can handle.
63 In the unlikely case of a SV requiring more complex initialization, you
64 can create an empty SV with newSV(len). If C<len> is 0 an empty SV of
65 type NULL is returned, else an SV of type PV is returned with len + 1 (for
66 the NUL) bytes of storage allocated, accessible via SvPVX. In both cases
67 the SV has the undef value.
69 SV *sv = newSV(0); /* no storage allocated */
70 SV *sv = newSV(10); /* 10 (+1) bytes of uninitialised storage
73 To change the value of an I<already-existing> SV, there are eight routines:
75 void sv_setiv(SV*, IV);
76 void sv_setuv(SV*, UV);
77 void sv_setnv(SV*, double);
78 void sv_setpv(SV*, const char*);
79 void sv_setpvn(SV*, const char*, STRLEN)
80 void sv_setpvf(SV*, const char*, ...);
81 void sv_vsetpvfn(SV*, const char*, STRLEN, va_list *,
83 void sv_setsv(SV*, SV*);
85 Notice that you can choose to specify the length of the string to be
86 assigned by using C<sv_setpvn>, C<newSVpvn>, or C<newSVpv>, or you may
87 allow Perl to calculate the length by using C<sv_setpv> or by specifying
88 0 as the second argument to C<newSVpv>. Be warned, though, that Perl will
89 determine the string's length by using C<strlen>, which depends on the
90 string terminating with a NUL character, and not otherwise containing
93 The arguments of C<sv_setpvf> are processed like C<sprintf>, and the
94 formatted output becomes the value.
96 C<sv_vsetpvfn> is an analogue of C<vsprintf>, but it allows you to specify
97 either a pointer to a variable argument list or the address and length of
98 an array of SVs. The last argument points to a boolean; on return, if that
99 boolean is true, then locale-specific information has been used to format
100 the string, and the string's contents are therefore untrustworthy (see
101 L<perlsec>). This pointer may be NULL if that information is not
102 important. Note that this function requires you to specify the length of
105 The C<sv_set*()> functions are not generic enough to operate on values
106 that have "magic". See L<Magic Virtual Tables> later in this document.
108 All SVs that contain strings should be terminated with a NUL character.
109 If it is not NUL-terminated there is a risk of
110 core dumps and corruptions from code which passes the string to C
111 functions or system calls which expect a NUL-terminated string.
112 Perl's own functions typically add a trailing NUL for this reason.
113 Nevertheless, you should be very careful when you pass a string stored
114 in an SV to a C function or system call.
116 To access the actual value that an SV points to, you can use the macros:
121 SvPV(SV*, STRLEN len)
124 which will automatically coerce the actual scalar type into an IV, UV, double,
127 In the C<SvPV> macro, the length of the string returned is placed into the
128 variable C<len> (this is a macro, so you do I<not> use C<&len>). If you do
129 not care what the length of the data is, use the C<SvPV_nolen> macro.
130 Historically the C<SvPV> macro with the global variable C<PL_na> has been
131 used in this case. But that can be quite inefficient because C<PL_na> must
132 be accessed in thread-local storage in threaded Perl. In any case, remember
133 that Perl allows arbitrary strings of data that may both contain NULs and
134 might not be terminated by a NUL.
136 Also remember that C doesn't allow you to safely say C<foo(SvPV(s, len),
137 len);>. It might work with your
138 compiler, but it won't work for everyone.
139 Break this sort of statement up into separate assignments:
147 If you want to know if the scalar value is TRUE, you can use:
151 Although Perl will automatically grow strings for you, if you need to force
152 Perl to allocate more memory for your SV, you can use the macro
154 SvGROW(SV*, STRLEN newlen)
156 which will determine if more memory needs to be allocated. If so, it will
157 call the function C<sv_grow>. Note that C<SvGROW> can only increase, not
158 decrease, the allocated memory of an SV and that it does not automatically
159 add space for the trailing NUL byte (perl's own string functions typically do
160 C<SvGROW(sv, len + 1)>).
162 If you have an SV and want to know what kind of data Perl thinks is stored
163 in it, you can use the following macros to check the type of SV you have.
169 You can get and set the current length of the string stored in an SV with
170 the following macros:
173 SvCUR_set(SV*, I32 val)
175 You can also get a pointer to the end of the string stored in the SV
180 But note that these last three macros are valid only if C<SvPOK()> is true.
182 If you want to append something to the end of string stored in an C<SV*>,
183 you can use the following functions:
185 void sv_catpv(SV*, const char*);
186 void sv_catpvn(SV*, const char*, STRLEN);
187 void sv_catpvf(SV*, const char*, ...);
188 void sv_vcatpvfn(SV*, const char*, STRLEN, va_list *, SV **,
190 void sv_catsv(SV*, SV*);
192 The first function calculates the length of the string to be appended by
193 using C<strlen>. In the second, you specify the length of the string
194 yourself. The third function processes its arguments like C<sprintf> and
195 appends the formatted output. The fourth function works like C<vsprintf>.
196 You can specify the address and length of an array of SVs instead of the
197 va_list argument. The fifth function
198 extends the string stored in the first
199 SV with the string stored in the second SV. It also forces the second SV
200 to be interpreted as a string.
202 The C<sv_cat*()> functions are not generic enough to operate on values that
203 have "magic". See L<Magic Virtual Tables> later in this document.
205 If you know the name of a scalar variable, you can get a pointer to its SV
206 by using the following:
208 SV* get_sv("package::varname", 0);
210 This returns NULL if the variable does not exist.
212 If you want to know if this variable (or any other SV) is actually C<defined>,
217 The scalar C<undef> value is stored in an SV instance called C<PL_sv_undef>.
219 Its address can be used whenever an C<SV*> is needed. Make sure that
220 you don't try to compare a random sv with C<&PL_sv_undef>. For example
221 when interfacing Perl code, it'll work correctly for:
225 But won't work when called as:
230 So to repeat always use SvOK() to check whether an sv is defined.
232 Also you have to be careful when using C<&PL_sv_undef> as a value in
233 AVs or HVs (see L<AVs, HVs and undefined values>).
235 There are also the two values C<PL_sv_yes> and C<PL_sv_no>, which contain
236 boolean TRUE and FALSE values, respectively. Like C<PL_sv_undef>, their
237 addresses can be used whenever an C<SV*> is needed.
239 Do not be fooled into thinking that C<(SV *) 0> is the same as C<&PL_sv_undef>.
243 if (I-am-to-return-a-real-value) {
244 sv = sv_2mortal(newSViv(42));
248 This code tries to return a new SV (which contains the value 42) if it should
249 return a real value, or undef otherwise. Instead it has returned a NULL
250 pointer which, somewhere down the line, will cause a segmentation violation,
251 bus error, or just weird results. Change the zero to C<&PL_sv_undef> in the
252 first line and all will be well.
254 To free an SV that you've created, call C<SvREFCNT_dec(SV*)>. Normally this
255 call is not necessary (see L<Reference Counts and Mortality>).
259 Perl provides the function C<sv_chop> to efficiently remove characters
260 from the beginning of a string; you give it an SV and a pointer to
261 somewhere inside the PV, and it discards everything before the
262 pointer. The efficiency comes by means of a little hack: instead of
263 actually removing the characters, C<sv_chop> sets the flag C<OOK>
264 (offset OK) to signal to other functions that the offset hack is in
265 effect, and it moves the PV pointer (called C<SvPVX>) forward
266 by the number of bytes chopped off, and adjusts C<SvCUR> and C<SvLEN>
267 accordingly. (A portion of the space between the old and new PV
268 pointers is used to store the count of chopped bytes.)
270 Hence, at this point, the start of the buffer that we allocated lives
271 at C<SvPVX(sv) - SvIV(sv)> in memory and the PV pointer is pointing
272 into the middle of this allocated storage.
274 This is best demonstrated by example:
276 % ./perl -Ilib -MDevel::Peek -le '$a="12345"; $a=~s/.//; Dump($a)'
277 SV = PVIV(0x8128450) at 0x81340f0
279 FLAGS = (POK,OOK,pPOK)
281 PV = 0x8135781 ( "1" . ) "2345"\0
285 Here the number of bytes chopped off (1) is put into IV, and
286 C<Devel::Peek::Dump> helpfully reminds us that this is an offset. The
287 portion of the string between the "real" and the "fake" beginnings is
288 shown in parentheses, and the values of C<SvCUR> and C<SvLEN> reflect
289 the fake beginning, not the real one.
291 Something similar to the offset hack is performed on AVs to enable
292 efficient shifting and splicing off the beginning of the array; while
293 C<AvARRAY> points to the first element in the array that is visible from
294 Perl, C<AvALLOC> points to the real start of the C array. These are
295 usually the same, but a C<shift> operation can be carried out by
296 increasing C<AvARRAY> by one and decreasing C<AvFILL> and C<AvMAX>.
297 Again, the location of the real start of the C array only comes into
298 play when freeing the array. See C<av_shift> in F<av.c>.
300 =head2 What's Really Stored in an SV?
302 Recall that the usual method of determining the type of scalar you have is
303 to use C<Sv*OK> macros. Because a scalar can be both a number and a string,
304 usually these macros will always return TRUE and calling the C<Sv*V>
305 macros will do the appropriate conversion of string to integer/double or
306 integer/double to string.
308 If you I<really> need to know if you have an integer, double, or string
309 pointer in an SV, you can use the following three macros instead:
315 These will tell you if you truly have an integer, double, or string pointer
316 stored in your SV. The "p" stands for private.
318 There are various ways in which the private and public flags may differ.
319 For example, in perl 5.16 and earlier a tied SV may have a valid
320 underlying value in the IV slot (so SvIOKp is true), but the data
321 should be accessed via the FETCH routine rather than directly,
322 so SvIOK is false. (In perl 5.18 onwards, tied scalars use
323 the flags the same way as untied scalars.) Another is when
324 numeric conversion has occurred and precision has been lost: only the
325 private flag is set on 'lossy' values. So when an NV is converted to an
326 IV with loss, SvIOKp, SvNOKp and SvNOK will be set, while SvIOK wont be.
328 In general, though, it's best to use the C<Sv*V> macros.
330 =head2 Working with AVs
332 There are two ways to create and load an AV. The first method creates an
337 The second method both creates the AV and initially populates it with SVs:
339 AV* av_make(SSize_t num, SV **ptr);
341 The second argument points to an array containing C<num> C<SV*>'s. Once the
342 AV has been created, the SVs can be destroyed, if so desired.
344 Once the AV has been created, the following operations are possible on it:
346 void av_push(AV*, SV*);
349 void av_unshift(AV*, SSize_t num);
351 These should be familiar operations, with the exception of C<av_unshift>.
352 This routine adds C<num> elements at the front of the array with the C<undef>
353 value. You must then use C<av_store> (described below) to assign values
354 to these new elements.
356 Here are some other functions:
358 SSize_t av_top_index(AV*);
359 SV** av_fetch(AV*, SSize_t key, I32 lval);
360 SV** av_store(AV*, SSize_t key, SV* val);
362 The C<av_top_index> function returns the highest index value in an array (just
363 like $#array in Perl). If the array is empty, -1 is returned. The
364 C<av_fetch> function returns the value at index C<key>, but if C<lval>
365 is non-zero, then C<av_fetch> will store an undef value at that index.
366 The C<av_store> function stores the value C<val> at index C<key>, and does
367 not increment the reference count of C<val>. Thus the caller is responsible
368 for taking care of that, and if C<av_store> returns NULL, the caller will
369 have to decrement the reference count to avoid a memory leak. Note that
370 C<av_fetch> and C<av_store> both return C<SV**>'s, not C<SV*>'s as their
377 void av_extend(AV*, SSize_t key);
379 The C<av_clear> function deletes all the elements in the AV* array, but
380 does not actually delete the array itself. The C<av_undef> function will
381 delete all the elements in the array plus the array itself. The
382 C<av_extend> function extends the array so that it contains at least C<key+1>
383 elements. If C<key+1> is less than the currently allocated length of the array,
384 then nothing is done.
386 If you know the name of an array variable, you can get a pointer to its AV
387 by using the following:
389 AV* get_av("package::varname", 0);
391 This returns NULL if the variable does not exist.
393 See L<Understanding the Magic of Tied Hashes and Arrays> for more
394 information on how to use the array access functions on tied arrays.
396 =head2 Working with HVs
398 To create an HV, you use the following routine:
402 Once the HV has been created, the following operations are possible on it:
404 SV** hv_store(HV*, const char* key, U32 klen, SV* val, U32 hash);
405 SV** hv_fetch(HV*, const char* key, U32 klen, I32 lval);
407 The C<klen> parameter is the length of the key being passed in (Note that
408 you cannot pass 0 in as a value of C<klen> to tell Perl to measure the
409 length of the key). The C<val> argument contains the SV pointer to the
410 scalar being stored, and C<hash> is the precomputed hash value (zero if
411 you want C<hv_store> to calculate it for you). The C<lval> parameter
412 indicates whether this fetch is actually a part of a store operation, in
413 which case a new undefined value will be added to the HV with the supplied
414 key and C<hv_fetch> will return as if the value had already existed.
416 Remember that C<hv_store> and C<hv_fetch> return C<SV**>'s and not just
417 C<SV*>. To access the scalar value, you must first dereference the return
418 value. However, you should check to make sure that the return value is
419 not NULL before dereferencing it.
421 The first of these two functions checks if a hash table entry exists, and the
424 bool hv_exists(HV*, const char* key, U32 klen);
425 SV* hv_delete(HV*, const char* key, U32 klen, I32 flags);
427 If C<flags> does not include the C<G_DISCARD> flag then C<hv_delete> will
428 create and return a mortal copy of the deleted value.
430 And more miscellaneous functions:
435 Like their AV counterparts, C<hv_clear> deletes all the entries in the hash
436 table but does not actually delete the hash table. The C<hv_undef> deletes
437 both the entries and the hash table itself.
439 Perl keeps the actual data in a linked list of structures with a typedef of HE.
440 These contain the actual key and value pointers (plus extra administrative
441 overhead). The key is a string pointer; the value is an C<SV*>. However,
442 once you have an C<HE*>, to get the actual key and value, use the routines
445 I32 hv_iterinit(HV*);
446 /* Prepares starting point to traverse hash table */
447 HE* hv_iternext(HV*);
448 /* Get the next entry, and return a pointer to a
449 structure that has both the key and value */
450 char* hv_iterkey(HE* entry, I32* retlen);
451 /* Get the key from an HE structure and also return
452 the length of the key string */
453 SV* hv_iterval(HV*, HE* entry);
454 /* Return an SV pointer to the value of the HE
456 SV* hv_iternextsv(HV*, char** key, I32* retlen);
457 /* This convenience routine combines hv_iternext,
458 hv_iterkey, and hv_iterval. The key and retlen
459 arguments are return values for the key and its
460 length. The value is returned in the SV* argument */
462 If you know the name of a hash variable, you can get a pointer to its HV
463 by using the following:
465 HV* get_hv("package::varname", 0);
467 This returns NULL if the variable does not exist.
469 The hash algorithm is defined in the C<PERL_HASH> macro:
471 PERL_HASH(hash, key, klen)
473 The exact implementation of this macro varies by architecture and version
474 of perl, and the return value may change per invocation, so the value
475 is only valid for the duration of a single perl process.
477 See L<Understanding the Magic of Tied Hashes and Arrays> for more
478 information on how to use the hash access functions on tied hashes.
480 =head2 Hash API Extensions
482 Beginning with version 5.004, the following functions are also supported:
484 HE* hv_fetch_ent (HV* tb, SV* key, I32 lval, U32 hash);
485 HE* hv_store_ent (HV* tb, SV* key, SV* val, U32 hash);
487 bool hv_exists_ent (HV* tb, SV* key, U32 hash);
488 SV* hv_delete_ent (HV* tb, SV* key, I32 flags, U32 hash);
490 SV* hv_iterkeysv (HE* entry);
492 Note that these functions take C<SV*> keys, which simplifies writing
493 of extension code that deals with hash structures. These functions
494 also allow passing of C<SV*> keys to C<tie> functions without forcing
495 you to stringify the keys (unlike the previous set of functions).
497 They also return and accept whole hash entries (C<HE*>), making their
498 use more efficient (since the hash number for a particular string
499 doesn't have to be recomputed every time). See L<perlapi> for detailed
502 The following macros must always be used to access the contents of hash
503 entries. Note that the arguments to these macros must be simple
504 variables, since they may get evaluated more than once. See
505 L<perlapi> for detailed descriptions of these macros.
507 HePV(HE* he, STRLEN len)
511 HeSVKEY_force(HE* he)
512 HeSVKEY_set(HE* he, SV* sv)
514 These two lower level macros are defined, but must only be used when
515 dealing with keys that are not C<SV*>s:
520 Note that both C<hv_store> and C<hv_store_ent> do not increment the
521 reference count of the stored C<val>, which is the caller's responsibility.
522 If these functions return a NULL value, the caller will usually have to
523 decrement the reference count of C<val> to avoid a memory leak.
525 =head2 AVs, HVs and undefined values
527 Sometimes you have to store undefined values in AVs or HVs. Although
528 this may be a rare case, it can be tricky. That's because you're
529 used to using C<&PL_sv_undef> if you need an undefined SV.
531 For example, intuition tells you that this XS code:
534 av_store( av, 0, &PL_sv_undef );
536 is equivalent to this Perl code:
541 Unfortunately, this isn't true. In perl 5.18 and earlier, AVs use C<&PL_sv_undef> as a marker
542 for indicating that an array element has not yet been initialized.
543 Thus, C<exists $av[0]> would be true for the above Perl code, but
544 false for the array generated by the XS code. In perl 5.20, storing
545 &PL_sv_undef will create a read-only element, because the scalar
546 &PL_sv_undef itself is stored, not a copy.
548 Similar problems can occur when storing C<&PL_sv_undef> in HVs:
550 hv_store( hv, "key", 3, &PL_sv_undef, 0 );
552 This will indeed make the value C<undef>, but if you try to modify
553 the value of C<key>, you'll get the following error:
555 Modification of non-creatable hash value attempted
557 In perl 5.8.0, C<&PL_sv_undef> was also used to mark placeholders
558 in restricted hashes. This caused such hash entries not to appear
559 when iterating over the hash or when checking for the keys
560 with the C<hv_exists> function.
562 You can run into similar problems when you store C<&PL_sv_yes> or
563 C<&PL_sv_no> into AVs or HVs. Trying to modify such elements
564 will give you the following error:
566 Modification of a read-only value attempted
568 To make a long story short, you can use the special variables
569 C<&PL_sv_undef>, C<&PL_sv_yes> and C<&PL_sv_no> with AVs and
570 HVs, but you have to make sure you know what you're doing.
572 Generally, if you want to store an undefined value in an AV
573 or HV, you should not use C<&PL_sv_undef>, but rather create a
574 new undefined value using the C<newSV> function, for example:
576 av_store( av, 42, newSV(0) );
577 hv_store( hv, "foo", 3, newSV(0), 0 );
581 References are a special type of scalar that point to other data types
582 (including other references).
584 To create a reference, use either of the following functions:
586 SV* newRV_inc((SV*) thing);
587 SV* newRV_noinc((SV*) thing);
589 The C<thing> argument can be any of an C<SV*>, C<AV*>, or C<HV*>. The
590 functions are identical except that C<newRV_inc> increments the reference
591 count of the C<thing>, while C<newRV_noinc> does not. For historical
592 reasons, C<newRV> is a synonym for C<newRV_inc>.
594 Once you have a reference, you can use the following macro to dereference
599 then call the appropriate routines, casting the returned C<SV*> to either an
600 C<AV*> or C<HV*>, if required.
602 To determine if an SV is a reference, you can use the following macro:
606 To discover what type of value the reference refers to, use the following
607 macro and then check the return value.
611 The most useful types that will be returned are:
617 SVt_PVGV Glob (possibly a file handle)
619 See L<perlapi/svtype> for more details.
621 =head2 Blessed References and Class Objects
623 References are also used to support object-oriented programming. In perl's
624 OO lexicon, an object is simply a reference that has been blessed into a
625 package (or class). Once blessed, the programmer may now use the reference
626 to access the various methods in the class.
628 A reference can be blessed into a package with the following function:
630 SV* sv_bless(SV* sv, HV* stash);
632 The C<sv> argument must be a reference value. The C<stash> argument
633 specifies which class the reference will belong to. See
634 L<Stashes and Globs> for information on converting class names into stashes.
636 /* Still under construction */
638 The following function upgrades rv to reference if not already one.
639 Creates a new SV for rv to point to. If C<classname> is non-null, the SV
640 is blessed into the specified class. SV is returned.
642 SV* newSVrv(SV* rv, const char* classname);
644 The following three functions copy integer, unsigned integer or double
645 into an SV whose reference is C<rv>. SV is blessed if C<classname> is
648 SV* sv_setref_iv(SV* rv, const char* classname, IV iv);
649 SV* sv_setref_uv(SV* rv, const char* classname, UV uv);
650 SV* sv_setref_nv(SV* rv, const char* classname, NV iv);
652 The following function copies the pointer value (I<the address, not the
653 string!>) into an SV whose reference is rv. SV is blessed if C<classname>
656 SV* sv_setref_pv(SV* rv, const char* classname, void* pv);
658 The following function copies a string into an SV whose reference is C<rv>.
659 Set length to 0 to let Perl calculate the string length. SV is blessed if
660 C<classname> is non-null.
662 SV* sv_setref_pvn(SV* rv, const char* classname, char* pv,
665 The following function tests whether the SV is blessed into the specified
666 class. It does not check inheritance relationships.
668 int sv_isa(SV* sv, const char* name);
670 The following function tests whether the SV is a reference to a blessed object.
672 int sv_isobject(SV* sv);
674 The following function tests whether the SV is derived from the specified
675 class. SV can be either a reference to a blessed object or a string
676 containing a class name. This is the function implementing the
677 C<UNIVERSAL::isa> functionality.
679 bool sv_derived_from(SV* sv, const char* name);
681 To check if you've got an object derived from a specific class you have
684 if (sv_isobject(sv) && sv_derived_from(sv, class)) { ... }
686 =head2 Creating New Variables
688 To create a new Perl variable with an undef value which can be accessed from
689 your Perl script, use the following routines, depending on the variable type.
691 SV* get_sv("package::varname", GV_ADD);
692 AV* get_av("package::varname", GV_ADD);
693 HV* get_hv("package::varname", GV_ADD);
695 Notice the use of GV_ADD as the second parameter. The new variable can now
696 be set, using the routines appropriate to the data type.
698 There are additional macros whose values may be bitwise OR'ed with the
699 C<GV_ADD> argument to enable certain extra features. Those bits are:
705 Marks the variable as multiply defined, thus preventing the:
707 Name <varname> used only once: possible typo
715 Had to create <varname> unexpectedly
717 if the variable did not exist before the function was called.
721 If you do not specify a package name, the variable is created in the current
724 =head2 Reference Counts and Mortality
726 Perl uses a reference count-driven garbage collection mechanism. SVs,
727 AVs, or HVs (xV for short in the following) start their life with a
728 reference count of 1. If the reference count of an xV ever drops to 0,
729 then it will be destroyed and its memory made available for reuse.
731 This normally doesn't happen at the Perl level unless a variable is
732 undef'ed or the last variable holding a reference to it is changed or
733 overwritten. At the internal level, however, reference counts can be
734 manipulated with the following macros:
736 int SvREFCNT(SV* sv);
737 SV* SvREFCNT_inc(SV* sv);
738 void SvREFCNT_dec(SV* sv);
740 However, there is one other function which manipulates the reference
741 count of its argument. The C<newRV_inc> function, you will recall,
742 creates a reference to the specified argument. As a side effect,
743 it increments the argument's reference count. If this is not what
744 you want, use C<newRV_noinc> instead.
746 For example, imagine you want to return a reference from an XSUB function.
747 Inside the XSUB routine, you create an SV which initially has a reference
748 count of one. Then you call C<newRV_inc>, passing it the just-created SV.
749 This returns the reference as a new SV, but the reference count of the
750 SV you passed to C<newRV_inc> has been incremented to two. Now you
751 return the reference from the XSUB routine and forget about the SV.
752 But Perl hasn't! Whenever the returned reference is destroyed, the
753 reference count of the original SV is decreased to one and nothing happens.
754 The SV will hang around without any way to access it until Perl itself
755 terminates. This is a memory leak.
757 The correct procedure, then, is to use C<newRV_noinc> instead of
758 C<newRV_inc>. Then, if and when the last reference is destroyed,
759 the reference count of the SV will go to zero and it will be destroyed,
760 stopping any memory leak.
762 There are some convenience functions available that can help with the
763 destruction of xVs. These functions introduce the concept of "mortality".
764 An xV that is mortal has had its reference count marked to be decremented,
765 but not actually decremented, until "a short time later". Generally the
766 term "short time later" means a single Perl statement, such as a call to
767 an XSUB function. The actual determinant for when mortal xVs have their
768 reference count decremented depends on two macros, SAVETMPS and FREETMPS.
769 See L<perlcall> and L<perlxs> for more details on these macros.
771 "Mortalization" then is at its simplest a deferred C<SvREFCNT_dec>.
772 However, if you mortalize a variable twice, the reference count will
773 later be decremented twice.
775 "Mortal" SVs are mainly used for SVs that are placed on perl's stack.
776 For example an SV which is created just to pass a number to a called sub
777 is made mortal to have it cleaned up automatically when it's popped off
778 the stack. Similarly, results returned by XSUBs (which are pushed on the
779 stack) are often made mortal.
781 To create a mortal variable, use the functions:
785 SV* sv_mortalcopy(SV*)
787 The first call creates a mortal SV (with no value), the second converts an existing
788 SV to a mortal SV (and thus defers a call to C<SvREFCNT_dec>), and the
789 third creates a mortal copy of an existing SV.
790 Because C<sv_newmortal> gives the new SV no value, it must normally be given one
791 via C<sv_setpv>, C<sv_setiv>, etc. :
793 SV *tmp = sv_newmortal();
794 sv_setiv(tmp, an_integer);
796 As that is multiple C statements it is quite common so see this idiom instead:
798 SV *tmp = sv_2mortal(newSViv(an_integer));
801 You should be careful about creating mortal variables. Strange things
802 can happen if you make the same value mortal within multiple contexts,
803 or if you make a variable mortal multiple
804 times. Thinking of "Mortalization"
805 as deferred C<SvREFCNT_dec> should help to minimize such problems.
806 For example if you are passing an SV which you I<know> has a high enough REFCNT
807 to survive its use on the stack you need not do any mortalization.
808 If you are not sure then doing an C<SvREFCNT_inc> and C<sv_2mortal>, or
809 making a C<sv_mortalcopy> is safer.
811 The mortal routines are not just for SVs; AVs and HVs can be
812 made mortal by passing their address (type-casted to C<SV*>) to the
813 C<sv_2mortal> or C<sv_mortalcopy> routines.
815 =head2 Stashes and Globs
817 A B<stash> is a hash that contains all variables that are defined
818 within a package. Each key of the stash is a symbol
819 name (shared by all the different types of objects that have the same
820 name), and each value in the hash table is a GV (Glob Value). This GV
821 in turn contains references to the various objects of that name,
822 including (but not limited to) the following:
831 There is a single stash called C<PL_defstash> that holds the items that exist
832 in the C<main> package. To get at the items in other packages, append the
833 string "::" to the package name. The items in the C<Foo> package are in
834 the stash C<Foo::> in PL_defstash. The items in the C<Bar::Baz> package are
835 in the stash C<Baz::> in C<Bar::>'s stash.
837 To get the stash pointer for a particular package, use the function:
839 HV* gv_stashpv(const char* name, I32 flags)
840 HV* gv_stashsv(SV*, I32 flags)
842 The first function takes a literal string, the second uses the string stored
843 in the SV. Remember that a stash is just a hash table, so you get back an
844 C<HV*>. The C<flags> flag will create a new package if it is set to GV_ADD.
846 The name that C<gv_stash*v> wants is the name of the package whose symbol table
847 you want. The default package is called C<main>. If you have multiply nested
848 packages, pass their names to C<gv_stash*v>, separated by C<::> as in the Perl
851 Alternately, if you have an SV that is a blessed reference, you can find
852 out the stash pointer by using:
854 HV* SvSTASH(SvRV(SV*));
856 then use the following to get the package name itself:
858 char* HvNAME(HV* stash);
860 If you need to bless or re-bless an object you can use the following
863 SV* sv_bless(SV*, HV* stash)
865 where the first argument, an C<SV*>, must be a reference, and the second
866 argument is a stash. The returned C<SV*> can now be used in the same way
869 For more information on references and blessings, consult L<perlref>.
871 =head2 Double-Typed SVs
873 Scalar variables normally contain only one type of value, an integer,
874 double, pointer, or reference. Perl will automatically convert the
875 actual scalar data from the stored type into the requested type.
877 Some scalar variables contain more than one type of scalar data. For
878 example, the variable C<$!> contains either the numeric value of C<errno>
879 or its string equivalent from either C<strerror> or C<sys_errlist[]>.
881 To force multiple data values into an SV, you must do two things: use the
882 C<sv_set*v> routines to add the additional scalar type, then set a flag
883 so that Perl will believe it contains more than one type of data. The
884 four macros to set the flags are:
891 The particular macro you must use depends on which C<sv_set*v> routine
892 you called first. This is because every C<sv_set*v> routine turns on
893 only the bit for the particular type of data being set, and turns off
896 For example, to create a new Perl variable called "dberror" that contains
897 both the numeric and descriptive string error values, you could use the
901 extern char *dberror_list;
903 SV* sv = get_sv("dberror", GV_ADD);
904 sv_setiv(sv, (IV) dberror);
905 sv_setpv(sv, dberror_list[dberror]);
908 If the order of C<sv_setiv> and C<sv_setpv> had been reversed, then the
909 macro C<SvPOK_on> would need to be called instead of C<SvIOK_on>.
911 =head2 Magic Variables
913 [This section still under construction. Ignore everything here. Post no
914 bills. Everything not permitted is forbidden.]
916 Any SV may be magical, that is, it has special features that a normal
917 SV does not have. These features are stored in the SV structure in a
918 linked list of C<struct magic>'s, typedef'ed to C<MAGIC>.
931 Note this is current as of patchlevel 0, and could change at any time.
933 =head2 Assigning Magic
935 Perl adds magic to an SV using the sv_magic function:
937 void sv_magic(SV* sv, SV* obj, int how, const char* name, I32 namlen);
939 The C<sv> argument is a pointer to the SV that is to acquire a new magical
942 If C<sv> is not already magical, Perl uses the C<SvUPGRADE> macro to
943 convert C<sv> to type C<SVt_PVMG>.
944 Perl then continues by adding new magic
945 to the beginning of the linked list of magical features. Any prior entry
946 of the same type of magic is deleted. Note that this can be overridden,
947 and multiple instances of the same type of magic can be associated with an
950 The C<name> and C<namlen> arguments are used to associate a string with
951 the magic, typically the name of a variable. C<namlen> is stored in the
952 C<mg_len> field and if C<name> is non-null then either a C<savepvn> copy of
953 C<name> or C<name> itself is stored in the C<mg_ptr> field, depending on
954 whether C<namlen> is greater than zero or equal to zero respectively. As a
955 special case, if C<(name && namlen == HEf_SVKEY)> then C<name> is assumed
956 to contain an C<SV*> and is stored as-is with its REFCNT incremented.
958 The sv_magic function uses C<how> to determine which, if any, predefined
959 "Magic Virtual Table" should be assigned to the C<mg_virtual> field.
960 See the L<Magic Virtual Tables> section below. The C<how> argument is also
961 stored in the C<mg_type> field. The value of
962 C<how> should be chosen from the set of macros
963 C<PERL_MAGIC_foo> found in F<perl.h>. Note that before
964 these macros were added, Perl internals used to directly use character
965 literals, so you may occasionally come across old code or documentation
966 referring to 'U' magic rather than C<PERL_MAGIC_uvar> for example.
968 The C<obj> argument is stored in the C<mg_obj> field of the C<MAGIC>
969 structure. If it is not the same as the C<sv> argument, the reference
970 count of the C<obj> object is incremented. If it is the same, or if
971 the C<how> argument is C<PERL_MAGIC_arylen>, or if it is a NULL pointer,
972 then C<obj> is merely stored, without the reference count being incremented.
974 See also C<sv_magicext> in L<perlapi> for a more flexible way to add magic
977 There is also a function to add magic to an C<HV>:
979 void hv_magic(HV *hv, GV *gv, int how);
981 This simply calls C<sv_magic> and coerces the C<gv> argument into an C<SV>.
983 To remove the magic from an SV, call the function sv_unmagic:
985 int sv_unmagic(SV *sv, int type);
987 The C<type> argument should be equal to the C<how> value when the C<SV>
988 was initially made magical.
990 However, note that C<sv_unmagic> removes all magic of a certain C<type> from the
991 C<SV>. If you want to remove only certain
992 magic of a C<type> based on the magic
993 virtual table, use C<sv_unmagicext> instead:
995 int sv_unmagicext(SV *sv, int type, MGVTBL *vtbl);
997 =head2 Magic Virtual Tables
999 The C<mg_virtual> field in the C<MAGIC> structure is a pointer to an
1000 C<MGVTBL>, which is a structure of function pointers and stands for
1001 "Magic Virtual Table" to handle the various operations that might be
1002 applied to that variable.
1004 The C<MGVTBL> has five (or sometimes eight) pointers to the following
1007 int (*svt_get)(SV* sv, MAGIC* mg);
1008 int (*svt_set)(SV* sv, MAGIC* mg);
1009 U32 (*svt_len)(SV* sv, MAGIC* mg);
1010 int (*svt_clear)(SV* sv, MAGIC* mg);
1011 int (*svt_free)(SV* sv, MAGIC* mg);
1013 int (*svt_copy)(SV *sv, MAGIC* mg, SV *nsv,
1014 const char *name, I32 namlen);
1015 int (*svt_dup)(MAGIC *mg, CLONE_PARAMS *param);
1016 int (*svt_local)(SV *nsv, MAGIC *mg);
1019 This MGVTBL structure is set at compile-time in F<perl.h> and there are
1020 currently 32 types. These different structures contain pointers to various
1021 routines that perform additional actions depending on which function is
1024 Function pointer Action taken
1025 ---------------- ------------
1026 svt_get Do something before the value of the SV is
1028 svt_set Do something after the SV is assigned a value.
1029 svt_len Report on the SV's length.
1030 svt_clear Clear something the SV represents.
1031 svt_free Free any extra storage associated with the SV.
1033 svt_copy copy tied variable magic to a tied element
1034 svt_dup duplicate a magic structure during thread cloning
1035 svt_local copy magic to local value during 'local'
1037 For instance, the MGVTBL structure called C<vtbl_sv> (which corresponds
1038 to an C<mg_type> of C<PERL_MAGIC_sv>) contains:
1040 { magic_get, magic_set, magic_len, 0, 0 }
1042 Thus, when an SV is determined to be magical and of type C<PERL_MAGIC_sv>,
1043 if a get operation is being performed, the routine C<magic_get> is
1044 called. All the various routines for the various magical types begin
1045 with C<magic_>. NOTE: the magic routines are not considered part of
1046 the Perl API, and may not be exported by the Perl library.
1048 The last three slots are a recent addition, and for source code
1049 compatibility they are only checked for if one of the three flags
1050 MGf_COPY, MGf_DUP or MGf_LOCAL is set in mg_flags.
1051 This means that most code can continue declaring
1052 a vtable as a 5-element value. These three are
1053 currently used exclusively by the threading code, and are highly subject
1056 The current kinds of Magic Virtual Tables are:
1059 This table is generated by regen/mg_vtable.pl. Any changes made here
1062 =for mg_vtable.pl begin
1065 (old-style char and macro) MGVTBL Type of magic
1066 -------------------------- ------ -------------
1067 \0 PERL_MAGIC_sv vtbl_sv Special scalar variable
1068 # PERL_MAGIC_arylen vtbl_arylen Array length ($#ary)
1069 % PERL_MAGIC_rhash (none) extra data for restricted
1071 & PERL_MAGIC_proto (none) my sub prototype CV
1072 . PERL_MAGIC_pos vtbl_pos pos() lvalue
1073 : PERL_MAGIC_symtab (none) extra data for symbol
1075 < PERL_MAGIC_backref vtbl_backref for weak ref data
1076 @ PERL_MAGIC_arylen_p (none) to move arylen out of XPVAV
1077 B PERL_MAGIC_bm vtbl_regexp Boyer-Moore
1078 (fast string search)
1079 c PERL_MAGIC_overload_table vtbl_ovrld Holds overload table
1081 D PERL_MAGIC_regdata vtbl_regdata Regex match position data
1083 d PERL_MAGIC_regdatum vtbl_regdatum Regex match position data
1085 E PERL_MAGIC_env vtbl_env %ENV hash
1086 e PERL_MAGIC_envelem vtbl_envelem %ENV hash element
1087 f PERL_MAGIC_fm vtbl_regexp Formline
1089 g PERL_MAGIC_regex_global vtbl_mglob m//g target
1090 H PERL_MAGIC_hints vtbl_hints %^H hash
1091 h PERL_MAGIC_hintselem vtbl_hintselem %^H hash element
1092 I PERL_MAGIC_isa vtbl_isa @ISA array
1093 i PERL_MAGIC_isaelem vtbl_isaelem @ISA array element
1094 k PERL_MAGIC_nkeys vtbl_nkeys scalar(keys()) lvalue
1095 L PERL_MAGIC_dbfile (none) Debugger %_<filename
1096 l PERL_MAGIC_dbline vtbl_dbline Debugger %_<filename
1098 N PERL_MAGIC_shared (none) Shared between threads
1099 n PERL_MAGIC_shared_scalar (none) Shared between threads
1100 o PERL_MAGIC_collxfrm vtbl_collxfrm Locale transformation
1101 P PERL_MAGIC_tied vtbl_pack Tied array or hash
1102 p PERL_MAGIC_tiedelem vtbl_packelem Tied array or hash element
1103 q PERL_MAGIC_tiedscalar vtbl_packelem Tied scalar or handle
1104 r PERL_MAGIC_qr vtbl_regexp precompiled qr// regex
1105 S PERL_MAGIC_sig (none) %SIG hash
1106 s PERL_MAGIC_sigelem vtbl_sigelem %SIG hash element
1107 t PERL_MAGIC_taint vtbl_taint Taintedness
1108 U PERL_MAGIC_uvar vtbl_uvar Available for use by
1110 u PERL_MAGIC_uvar_elem (none) Reserved for use by
1112 V PERL_MAGIC_vstring (none) SV was vstring literal
1113 v PERL_MAGIC_vec vtbl_vec vec() lvalue
1114 w PERL_MAGIC_utf8 vtbl_utf8 Cached UTF-8 information
1115 x PERL_MAGIC_substr vtbl_substr substr() lvalue
1116 y PERL_MAGIC_defelem vtbl_defelem Shadow "foreach" iterator
1117 variable / smart parameter
1119 ] PERL_MAGIC_checkcall vtbl_checkcall inlining/mutation of call
1121 ~ PERL_MAGIC_ext (none) Available for use by
1124 =for mg_vtable.pl end
1126 When an uppercase and lowercase letter both exist in the table, then the
1127 uppercase letter is typically used to represent some kind of composite type
1128 (a list or a hash), and the lowercase letter is used to represent an element
1129 of that composite type. Some internals code makes use of this case
1130 relationship. However, 'v' and 'V' (vec and v-string) are in no way related.
1132 The C<PERL_MAGIC_ext> and C<PERL_MAGIC_uvar> magic types are defined
1133 specifically for use by extensions and will not be used by perl itself.
1134 Extensions can use C<PERL_MAGIC_ext> magic to 'attach' private information
1135 to variables (typically objects). This is especially useful because
1136 there is no way for normal perl code to corrupt this private information
1137 (unlike using extra elements of a hash object).
1139 Similarly, C<PERL_MAGIC_uvar> magic can be used much like tie() to call a
1140 C function any time a scalar's value is used or changed. The C<MAGIC>'s
1141 C<mg_ptr> field points to a C<ufuncs> structure:
1144 I32 (*uf_val)(pTHX_ IV, SV*);
1145 I32 (*uf_set)(pTHX_ IV, SV*);
1149 When the SV is read from or written to, the C<uf_val> or C<uf_set>
1150 function will be called with C<uf_index> as the first arg and a pointer to
1151 the SV as the second. A simple example of how to add C<PERL_MAGIC_uvar>
1152 magic is shown below. Note that the ufuncs structure is copied by
1153 sv_magic, so you can safely allocate it on the stack.
1161 uf.uf_val = &my_get_fn;
1162 uf.uf_set = &my_set_fn;
1164 sv_magic(sv, 0, PERL_MAGIC_uvar, (char*)&uf, sizeof(uf));
1166 Attaching C<PERL_MAGIC_uvar> to arrays is permissible but has no effect.
1168 For hashes there is a specialized hook that gives control over hash
1169 keys (but not values). This hook calls C<PERL_MAGIC_uvar> 'get' magic
1170 if the "set" function in the C<ufuncs> structure is NULL. The hook
1171 is activated whenever the hash is accessed with a key specified as
1172 an C<SV> through the functions C<hv_store_ent>, C<hv_fetch_ent>,
1173 C<hv_delete_ent>, and C<hv_exists_ent>. Accessing the key as a string
1174 through the functions without the C<..._ent> suffix circumvents the
1175 hook. See L<Hash::Util::FieldHash/GUTS> for a detailed description.
1177 Note that because multiple extensions may be using C<PERL_MAGIC_ext>
1178 or C<PERL_MAGIC_uvar> magic, it is important for extensions to take
1179 extra care to avoid conflict. Typically only using the magic on
1180 objects blessed into the same class as the extension is sufficient.
1181 For C<PERL_MAGIC_ext> magic, it is usually a good idea to define an
1182 C<MGVTBL>, even if all its fields will be C<0>, so that individual
1183 C<MAGIC> pointers can be identified as a particular kind of magic
1184 using their magic virtual table. C<mg_findext> provides an easy way
1187 STATIC MGVTBL my_vtbl = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 };
1190 if ((mg = mg_findext(sv, PERL_MAGIC_ext, &my_vtbl))) {
1191 /* this is really ours, not another module's PERL_MAGIC_ext */
1192 my_priv_data_t *priv = (my_priv_data_t *)mg->mg_ptr;
1196 Also note that the C<sv_set*()> and C<sv_cat*()> functions described
1197 earlier do B<not> invoke 'set' magic on their targets. This must
1198 be done by the user either by calling the C<SvSETMAGIC()> macro after
1199 calling these functions, or by using one of the C<sv_set*_mg()> or
1200 C<sv_cat*_mg()> functions. Similarly, generic C code must call the
1201 C<SvGETMAGIC()> macro to invoke any 'get' magic if they use an SV
1202 obtained from external sources in functions that don't handle magic.
1203 See L<perlapi> for a description of these functions.
1204 For example, calls to the C<sv_cat*()> functions typically need to be
1205 followed by C<SvSETMAGIC()>, but they don't need a prior C<SvGETMAGIC()>
1206 since their implementation handles 'get' magic.
1208 =head2 Finding Magic
1210 MAGIC *mg_find(SV *sv, int type); /* Finds the magic pointer of that
1213 This routine returns a pointer to a C<MAGIC> structure stored in the SV.
1214 If the SV does not have that magical
1215 feature, C<NULL> is returned. If the
1216 SV has multiple instances of that magical feature, the first one will be
1217 returned. C<mg_findext> can be used
1218 to find a C<MAGIC> structure of an SV
1219 based on both its magic type and its magic virtual table:
1221 MAGIC *mg_findext(SV *sv, int type, MGVTBL *vtbl);
1223 Also, if the SV passed to C<mg_find> or C<mg_findext> is not of type
1224 SVt_PVMG, Perl may core dump.
1226 int mg_copy(SV* sv, SV* nsv, const char* key, STRLEN klen);
1228 This routine checks to see what types of magic C<sv> has. If the mg_type
1229 field is an uppercase letter, then the mg_obj is copied to C<nsv>, but
1230 the mg_type field is changed to be the lowercase letter.
1232 =head2 Understanding the Magic of Tied Hashes and Arrays
1234 Tied hashes and arrays are magical beasts of the C<PERL_MAGIC_tied>
1237 WARNING: As of the 5.004 release, proper usage of the array and hash
1238 access functions requires understanding a few caveats. Some
1239 of these caveats are actually considered bugs in the API, to be fixed
1240 in later releases, and are bracketed with [MAYCHANGE] below. If
1241 you find yourself actually applying such information in this section, be
1242 aware that the behavior may change in the future, umm, without warning.
1244 The perl tie function associates a variable with an object that implements
1245 the various GET, SET, etc methods. To perform the equivalent of the perl
1246 tie function from an XSUB, you must mimic this behaviour. The code below
1247 carries out the necessary steps - firstly it creates a new hash, and then
1248 creates a second hash which it blesses into the class which will implement
1249 the tie methods. Lastly it ties the two hashes together, and returns a
1250 reference to the new tied hash. Note that the code below does NOT call the
1251 TIEHASH method in the MyTie class -
1252 see L<Calling Perl Routines from within C Programs> for details on how
1263 tie = newRV_noinc((SV*)newHV());
1264 stash = gv_stashpv("MyTie", GV_ADD);
1265 sv_bless(tie, stash);
1266 hv_magic(hash, (GV*)tie, PERL_MAGIC_tied);
1267 RETVAL = newRV_noinc(hash);
1271 The C<av_store> function, when given a tied array argument, merely
1272 copies the magic of the array onto the value to be "stored", using
1273 C<mg_copy>. It may also return NULL, indicating that the value did not
1274 actually need to be stored in the array. [MAYCHANGE] After a call to
1275 C<av_store> on a tied array, the caller will usually need to call
1276 C<mg_set(val)> to actually invoke the perl level "STORE" method on the
1277 TIEARRAY object. If C<av_store> did return NULL, a call to
1278 C<SvREFCNT_dec(val)> will also be usually necessary to avoid a memory
1281 The previous paragraph is applicable verbatim to tied hash access using the
1282 C<hv_store> and C<hv_store_ent> functions as well.
1284 C<av_fetch> and the corresponding hash functions C<hv_fetch> and
1285 C<hv_fetch_ent> actually return an undefined mortal value whose magic
1286 has been initialized using C<mg_copy>. Note the value so returned does not
1287 need to be deallocated, as it is already mortal. [MAYCHANGE] But you will
1288 need to call C<mg_get()> on the returned value in order to actually invoke
1289 the perl level "FETCH" method on the underlying TIE object. Similarly,
1290 you may also call C<mg_set()> on the return value after possibly assigning
1291 a suitable value to it using C<sv_setsv>, which will invoke the "STORE"
1292 method on the TIE object. [/MAYCHANGE]
1295 In other words, the array or hash fetch/store functions don't really
1296 fetch and store actual values in the case of tied arrays and hashes. They
1297 merely call C<mg_copy> to attach magic to the values that were meant to be
1298 "stored" or "fetched". Later calls to C<mg_get> and C<mg_set> actually
1299 do the job of invoking the TIE methods on the underlying objects. Thus
1300 the magic mechanism currently implements a kind of lazy access to arrays
1303 Currently (as of perl version 5.004), use of the hash and array access
1304 functions requires the user to be aware of whether they are operating on
1305 "normal" hashes and arrays, or on their tied variants. The API may be
1306 changed to provide more transparent access to both tied and normal data
1307 types in future versions.
1310 You would do well to understand that the TIEARRAY and TIEHASH interfaces
1311 are mere sugar to invoke some perl method calls while using the uniform hash
1312 and array syntax. The use of this sugar imposes some overhead (typically
1313 about two to four extra opcodes per FETCH/STORE operation, in addition to
1314 the creation of all the mortal variables required to invoke the methods).
1315 This overhead will be comparatively small if the TIE methods are themselves
1316 substantial, but if they are only a few statements long, the overhead
1317 will not be insignificant.
1319 =head2 Localizing changes
1321 Perl has a very handy construction
1328 This construction is I<approximately> equivalent to
1337 The biggest difference is that the first construction would
1338 reinstate the initial value of $var, irrespective of how control exits
1339 the block: C<goto>, C<return>, C<die>/C<eval>, etc. It is a little bit
1340 more efficient as well.
1342 There is a way to achieve a similar task from C via Perl API: create a
1343 I<pseudo-block>, and arrange for some changes to be automatically
1344 undone at the end of it, either explicit, or via a non-local exit (via
1345 die()). A I<block>-like construct is created by a pair of
1346 C<ENTER>/C<LEAVE> macros (see L<perlcall/"Returning a Scalar">).
1347 Such a construct may be created specially for some important localized
1348 task, or an existing one (like boundaries of enclosing Perl
1349 subroutine/block, or an existing pair for freeing TMPs) may be
1350 used. (In the second case the overhead of additional localization must
1351 be almost negligible.) Note that any XSUB is automatically enclosed in
1352 an C<ENTER>/C<LEAVE> pair.
1354 Inside such a I<pseudo-block> the following service is available:
1358 =item C<SAVEINT(int i)>
1360 =item C<SAVEIV(IV i)>
1362 =item C<SAVEI32(I32 i)>
1364 =item C<SAVELONG(long i)>
1366 These macros arrange things to restore the value of integer variable
1367 C<i> at the end of enclosing I<pseudo-block>.
1369 =item C<SAVESPTR(s)>
1371 =item C<SAVEPPTR(p)>
1373 These macros arrange things to restore the value of pointers C<s> and
1374 C<p>. C<s> must be a pointer of a type which survives conversion to
1375 C<SV*> and back, C<p> should be able to survive conversion to C<char*>
1378 =item C<SAVEFREESV(SV *sv)>
1380 The refcount of C<sv> would be decremented at the end of
1381 I<pseudo-block>. This is similar to C<sv_2mortal> in that it is also a
1382 mechanism for doing a delayed C<SvREFCNT_dec>. However, while C<sv_2mortal>
1383 extends the lifetime of C<sv> until the beginning of the next statement,
1384 C<SAVEFREESV> extends it until the end of the enclosing scope. These
1385 lifetimes can be wildly different.
1387 Also compare C<SAVEMORTALIZESV>.
1389 =item C<SAVEMORTALIZESV(SV *sv)>
1391 Just like C<SAVEFREESV>, but mortalizes C<sv> at the end of the current
1392 scope instead of decrementing its reference count. This usually has the
1393 effect of keeping C<sv> alive until the statement that called the currently
1394 live scope has finished executing.
1396 =item C<SAVEFREEOP(OP *op)>
1398 The C<OP *> is op_free()ed at the end of I<pseudo-block>.
1400 =item C<SAVEFREEPV(p)>
1402 The chunk of memory which is pointed to by C<p> is Safefree()ed at the
1403 end of I<pseudo-block>.
1405 =item C<SAVECLEARSV(SV *sv)>
1407 Clears a slot in the current scratchpad which corresponds to C<sv> at
1408 the end of I<pseudo-block>.
1410 =item C<SAVEDELETE(HV *hv, char *key, I32 length)>
1412 The key C<key> of C<hv> is deleted at the end of I<pseudo-block>. The
1413 string pointed to by C<key> is Safefree()ed. If one has a I<key> in
1414 short-lived storage, the corresponding string may be reallocated like
1417 SAVEDELETE(PL_defstash, savepv(tmpbuf), strlen(tmpbuf));
1419 =item C<SAVEDESTRUCTOR(DESTRUCTORFUNC_NOCONTEXT_t f, void *p)>
1421 At the end of I<pseudo-block> the function C<f> is called with the
1424 =item C<SAVEDESTRUCTOR_X(DESTRUCTORFUNC_t f, void *p)>
1426 At the end of I<pseudo-block> the function C<f> is called with the
1427 implicit context argument (if any), and C<p>.
1429 =item C<SAVESTACK_POS()>
1431 The current offset on the Perl internal stack (cf. C<SP>) is restored
1432 at the end of I<pseudo-block>.
1436 The following API list contains functions, thus one needs to
1437 provide pointers to the modifiable data explicitly (either C pointers,
1438 or Perlish C<GV *>s). Where the above macros take C<int>, a similar
1439 function takes C<int *>.
1443 =item C<SV* save_scalar(GV *gv)>
1445 Equivalent to Perl code C<local $gv>.
1447 =item C<AV* save_ary(GV *gv)>
1449 =item C<HV* save_hash(GV *gv)>
1451 Similar to C<save_scalar>, but localize C<@gv> and C<%gv>.
1453 =item C<void save_item(SV *item)>
1455 Duplicates the current value of C<SV>, on the exit from the current
1456 C<ENTER>/C<LEAVE> I<pseudo-block> will restore the value of C<SV>
1457 using the stored value. It doesn't handle magic. Use C<save_scalar> if
1460 =item C<void save_list(SV **sarg, I32 maxsarg)>
1462 A variant of C<save_item> which takes multiple arguments via an array
1463 C<sarg> of C<SV*> of length C<maxsarg>.
1465 =item C<SV* save_svref(SV **sptr)>
1467 Similar to C<save_scalar>, but will reinstate an C<SV *>.
1469 =item C<void save_aptr(AV **aptr)>
1471 =item C<void save_hptr(HV **hptr)>
1473 Similar to C<save_svref>, but localize C<AV *> and C<HV *>.
1477 The C<Alias> module implements localization of the basic types within the
1478 I<caller's scope>. People who are interested in how to localize things in
1479 the containing scope should take a look there too.
1483 =head2 XSUBs and the Argument Stack
1485 The XSUB mechanism is a simple way for Perl programs to access C subroutines.
1486 An XSUB routine will have a stack that contains the arguments from the Perl
1487 program, and a way to map from the Perl data structures to a C equivalent.
1489 The stack arguments are accessible through the C<ST(n)> macro, which returns
1490 the C<n>'th stack argument. Argument 0 is the first argument passed in the
1491 Perl subroutine call. These arguments are C<SV*>, and can be used anywhere
1494 Most of the time, output from the C routine can be handled through use of
1495 the RETVAL and OUTPUT directives. However, there are some cases where the
1496 argument stack is not already long enough to handle all the return values.
1497 An example is the POSIX tzname() call, which takes no arguments, but returns
1498 two, the local time zone's standard and summer time abbreviations.
1500 To handle this situation, the PPCODE directive is used and the stack is
1501 extended using the macro:
1505 where C<SP> is the macro that represents the local copy of the stack pointer,
1506 and C<num> is the number of elements the stack should be extended by.
1508 Now that there is room on the stack, values can be pushed on it using C<PUSHs>
1509 macro. The pushed values will often need to be "mortal" (See
1510 L</Reference Counts and Mortality>):
1512 PUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(an_integer)))
1513 PUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVuv(an_unsigned_integer)))
1514 PUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVnv(a_double)))
1515 PUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSVpv("Some String",0)))
1516 /* Although the last example is better written as the more
1518 PUSHs(newSVpvs_flags("Some String", SVs_TEMP))
1520 And now the Perl program calling C<tzname>, the two values will be assigned
1523 ($standard_abbrev, $summer_abbrev) = POSIX::tzname;
1525 An alternate (and possibly simpler) method to pushing values on the stack is
1530 This macro automatically adjusts the stack for you, if needed. Thus, you
1531 do not need to call C<EXTEND> to extend the stack.
1533 Despite their suggestions in earlier versions of this document the macros
1534 C<(X)PUSH[iunp]> are I<not> suited to XSUBs which return multiple results.
1535 For that, either stick to the C<(X)PUSHs> macros shown above, or use the new
1536 C<m(X)PUSH[iunp]> macros instead; see L</Putting a C value on Perl stack>.
1538 For more information, consult L<perlxs> and L<perlxstut>.
1540 =head2 Autoloading with XSUBs
1542 If an AUTOLOAD routine is an XSUB, as with Perl subroutines, Perl puts the
1543 fully-qualified name of the autoloaded subroutine in the $AUTOLOAD variable
1544 of the XSUB's package.
1546 But it also puts the same information in certain fields of the XSUB itself:
1548 HV *stash = CvSTASH(cv);
1549 const char *subname = SvPVX(cv);
1550 STRLEN name_length = SvCUR(cv); /* in bytes */
1551 U32 is_utf8 = SvUTF8(cv);
1553 C<SvPVX(cv)> contains just the sub name itself, not including the package.
1554 For an AUTOLOAD routine in UNIVERSAL or one of its superclasses,
1555 C<CvSTASH(cv)> returns NULL during a method call on a nonexistent package.
1557 B<Note>: Setting $AUTOLOAD stopped working in 5.6.1, which did not support
1558 XS AUTOLOAD subs at all. Perl 5.8.0 introduced the use of fields in the
1559 XSUB itself. Perl 5.16.0 restored the setting of $AUTOLOAD. If you need
1560 to support 5.8-5.14, use the XSUB's fields.
1562 =head2 Calling Perl Routines from within C Programs
1564 There are four routines that can be used to call a Perl subroutine from
1565 within a C program. These four are:
1567 I32 call_sv(SV*, I32);
1568 I32 call_pv(const char*, I32);
1569 I32 call_method(const char*, I32);
1570 I32 call_argv(const char*, I32, char**);
1572 The routine most often used is C<call_sv>. The C<SV*> argument
1573 contains either the name of the Perl subroutine to be called, or a
1574 reference to the subroutine. The second argument consists of flags
1575 that control the context in which the subroutine is called, whether
1576 or not the subroutine is being passed arguments, how errors should be
1577 trapped, and how to treat return values.
1579 All four routines return the number of arguments that the subroutine returned
1582 These routines used to be called C<perl_call_sv>, etc., before Perl v5.6.0,
1583 but those names are now deprecated; macros of the same name are provided for
1586 When using any of these routines (except C<call_argv>), the programmer
1587 must manipulate the Perl stack. These include the following macros and
1602 For a detailed description of calling conventions from C to Perl,
1603 consult L<perlcall>.
1605 =head2 Memory Allocation
1609 All memory meant to be used with the Perl API functions should be manipulated
1610 using the macros described in this section. The macros provide the necessary
1611 transparency between differences in the actual malloc implementation that is
1614 It is suggested that you enable the version of malloc that is distributed
1615 with Perl. It keeps pools of various sizes of unallocated memory in
1616 order to satisfy allocation requests more quickly. However, on some
1617 platforms, it may cause spurious malloc or free errors.
1619 The following three macros are used to initially allocate memory :
1621 Newx(pointer, number, type);
1622 Newxc(pointer, number, type, cast);
1623 Newxz(pointer, number, type);
1625 The first argument C<pointer> should be the name of a variable that will
1626 point to the newly allocated memory.
1628 The second and third arguments C<number> and C<type> specify how many of
1629 the specified type of data structure should be allocated. The argument
1630 C<type> is passed to C<sizeof>. The final argument to C<Newxc>, C<cast>,
1631 should be used if the C<pointer> argument is different from the C<type>
1634 Unlike the C<Newx> and C<Newxc> macros, the C<Newxz> macro calls C<memzero>
1635 to zero out all the newly allocated memory.
1639 Renew(pointer, number, type);
1640 Renewc(pointer, number, type, cast);
1643 These three macros are used to change a memory buffer size or to free a
1644 piece of memory no longer needed. The arguments to C<Renew> and C<Renewc>
1645 match those of C<New> and C<Newc> with the exception of not needing the
1646 "magic cookie" argument.
1650 Move(source, dest, number, type);
1651 Copy(source, dest, number, type);
1652 Zero(dest, number, type);
1654 These three macros are used to move, copy, or zero out previously allocated
1655 memory. The C<source> and C<dest> arguments point to the source and
1656 destination starting points. Perl will move, copy, or zero out C<number>
1657 instances of the size of the C<type> data structure (using the C<sizeof>
1662 The most recent development releases of Perl have been experimenting with
1663 removing Perl's dependency on the "normal" standard I/O suite and allowing
1664 other stdio implementations to be used. This involves creating a new
1665 abstraction layer that then calls whichever implementation of stdio Perl
1666 was compiled with. All XSUBs should now use the functions in the PerlIO
1667 abstraction layer and not make any assumptions about what kind of stdio
1670 For a complete description of the PerlIO abstraction, consult L<perlapio>.
1672 =head2 Putting a C value on Perl stack
1674 A lot of opcodes (this is an elementary operation in the internal perl
1675 stack machine) put an SV* on the stack. However, as an optimization
1676 the corresponding SV is (usually) not recreated each time. The opcodes
1677 reuse specially assigned SVs (I<target>s) which are (as a corollary)
1678 not constantly freed/created.
1680 Each of the targets is created only once (but see
1681 L<Scratchpads and recursion> below), and when an opcode needs to put
1682 an integer, a double, or a string on stack, it just sets the
1683 corresponding parts of its I<target> and puts the I<target> on stack.
1685 The macro to put this target on stack is C<PUSHTARG>, and it is
1686 directly used in some opcodes, as well as indirectly in zillions of
1687 others, which use it via C<(X)PUSH[iunp]>.
1689 Because the target is reused, you must be careful when pushing multiple
1690 values on the stack. The following code will not do what you think:
1695 This translates as "set C<TARG> to 10, push a pointer to C<TARG> onto
1696 the stack; set C<TARG> to 20, push a pointer to C<TARG> onto the stack".
1697 At the end of the operation, the stack does not contain the values 10
1698 and 20, but actually contains two pointers to C<TARG>, which we have set
1701 If you need to push multiple different values then you should either use
1702 the C<(X)PUSHs> macros, or else use the new C<m(X)PUSH[iunp]> macros,
1703 none of which make use of C<TARG>. The C<(X)PUSHs> macros simply push an
1704 SV* on the stack, which, as noted under L</XSUBs and the Argument Stack>,
1705 will often need to be "mortal". The new C<m(X)PUSH[iunp]> macros make
1706 this a little easier to achieve by creating a new mortal for you (via
1707 C<(X)PUSHmortal>), pushing that onto the stack (extending it if necessary
1708 in the case of the C<mXPUSH[iunp]> macros), and then setting its value.
1709 Thus, instead of writing this to "fix" the example above:
1711 XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(10)))
1712 XPUSHs(sv_2mortal(newSViv(20)))
1714 you can simply write:
1719 On a related note, if you do use C<(X)PUSH[iunp]>, then you're going to
1720 need a C<dTARG> in your variable declarations so that the C<*PUSH*>
1721 macros can make use of the local variable C<TARG>. See also C<dTARGET>
1726 The question remains on when the SVs which are I<target>s for opcodes
1727 are created. The answer is that they are created when the current
1728 unit--a subroutine or a file (for opcodes for statements outside of
1729 subroutines)--is compiled. During this time a special anonymous Perl
1730 array is created, which is called a scratchpad for the current unit.
1732 A scratchpad keeps SVs which are lexicals for the current unit and are
1733 targets for opcodes. A previous version of this document
1734 stated that one can deduce that an SV lives on a scratchpad
1735 by looking on its flags: lexicals have C<SVs_PADMY> set, and
1736 I<target>s have C<SVs_PADTMP> set. But this have never been fully true.
1737 C<SVs_PADMY> could be set on a variable that no longer resides in any pad.
1738 While I<target>s do have C<SVs_PADTMP> set, it can also be set on variables
1739 that have never resided in a pad, but nonetheless act like I<target>s.
1741 The correspondence between OPs and I<target>s is not 1-to-1. Different
1742 OPs in the compile tree of the unit can use the same target, if this
1743 would not conflict with the expected life of the temporary.
1745 =head2 Scratchpads and recursion
1747 In fact it is not 100% true that a compiled unit contains a pointer to
1748 the scratchpad AV. In fact it contains a pointer to an AV of
1749 (initially) one element, and this element is the scratchpad AV. Why do
1750 we need an extra level of indirection?
1752 The answer is B<recursion>, and maybe B<threads>. Both
1753 these can create several execution pointers going into the same
1754 subroutine. For the subroutine-child not write over the temporaries
1755 for the subroutine-parent (lifespan of which covers the call to the
1756 child), the parent and the child should have different
1757 scratchpads. (I<And> the lexicals should be separate anyway!)
1759 So each subroutine is born with an array of scratchpads (of length 1).
1760 On each entry to the subroutine it is checked that the current
1761 depth of the recursion is not more than the length of this array, and
1762 if it is, new scratchpad is created and pushed into the array.
1764 The I<target>s on this scratchpad are C<undef>s, but they are already
1765 marked with correct flags.
1767 =head1 Compiled code
1771 Here we describe the internal form your code is converted to by
1772 Perl. Start with a simple example:
1776 This is converted to a tree similar to this one:
1784 (but slightly more complicated). This tree reflects the way Perl
1785 parsed your code, but has nothing to do with the execution order.
1786 There is an additional "thread" going through the nodes of the tree
1787 which shows the order of execution of the nodes. In our simplified
1788 example above it looks like:
1790 $b ---> $c ---> + ---> $a ---> assign-to
1792 But with the actual compile tree for C<$a = $b + $c> it is different:
1793 some nodes I<optimized away>. As a corollary, though the actual tree
1794 contains more nodes than our simplified example, the execution order
1795 is the same as in our example.
1797 =head2 Examining the tree
1799 If you have your perl compiled for debugging (usually done with
1800 C<-DDEBUGGING> on the C<Configure> command line), you may examine the
1801 compiled tree by specifying C<-Dx> on the Perl command line. The
1802 output takes several lines per node, and for C<$b+$c> it looks like
1807 FLAGS = (SCALAR,KIDS)
1809 TYPE = null ===> (4)
1811 FLAGS = (SCALAR,KIDS)
1813 3 TYPE = gvsv ===> 4
1819 TYPE = null ===> (5)
1821 FLAGS = (SCALAR,KIDS)
1823 4 TYPE = gvsv ===> 5
1829 This tree has 5 nodes (one per C<TYPE> specifier), only 3 of them are
1830 not optimized away (one per number in the left column). The immediate
1831 children of the given node correspond to C<{}> pairs on the same level
1832 of indentation, thus this listing corresponds to the tree:
1840 The execution order is indicated by C<===E<gt>> marks, thus it is C<3
1841 4 5 6> (node C<6> is not included into above listing), i.e.,
1842 C<gvsv gvsv add whatever>.
1844 Each of these nodes represents an op, a fundamental operation inside the
1845 Perl core. The code which implements each operation can be found in the
1846 F<pp*.c> files; the function which implements the op with type C<gvsv>
1847 is C<pp_gvsv>, and so on. As the tree above shows, different ops have
1848 different numbers of children: C<add> is a binary operator, as one would
1849 expect, and so has two children. To accommodate the various different
1850 numbers of children, there are various types of op data structure, and
1851 they link together in different ways.
1853 The simplest type of op structure is C<OP>: this has no children. Unary
1854 operators, C<UNOP>s, have one child, and this is pointed to by the
1855 C<op_first> field. Binary operators (C<BINOP>s) have not only an
1856 C<op_first> field but also an C<op_last> field. The most complex type of
1857 op is a C<LISTOP>, which has any number of children. In this case, the
1858 first child is pointed to by C<op_first> and the last child by
1859 C<op_last>. The children in between can be found by iteratively
1860 following the C<op_sibling> pointer from the first child to the last.
1862 There are also two other op types: a C<PMOP> holds a regular expression,
1863 and has no children, and a C<LOOP> may or may not have children. If the
1864 C<op_children> field is non-zero, it behaves like a C<LISTOP>. To
1865 complicate matters, if a C<UNOP> is actually a C<null> op after
1866 optimization (see L</Compile pass 2: context propagation>) it will still
1867 have children in accordance with its former type.
1869 Another way to examine the tree is to use a compiler back-end module, such
1872 =head2 Compile pass 1: check routines
1874 The tree is created by the compiler while I<yacc> code feeds it
1875 the constructions it recognizes. Since I<yacc> works bottom-up, so does
1876 the first pass of perl compilation.
1878 What makes this pass interesting for perl developers is that some
1879 optimization may be performed on this pass. This is optimization by
1880 so-called "check routines". The correspondence between node names
1881 and corresponding check routines is described in F<opcode.pl> (do not
1882 forget to run C<make regen_headers> if you modify this file).
1884 A check routine is called when the node is fully constructed except
1885 for the execution-order thread. Since at this time there are no
1886 back-links to the currently constructed node, one can do most any
1887 operation to the top-level node, including freeing it and/or creating
1888 new nodes above/below it.
1890 The check routine returns the node which should be inserted into the
1891 tree (if the top-level node was not modified, check routine returns
1894 By convention, check routines have names C<ck_*>. They are usually
1895 called from C<new*OP> subroutines (or C<convert>) (which in turn are
1896 called from F<perly.y>).
1898 =head2 Compile pass 1a: constant folding
1900 Immediately after the check routine is called the returned node is
1901 checked for being compile-time executable. If it is (the value is
1902 judged to be constant) it is immediately executed, and a I<constant>
1903 node with the "return value" of the corresponding subtree is
1904 substituted instead. The subtree is deleted.
1906 If constant folding was not performed, the execution-order thread is
1909 =head2 Compile pass 2: context propagation
1911 When a context for a part of compile tree is known, it is propagated
1912 down through the tree. At this time the context can have 5 values
1913 (instead of 2 for runtime context): void, boolean, scalar, list, and
1914 lvalue. In contrast with the pass 1 this pass is processed from top
1915 to bottom: a node's context determines the context for its children.
1917 Additional context-dependent optimizations are performed at this time.
1918 Since at this moment the compile tree contains back-references (via
1919 "thread" pointers), nodes cannot be free()d now. To allow
1920 optimized-away nodes at this stage, such nodes are null()ified instead
1921 of free()ing (i.e. their type is changed to OP_NULL).
1923 =head2 Compile pass 3: peephole optimization
1925 After the compile tree for a subroutine (or for an C<eval> or a file)
1926 is created, an additional pass over the code is performed. This pass
1927 is neither top-down or bottom-up, but in the execution order (with
1928 additional complications for conditionals). Optimizations performed
1929 at this stage are subject to the same restrictions as in the pass 2.
1931 Peephole optimizations are done by calling the function pointed to
1932 by the global variable C<PL_peepp>. By default, C<PL_peepp> just
1933 calls the function pointed to by the global variable C<PL_rpeepp>.
1934 By default, that performs some basic op fixups and optimisations along
1935 the execution-order op chain, and recursively calls C<PL_rpeepp> for
1936 each side chain of ops (resulting from conditionals). Extensions may
1937 provide additional optimisations or fixups, hooking into either the
1938 per-subroutine or recursive stage, like this:
1940 static peep_t prev_peepp;
1941 static void my_peep(pTHX_ OP *o)
1943 /* custom per-subroutine optimisation goes here */
1944 prev_peepp(aTHX_ o);
1945 /* custom per-subroutine optimisation may also go here */
1948 prev_peepp = PL_peepp;
1951 static peep_t prev_rpeepp;
1952 static void my_rpeep(pTHX_ OP *o)
1955 for(; o; o = o->op_next) {
1956 /* custom per-op optimisation goes here */
1958 prev_rpeepp(aTHX_ orig_o);
1961 prev_rpeepp = PL_rpeepp;
1962 PL_rpeepp = my_rpeep;
1964 =head2 Pluggable runops
1966 The compile tree is executed in a runops function. There are two runops
1967 functions, in F<run.c> and in F<dump.c>. C<Perl_runops_debug> is used
1968 with DEBUGGING and C<Perl_runops_standard> is used otherwise. For fine
1969 control over the execution of the compile tree it is possible to provide
1970 your own runops function.
1972 It's probably best to copy one of the existing runops functions and
1973 change it to suit your needs. Then, in the BOOT section of your XS
1976 PL_runops = my_runops;
1978 This function should be as efficient as possible to keep your programs
1979 running as fast as possible.
1981 =head2 Compile-time scope hooks
1983 As of perl 5.14 it is possible to hook into the compile-time lexical
1984 scope mechanism using C<Perl_blockhook_register>. This is used like
1987 STATIC void my_start_hook(pTHX_ int full);
1988 STATIC BHK my_hooks;
1991 BhkENTRY_set(&my_hooks, bhk_start, my_start_hook);
1992 Perl_blockhook_register(aTHX_ &my_hooks);
1994 This will arrange to have C<my_start_hook> called at the start of
1995 compiling every lexical scope. The available hooks are:
1999 =item C<void bhk_start(pTHX_ int full)>
2001 This is called just after starting a new lexical scope. Note that Perl
2006 creates two scopes: the first starts at the C<(> and has C<full == 1>,
2007 the second starts at the C<{> and has C<full == 0>. Both end at the
2008 C<}>, so calls to C<start> and C<pre/post_end> will match. Anything
2009 pushed onto the save stack by this hook will be popped just before the
2010 scope ends (between the C<pre_> and C<post_end> hooks, in fact).
2012 =item C<void bhk_pre_end(pTHX_ OP **o)>
2014 This is called at the end of a lexical scope, just before unwinding the
2015 stack. I<o> is the root of the optree representing the scope; it is a
2016 double pointer so you can replace the OP if you need to.
2018 =item C<void bhk_post_end(pTHX_ OP **o)>
2020 This is called at the end of a lexical scope, just after unwinding the
2021 stack. I<o> is as above. Note that it is possible for calls to C<pre_>
2022 and C<post_end> to nest, if there is something on the save stack that
2025 =item C<void bhk_eval(pTHX_ OP *const o)>
2027 This is called just before starting to compile an C<eval STRING>, C<do
2028 FILE>, C<require> or C<use>, after the eval has been set up. I<o> is the
2029 OP that requested the eval, and will normally be an C<OP_ENTEREVAL>,
2030 C<OP_DOFILE> or C<OP_REQUIRE>.
2034 Once you have your hook functions, you need a C<BHK> structure to put
2035 them in. It's best to allocate it statically, since there is no way to
2036 free it once it's registered. The function pointers should be inserted
2037 into this structure using the C<BhkENTRY_set> macro, which will also set
2038 flags indicating which entries are valid. If you do need to allocate
2039 your C<BHK> dynamically for some reason, be sure to zero it before you
2042 Once registered, there is no mechanism to switch these hooks off, so if
2043 that is necessary you will need to do this yourself. An entry in C<%^H>
2044 is probably the best way, so the effect is lexically scoped; however it
2045 is also possible to use the C<BhkDISABLE> and C<BhkENABLE> macros to
2046 temporarily switch entries on and off. You should also be aware that
2047 generally speaking at least one scope will have opened before your
2048 extension is loaded, so you will see some C<pre/post_end> pairs that
2049 didn't have a matching C<start>.
2051 =head1 Examining internal data structures with the C<dump> functions
2053 To aid debugging, the source file F<dump.c> contains a number of
2054 functions which produce formatted output of internal data structures.
2056 The most commonly used of these functions is C<Perl_sv_dump>; it's used
2057 for dumping SVs, AVs, HVs, and CVs. The C<Devel::Peek> module calls
2058 C<sv_dump> to produce debugging output from Perl-space, so users of that
2059 module should already be familiar with its format.
2061 C<Perl_op_dump> can be used to dump an C<OP> structure or any of its
2062 derivatives, and produces output similar to C<perl -Dx>; in fact,
2063 C<Perl_dump_eval> will dump the main root of the code being evaluated,
2064 exactly like C<-Dx>.
2066 Other useful functions are C<Perl_dump_sub>, which turns a C<GV> into an
2067 op tree, C<Perl_dump_packsubs> which calls C<Perl_dump_sub> on all the
2068 subroutines in a package like so: (Thankfully, these are all xsubs, so
2069 there is no op tree)
2071 (gdb) print Perl_dump_packsubs(PL_defstash)
2073 SUB attributes::bootstrap = (xsub 0x811fedc 0)
2075 SUB UNIVERSAL::can = (xsub 0x811f50c 0)
2077 SUB UNIVERSAL::isa = (xsub 0x811f304 0)
2079 SUB UNIVERSAL::VERSION = (xsub 0x811f7ac 0)
2081 SUB DynaLoader::boot_DynaLoader = (xsub 0x805b188 0)
2083 and C<Perl_dump_all>, which dumps all the subroutines in the stash and
2084 the op tree of the main root.
2086 =head1 How multiple interpreters and concurrency are supported
2088 =head2 Background and PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT
2090 The Perl interpreter can be regarded as a closed box: it has an API
2091 for feeding it code or otherwise making it do things, but it also has
2092 functions for its own use. This smells a lot like an object, and
2093 there are ways for you to build Perl so that you can have multiple
2094 interpreters, with one interpreter represented either as a C structure,
2095 or inside a thread-specific structure. These structures contain all
2096 the context, the state of that interpreter.
2098 One macro controls the major Perl build flavor: MULTIPLICITY. The
2099 MULTIPLICITY build has a C structure that packages all the interpreter
2100 state. With multiplicity-enabled perls, PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT is also
2101 normally defined, and enables the support for passing in a "hidden" first
2102 argument that represents all three data structures. MULTIPLICITY makes
2103 multi-threaded perls possible (with the ithreads threading model, related
2104 to the macro USE_ITHREADS.)
2106 Two other "encapsulation" macros are the PERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT and
2107 PERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT_PRIVATE (the latter turns on the former, and the
2108 former turns on MULTIPLICITY.) The PERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT causes all the
2109 internal variables of Perl to be wrapped inside a single global struct,
2110 struct perl_vars, accessible as (globals) &PL_Vars or PL_VarsPtr or
2111 the function Perl_GetVars(). The PERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT_PRIVATE goes
2112 one step further, there is still a single struct (allocated in main()
2113 either from heap or from stack) but there are no global data symbols
2114 pointing to it. In either case the global struct should be initialized
2115 as the very first thing in main() using Perl_init_global_struct() and
2116 correspondingly tear it down after perl_free() using Perl_free_global_struct(),
2117 please see F<miniperlmain.c> for usage details. You may also need
2118 to use C<dVAR> in your coding to "declare the global variables"
2119 when you are using them. dTHX does this for you automatically.
2121 To see whether you have non-const data you can use a BSD-compatible C<nm>:
2123 nm libperl.a | grep -v ' [TURtr] '
2125 If this displays any C<D> or C<d> symbols, you have non-const data.
2127 For backward compatibility reasons defining just PERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT
2128 doesn't actually hide all symbols inside a big global struct: some
2129 PerlIO_xxx vtables are left visible. The PERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT_PRIVATE
2130 then hides everything (see how the PERLIO_FUNCS_DECL is used).
2132 All this obviously requires a way for the Perl internal functions to be
2133 either subroutines taking some kind of structure as the first
2134 argument, or subroutines taking nothing as the first argument. To
2135 enable these two very different ways of building the interpreter,
2136 the Perl source (as it does in so many other situations) makes heavy
2137 use of macros and subroutine naming conventions.
2139 First problem: deciding which functions will be public API functions and
2140 which will be private. All functions whose names begin C<S_> are private
2141 (think "S" for "secret" or "static"). All other functions begin with
2142 "Perl_", but just because a function begins with "Perl_" does not mean it is
2143 part of the API. (See L</Internal
2144 Functions>.) The easiest way to be B<sure> a
2145 function is part of the API is to find its entry in L<perlapi>.
2146 If it exists in L<perlapi>, it's part of the API. If it doesn't, and you
2147 think it should be (i.e., you need it for your extension), send mail via
2148 L<perlbug> explaining why you think it should be.
2150 Second problem: there must be a syntax so that the same subroutine
2151 declarations and calls can pass a structure as their first argument,
2152 or pass nothing. To solve this, the subroutines are named and
2153 declared in a particular way. Here's a typical start of a static
2154 function used within the Perl guts:
2157 S_incline(pTHX_ char *s)
2159 STATIC becomes "static" in C, and may be #define'd to nothing in some
2160 configurations in the future.
2162 A public function (i.e. part of the internal API, but not necessarily
2163 sanctioned for use in extensions) begins like this:
2166 Perl_sv_setiv(pTHX_ SV* dsv, IV num)
2168 C<pTHX_> is one of a number of macros (in F<perl.h>) that hide the
2169 details of the interpreter's context. THX stands for "thread", "this",
2170 or "thingy", as the case may be. (And no, George Lucas is not involved. :-)
2171 The first character could be 'p' for a B<p>rototype, 'a' for B<a>rgument,
2172 or 'd' for B<d>eclaration, so we have C<pTHX>, C<aTHX> and C<dTHX>, and
2175 When Perl is built without options that set PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT, there is no
2176 first argument containing the interpreter's context. The trailing underscore
2177 in the pTHX_ macro indicates that the macro expansion needs a comma
2178 after the context argument because other arguments follow it. If
2179 PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT is not defined, pTHX_ will be ignored, and the
2180 subroutine is not prototyped to take the extra argument. The form of the
2181 macro without the trailing underscore is used when there are no additional
2184 When a core function calls another, it must pass the context. This
2185 is normally hidden via macros. Consider C<sv_setiv>. It expands into
2186 something like this:
2188 #ifdef PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT
2189 #define sv_setiv(a,b) Perl_sv_setiv(aTHX_ a, b)
2190 /* can't do this for vararg functions, see below */
2192 #define sv_setiv Perl_sv_setiv
2195 This works well, and means that XS authors can gleefully write:
2199 and still have it work under all the modes Perl could have been
2202 This doesn't work so cleanly for varargs functions, though, as macros
2203 imply that the number of arguments is known in advance. Instead we
2204 either need to spell them out fully, passing C<aTHX_> as the first
2205 argument (the Perl core tends to do this with functions like
2206 Perl_warner), or use a context-free version.
2208 The context-free version of Perl_warner is called
2209 Perl_warner_nocontext, and does not take the extra argument. Instead
2210 it does dTHX; to get the context from thread-local storage. We
2211 C<#define warner Perl_warner_nocontext> so that extensions get source
2212 compatibility at the expense of performance. (Passing an arg is
2213 cheaper than grabbing it from thread-local storage.)
2215 You can ignore [pad]THXx when browsing the Perl headers/sources.
2216 Those are strictly for use within the core. Extensions and embedders
2217 need only be aware of [pad]THX.
2219 =head2 So what happened to dTHR?
2221 C<dTHR> was introduced in perl 5.005 to support the older thread model.
2222 The older thread model now uses the C<THX> mechanism to pass context
2223 pointers around, so C<dTHR> is not useful any more. Perl 5.6.0 and
2224 later still have it for backward source compatibility, but it is defined
2227 =head2 How do I use all this in extensions?
2229 When Perl is built with PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT, extensions that call
2230 any functions in the Perl API will need to pass the initial context
2231 argument somehow. The kicker is that you will need to write it in
2232 such a way that the extension still compiles when Perl hasn't been
2233 built with PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT enabled.
2235 There are three ways to do this. First, the easy but inefficient way,
2236 which is also the default, in order to maintain source compatibility
2237 with extensions: whenever F<XSUB.h> is #included, it redefines the aTHX
2238 and aTHX_ macros to call a function that will return the context.
2239 Thus, something like:
2243 in your extension will translate to this when PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT is
2246 Perl_sv_setiv(Perl_get_context(), sv, num);
2248 or to this otherwise:
2250 Perl_sv_setiv(sv, num);
2252 You don't have to do anything new in your extension to get this; since
2253 the Perl library provides Perl_get_context(), it will all just
2256 The second, more efficient way is to use the following template for
2259 #define PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT /* we want efficiency */
2264 STATIC void my_private_function(int arg1, int arg2);
2267 my_private_function(int arg1, int arg2)
2269 dTHX; /* fetch context */
2270 ... call many Perl API functions ...
2275 MODULE = Foo PACKAGE = Foo
2283 my_private_function(arg, 10);
2285 Note that the only two changes from the normal way of writing an
2286 extension is the addition of a C<#define PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT> before
2287 including the Perl headers, followed by a C<dTHX;> declaration at
2288 the start of every function that will call the Perl API. (You'll
2289 know which functions need this, because the C compiler will complain
2290 that there's an undeclared identifier in those functions.) No changes
2291 are needed for the XSUBs themselves, because the XS() macro is
2292 correctly defined to pass in the implicit context if needed.
2294 The third, even more efficient way is to ape how it is done within
2298 #define PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT /* we want efficiency */
2303 /* pTHX_ only needed for functions that call Perl API */
2304 STATIC void my_private_function(pTHX_ int arg1, int arg2);
2307 my_private_function(pTHX_ int arg1, int arg2)
2309 /* dTHX; not needed here, because THX is an argument */
2310 ... call Perl API functions ...
2315 MODULE = Foo PACKAGE = Foo
2323 my_private_function(aTHX_ arg, 10);
2325 This implementation never has to fetch the context using a function
2326 call, since it is always passed as an extra argument. Depending on
2327 your needs for simplicity or efficiency, you may mix the previous
2328 two approaches freely.
2330 Never add a comma after C<pTHX> yourself--always use the form of the
2331 macro with the underscore for functions that take explicit arguments,
2332 or the form without the argument for functions with no explicit arguments.
2334 If one is compiling Perl with the C<-DPERL_GLOBAL_STRUCT> the C<dVAR>
2335 definition is needed if the Perl global variables (see F<perlvars.h>
2336 or F<globvar.sym>) are accessed in the function and C<dTHX> is not
2337 used (the C<dTHX> includes the C<dVAR> if necessary). One notices
2338 the need for C<dVAR> only with the said compile-time define, because
2339 otherwise the Perl global variables are visible as-is.
2341 =head2 Should I do anything special if I call perl from multiple threads?
2343 If you create interpreters in one thread and then proceed to call them in
2344 another, you need to make sure perl's own Thread Local Storage (TLS) slot is
2345 initialized correctly in each of those threads.
2347 The C<perl_alloc> and C<perl_clone> API functions will automatically set
2348 the TLS slot to the interpreter they created, so that there is no need to do
2349 anything special if the interpreter is always accessed in the same thread that
2350 created it, and that thread did not create or call any other interpreters
2351 afterwards. If that is not the case, you have to set the TLS slot of the
2352 thread before calling any functions in the Perl API on that particular
2353 interpreter. This is done by calling the C<PERL_SET_CONTEXT> macro in that
2354 thread as the first thing you do:
2356 /* do this before doing anything else with some_perl */
2357 PERL_SET_CONTEXT(some_perl);
2359 ... other Perl API calls on some_perl go here ...
2361 =head2 Future Plans and PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS
2363 Just as PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT provides a way to bundle up everything
2364 that the interpreter knows about itself and pass it around, so too are
2365 there plans to allow the interpreter to bundle up everything it knows
2366 about the environment it's running on. This is enabled with the
2367 PERL_IMPLICIT_SYS macro. Currently it only works with USE_ITHREADS on
2370 This allows the ability to provide an extra pointer (called the "host"
2371 environment) for all the system calls. This makes it possible for
2372 all the system stuff to maintain their own state, broken down into
2373 seven C structures. These are thin wrappers around the usual system
2374 calls (see F<win32/perllib.c>) for the default perl executable, but for a
2375 more ambitious host (like the one that would do fork() emulation) all
2376 the extra work needed to pretend that different interpreters are
2377 actually different "processes", would be done here.
2379 The Perl engine/interpreter and the host are orthogonal entities.
2380 There could be one or more interpreters in a process, and one or
2381 more "hosts", with free association between them.
2383 =head1 Internal Functions
2385 All of Perl's internal functions which will be exposed to the outside
2386 world are prefixed by C<Perl_> so that they will not conflict with XS
2387 functions or functions used in a program in which Perl is embedded.
2388 Similarly, all global variables begin with C<PL_>. (By convention,
2389 static functions start with C<S_>.)
2391 Inside the Perl core (C<PERL_CORE> defined), you can get at the functions
2392 either with or without the C<Perl_> prefix, thanks to a bunch of defines
2393 that live in F<embed.h>. Note that extension code should I<not> set
2394 C<PERL_CORE>; this exposes the full perl internals, and is likely to cause
2395 breakage of the XS in each new perl release.
2397 The file F<embed.h> is generated automatically from
2398 F<embed.pl> and F<embed.fnc>. F<embed.pl> also creates the prototyping
2399 header files for the internal functions, generates the documentation
2400 and a lot of other bits and pieces. It's important that when you add
2401 a new function to the core or change an existing one, you change the
2402 data in the table in F<embed.fnc> as well. Here's a sample entry from
2405 Apd |SV** |av_fetch |AV* ar|I32 key|I32 lval
2407 The second column is the return type, the third column the name. Columns
2408 after that are the arguments. The first column is a set of flags:
2414 This function is a part of the public
2415 API. All such functions should also
2416 have 'd', very few do not.
2420 This function has a C<Perl_> prefix; i.e. it is defined as
2425 This function has documentation using the C<apidoc> feature which we'll
2426 look at in a second. Some functions have 'd' but not 'A'; docs are good.
2430 Other available flags are:
2436 This is a static function and is defined as C<STATIC S_whatever>, and
2437 usually called within the sources as C<whatever(...)>.
2441 This does not need an interpreter context, so the definition has no
2442 C<pTHX>, and it follows that callers don't use C<aTHX>. (See
2443 L</Background and PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT>.)
2447 This function never returns; C<croak>, C<exit> and friends.
2451 This function takes a variable number of arguments, C<printf> style.
2452 The argument list should end with C<...>, like this:
2454 Afprd |void |croak |const char* pat|...
2458 This function is part of the experimental development API, and may change
2459 or disappear without notice.
2463 This function should not have a compatibility macro to define, say,
2464 C<Perl_parse> to C<parse>. It must be called as C<Perl_parse>.
2468 This function isn't exported out of the Perl core.
2472 This is implemented as a macro.
2476 This function is explicitly exported.
2480 This function is visible to extensions included in the Perl core.
2484 Binary backward compatibility; this function is a macro but also has
2485 a C<Perl_> implementation (which is exported).
2489 See the comments at the top of C<embed.fnc> for others.
2493 If you edit F<embed.pl> or F<embed.fnc>, you will need to run
2494 C<make regen_headers> to force a rebuild of F<embed.h> and other
2495 auto-generated files.
2497 =head2 Formatted Printing of IVs, UVs, and NVs
2499 If you are printing IVs, UVs, or NVS instead of the stdio(3) style
2500 formatting codes like C<%d>, C<%ld>, C<%f>, you should use the
2501 following macros for portability
2506 UVxf UV in hexadecimal
2511 These will take care of 64-bit integers and long doubles.
2514 printf("IV is %"IVdf"\n", iv);
2516 The IVdf will expand to whatever is the correct format for the IVs.
2518 If you are printing addresses of pointers, use UVxf combined
2519 with PTR2UV(), do not use %lx or %p.
2521 =head2 Pointer-To-Integer and Integer-To-Pointer
2523 Because pointer size does not necessarily equal integer size,
2524 use the follow macros to do it right.
2529 INT2PTR(pointertotype, integer)
2534 SV *sv = INT2PTR(SV*, iv);
2541 =head2 Exception Handling
2543 There are a couple of macros to do very basic exception handling in XS
2544 modules. You have to define C<NO_XSLOCKS> before including F<XSUB.h> to
2545 be able to use these macros:
2550 You can use these macros if you call code that may croak, but you need
2551 to do some cleanup before giving control back to Perl. For example:
2553 dXCPT; /* set up necessary variables */
2556 code_that_may_croak();
2561 /* do cleanup here */
2565 Note that you always have to rethrow an exception that has been
2566 caught. Using these macros, it is not possible to just catch the
2567 exception and ignore it. If you have to ignore the exception, you
2568 have to use the C<call_*> function.
2570 The advantage of using the above macros is that you don't have
2571 to setup an extra function for C<call_*>, and that using these
2572 macros is faster than using C<call_*>.
2574 =head2 Source Documentation
2576 There's an effort going on to document the internal functions and
2577 automatically produce reference manuals from them - L<perlapi> is one
2578 such manual which details all the functions which are available to XS
2579 writers. L<perlintern> is the autogenerated manual for the functions
2580 which are not part of the API and are supposedly for internal use only.
2582 Source documentation is created by putting POD comments into the C
2586 =for apidoc sv_setiv
2588 Copies an integer into the given SV. Does not handle 'set' magic. See
2594 Please try and supply some documentation if you add functions to the
2597 =head2 Backwards compatibility
2599 The Perl API changes over time. New functions are
2600 added or the interfaces of existing functions are
2601 changed. The C<Devel::PPPort> module tries to
2602 provide compatibility code for some of these changes, so XS writers don't
2603 have to code it themselves when supporting multiple versions of Perl.
2605 C<Devel::PPPort> generates a C header file F<ppport.h> that can also
2606 be run as a Perl script. To generate F<ppport.h>, run:
2608 perl -MDevel::PPPort -eDevel::PPPort::WriteFile
2610 Besides checking existing XS code, the script can also be used to retrieve
2611 compatibility information for various API calls using the C<--api-info>
2612 command line switch. For example:
2614 % perl ppport.h --api-info=sv_magicext
2616 For details, see C<perldoc ppport.h>.
2618 =head1 Unicode Support
2620 Perl 5.6.0 introduced Unicode support. It's important for porters and XS
2621 writers to understand this support and make sure that the code they
2622 write does not corrupt Unicode data.
2624 =head2 What B<is> Unicode, anyway?
2626 In the olden, less enlightened times, we all used to use ASCII. Most of
2627 us did, anyway. The big problem with ASCII is that it's American. Well,
2628 no, that's not actually the problem; the problem is that it's not
2629 particularly useful for people who don't use the Roman alphabet. What
2630 used to happen was that particular languages would stick their own
2631 alphabet in the upper range of the sequence, between 128 and 255. Of
2632 course, we then ended up with plenty of variants that weren't quite
2633 ASCII, and the whole point of it being a standard was lost.
2635 Worse still, if you've got a language like Chinese or
2636 Japanese that has hundreds or thousands of characters, then you really
2637 can't fit them into a mere 256, so they had to forget about ASCII
2638 altogether, and build their own systems using pairs of numbers to refer
2641 To fix this, some people formed Unicode, Inc. and
2642 produced a new character set containing all the characters you can
2643 possibly think of and more. There are several ways of representing these
2644 characters, and the one Perl uses is called UTF-8. UTF-8 uses
2645 a variable number of bytes to represent a character. You can learn more
2646 about Unicode and Perl's Unicode model in L<perlunicode>.
2648 =head2 How can I recognise a UTF-8 string?
2650 You can't. This is because UTF-8 data is stored in bytes just like
2651 non-UTF-8 data. The Unicode character 200, (C<0xC8> for you hex types)
2652 capital E with a grave accent, is represented by the two bytes
2653 C<v196.172>. Unfortunately, the non-Unicode string C<chr(196).chr(172)>
2654 has that byte sequence as well. So you can't tell just by looking - this
2655 is what makes Unicode input an interesting problem.
2657 In general, you either have to know what you're dealing with, or you
2658 have to guess. The API function C<is_utf8_string> can help; it'll tell
2659 you if a string contains only valid UTF-8 characters. However, it can't
2660 do the work for you. On a character-by-character basis,
2662 will tell you whether the current character in a string is valid UTF-8.
2664 =head2 How does UTF-8 represent Unicode characters?
2666 As mentioned above, UTF-8 uses a variable number of bytes to store a
2667 character. Characters with values 0...127 are stored in one
2668 byte, just like good ol' ASCII. Character 128 is stored as
2669 C<v194.128>; this continues up to character 191, which is
2670 C<v194.191>. Now we've run out of bits (191 is binary
2671 C<10111111>) so we move on; 192 is C<v195.128>. And
2672 so it goes on, moving to three bytes at character 2048.
2674 Assuming you know you're dealing with a UTF-8 string, you can find out
2675 how long the first character in it is with the C<UTF8SKIP> macro:
2677 char *utf = "\305\233\340\240\201";
2680 len = UTF8SKIP(utf); /* len is 2 here */
2682 len = UTF8SKIP(utf); /* len is 3 here */
2684 Another way to skip over characters in a UTF-8 string is to use
2685 C<utf8_hop>, which takes a string and a number of characters to skip
2686 over. You're on your own about bounds checking, though, so don't use it
2689 All bytes in a multi-byte UTF-8 character will have the high bit set,
2690 so you can test if you need to do something special with this
2691 character like this (the UTF8_IS_INVARIANT() is a macro that tests
2692 whether the byte is encoded as a single byte even in UTF-8):
2695 U8 *utf_end; /* 1 beyond buffer pointed to by utf */
2696 UV uv; /* Note: a UV, not a U8, not a char */
2697 STRLEN len; /* length of character in bytes */
2699 if (!UTF8_IS_INVARIANT(*utf))
2700 /* Must treat this as UTF-8 */
2701 uv = utf8_to_uvchr_buf(utf, utf_end, &len);
2703 /* OK to treat this character as a byte */
2706 You can also see in that example that we use C<utf8_to_uvchr_buf> to get the
2707 value of the character; the inverse function C<uvchr_to_utf8> is available
2708 for putting a UV into UTF-8:
2710 if (!UTF8_IS_INVARIANT(uv))
2711 /* Must treat this as UTF8 */
2712 utf8 = uvchr_to_utf8(utf8, uv);
2714 /* OK to treat this character as a byte */
2717 You B<must> convert characters to UVs using the above functions if
2718 you're ever in a situation where you have to match UTF-8 and non-UTF-8
2719 characters. You may not skip over UTF-8 characters in this case. If you
2720 do this, you'll lose the ability to match hi-bit non-UTF-8 characters;
2721 for instance, if your UTF-8 string contains C<v196.172>, and you skip
2722 that character, you can never match a C<chr(200)> in a non-UTF-8 string.
2725 =head2 How does Perl store UTF-8 strings?
2727 Currently, Perl deals with Unicode strings and non-Unicode strings
2728 slightly differently. A flag in the SV, C<SVf_UTF8>, indicates that the
2729 string is internally encoded as UTF-8. Without it, the byte value is the
2730 codepoint number and vice versa (in other words, the string is encoded
2731 as iso-8859-1, but C<use feature 'unicode_strings'> is needed to get iso-8859-1
2732 semantics). This flag is only meaningful if the SV is C<SvPOK>
2733 or immediately after stringification via C<SvPV> or a similar
2734 macro. You can check and manipulate this flag with the
2741 This flag has an important effect on Perl's treatment of the string: if
2742 Unicode data is not properly distinguished, regular expressions,
2743 C<length>, C<substr> and other string handling operations will have
2744 undesirable results.
2746 The problem comes when you have, for instance, a string that isn't
2747 flagged as UTF-8, and contains a byte sequence that could be UTF-8 -
2748 especially when combining non-UTF-8 and UTF-8 strings.
2750 Never forget that the C<SVf_UTF8> flag is separate to the PV value; you
2751 need be sure you don't accidentally knock it off while you're
2752 manipulating SVs. More specifically, you cannot expect to do this:
2761 nsv = newSVpvn(p, len);
2763 The C<char*> string does not tell you the whole story, and you can't
2764 copy or reconstruct an SV just by copying the string value. Check if the
2765 old SV has the UTF8 flag set (I<after> the C<SvPV> call), and act
2770 nsv = newSVpvn(p, len);
2774 In fact, your C<frobnicate> function should be made aware of whether or
2775 not it's dealing with UTF-8 data, so that it can handle the string
2778 Since just passing an SV to an XS function and copying the data of
2779 the SV is not enough to copy the UTF8 flags, even less right is just
2780 passing a C<char *> to an XS function.
2782 =head2 How do I convert a string to UTF-8?
2784 If you're mixing UTF-8 and non-UTF-8 strings, it is necessary to upgrade
2785 one of the strings to UTF-8. If you've got an SV, the easiest way to do
2788 sv_utf8_upgrade(sv);
2790 However, you must not do this, for example:
2793 sv_utf8_upgrade(left);
2795 If you do this in a binary operator, you will actually change one of the
2796 strings that came into the operator, and, while it shouldn't be noticeable
2797 by the end user, it can cause problems in deficient code.
2799 Instead, C<bytes_to_utf8> will give you a UTF-8-encoded B<copy> of its
2800 string argument. This is useful for having the data available for
2801 comparisons and so on, without harming the original SV. There's also
2802 C<utf8_to_bytes> to go the other way, but naturally, this will fail if
2803 the string contains any characters above 255 that can't be represented
2806 =head2 Is there anything else I need to know?
2808 Not really. Just remember these things:
2814 There's no way to tell if a string is UTF-8 or not. You can tell if an SV
2815 is UTF-8 by looking at its C<SvUTF8> flag after stringifying it
2816 with C<SvPV> or a similar macro. Don't forget to set the flag if
2817 something should be UTF-8. Treat the flag as part of the PV, even though
2818 it's not - if you pass on the PV to somewhere, pass on the flag too.
2822 If a string is UTF-8, B<always> use C<utf8_to_uvchr_buf> to get at the value,
2823 unless C<UTF8_IS_INVARIANT(*s)> in which case you can use C<*s>.
2827 When writing a character C<uv> to a UTF-8 string, B<always> use
2828 C<uvchr_to_utf8>, unless C<UTF8_IS_INVARIANT(uv))> in which case
2829 you can use C<*s = uv>.
2833 Mixing UTF-8 and non-UTF-8 strings is
2834 tricky. Use C<bytes_to_utf8> to get
2835 a new string which is UTF-8 encoded, and then combine them.
2839 =head1 Custom Operators
2841 Custom operator support is an experimental feature that allows you to
2842 define your own ops. This is primarily to allow the building of
2843 interpreters for other languages in the Perl core, but it also allows
2844 optimizations through the creation of "macro-ops" (ops which perform the
2845 functions of multiple ops which are usually executed together, such as
2846 C<gvsv, gvsv, add>.)
2848 This feature is implemented as a new op type, C<OP_CUSTOM>. The Perl
2849 core does not "know" anything special about this op type, and so it will
2850 not be involved in any optimizations. This also means that you can
2851 define your custom ops to be any op structure - unary, binary, list and
2854 It's important to know what custom operators won't do for you. They
2855 won't let you add new syntax to Perl, directly. They won't even let you
2856 add new keywords, directly. In fact, they won't change the way Perl
2857 compiles a program at all. You have to do those changes yourself, after
2858 Perl has compiled the program. You do this either by manipulating the op
2859 tree using a C<CHECK> block and the C<B::Generate> module, or by adding
2860 a custom peephole optimizer with the C<optimize> module.
2862 When you do this, you replace ordinary Perl ops with custom ops by
2863 creating ops with the type C<OP_CUSTOM> and the C<op_ppaddr> of your own
2864 PP function. This should be defined in XS code, and should look like
2865 the PP ops in C<pp_*.c>. You are responsible for ensuring that your op
2866 takes the appropriate number of values from the stack, and you are
2867 responsible for adding stack marks if necessary.
2869 You should also "register" your op with the Perl interpreter so that it
2870 can produce sensible error and warning messages. Since it is possible to
2871 have multiple custom ops within the one "logical" op type C<OP_CUSTOM>,
2872 Perl uses the value of C<< o->op_ppaddr >> to determine which custom op
2873 it is dealing with. You should create an C<XOP> structure for each
2874 ppaddr you use, set the properties of the custom op with
2875 C<XopENTRY_set>, and register the structure against the ppaddr using
2876 C<Perl_custom_op_register>. A trivial example might look like:
2879 static OP *my_pp(pTHX);
2882 XopENTRY_set(&my_xop, xop_name, "myxop");
2883 XopENTRY_set(&my_xop, xop_desc, "Useless custom op");
2884 Perl_custom_op_register(aTHX_ my_pp, &my_xop);
2886 The available fields in the structure are:
2892 A short name for your op. This will be included in some error messages,
2893 and will also be returned as C<< $op->name >> by the L<B|B> module, so
2894 it will appear in the output of module like L<B::Concise|B::Concise>.
2898 A short description of the function of the op.
2902 Which of the various C<*OP> structures this op uses. This should be one of
2903 the C<OA_*> constants from F<op.h>, namely
2923 =item OA_PVOP_OR_SVOP
2925 This should be interpreted as 'C<PVOP>' only. The C<_OR_SVOP> is because
2926 the only core C<PVOP>, C<OP_TRANS>, can sometimes be a C<SVOP> instead.
2934 The other C<OA_*> constants should not be used.
2938 This member is of type C<Perl_cpeep_t>, which expands to C<void
2939 (*Perl_cpeep_t)(aTHX_ OP *o, OP *oldop)>. If it is set, this function
2940 will be called from C<Perl_rpeep> when ops of this type are encountered
2941 by the peephole optimizer. I<o> is the OP that needs optimizing;
2942 I<oldop> is the previous OP optimized, whose C<op_next> points to I<o>.
2946 C<B::Generate> directly supports the creation of custom ops by name.
2950 Until May 1997, this document was maintained by Jeff Okamoto
2951 E<lt>okamoto@corp.hp.comE<gt>. It is now maintained as part of Perl
2952 itself by the Perl 5 Porters E<lt>perl5-porters@perl.orgE<gt>.
2954 With lots of help and suggestions from Dean Roehrich, Malcolm Beattie,
2955 Andreas Koenig, Paul Hudson, Ilya Zakharevich, Paul Marquess, Neil
2956 Bowers, Matthew Green, Tim Bunce, Spider Boardman, Ulrich Pfeifer,
2957 Stephen McCamant, and Gurusamy Sarathy.
2961 L<perlapi>, L<perlintern>, L<perlxs>, L<perlembed>