Doc tweaks.

[perl5.git] / lib / Symbol.pm

diff --git a/lib/Symbol.pm b/lib/Symbol.pm
index 6807e74..15c211c 100644 (file)
--- a/lib/Symbol.pm
+++ b/lib/Symbol.pm
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ Symbol - manipulate Perl symbols and their names
     print { qualify_to_ref $fh } "foo!\n";
     $ref = qualify_to_ref $name, $pkg;
 
+    use Symbol qw(delete_package);
+    delete_package('Foo::Bar');
+    print "deleted\n" unless exists $Foo::{'Bar::'};
+
+
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
 C<Symbol::gensym> creates an anonymous glob and returns a reference
@@ -41,7 +46,7 @@ C<Symbol::qualify> turns unqualified symbol names into qualified
 variable names (e.g. "myvar" -E<gt> "MyPackage::myvar").  If it is given a
 second parameter, C<qualify> uses it as the default package;
 otherwise, it uses the package of its caller.  Regardless, global
-variable names (e.g. "STDOUT", "ENV", "SIG") are always qualfied with
+variable names (e.g. "STDOUT", "ENV", "SIG") are always qualified with
 "main::".
 
 Qualification applies only to symbol names (strings).  References are
@@ -52,6 +57,10 @@ C<Symbol::qualify_to_ref> is just like C<Symbol::qualify> except that it
 returns a glob ref rather than a symbol name, so you can use the result
 even if C<use strict 'refs'> is in effect.
 
+C<Symbol::delete_package> wipes out a whole package namespace.  Note
+this routine is not exported by default--you may want to import it
+explicitly.
+
 =cut
 
 BEGIN { require 5.002; }
@@ -59,8 +68,9 @@ BEGIN { require 5.002; }
 require Exporter;
 @ISA = qw(Exporter);
 @EXPORT = qw(gensym ungensym qualify qualify_to_ref);
+@EXPORT_OK = qw(delete_package);
 
-$VERSION = 1.02;
+$VERSION = 1.03;
 
 my $genpkg = "Symbol::";
 my $genseq = 0;
@@ -101,4 +111,36 @@ sub qualify_to_ref ($;$) {
     return \*{ qualify $_[0], @_ > 1 ? $_[1] : caller };
 }
 
+#
+# of Safe.pm lineage
+#
+sub delete_package ($) {
+    my $pkg = shift;
+
+    # expand to full symbol table name if needed
+
+    unless ($pkg =~ /^main::.*::$/) {
+        $pkg = "main$pkg"      if      $pkg =~ /^::/;
+        $pkg = "main::$pkg"    unless  $pkg =~ /^main::/;
+        $pkg .= '::'           unless  $pkg =~ /::$/;
+    }
+
+    my($stem, $leaf) = $pkg =~ m/(.*::)(\w+::)$/;
+    my $stem_symtab = *{$stem}{HASH};
+    return unless defined $stem_symtab and exists $stem_symtab->{$leaf};
+
+
+    # free all the symbols in the package
+
+    my $leaf_symtab = *{$stem_symtab->{$leaf}}{HASH};
+    foreach my $name (keys %$leaf_symtab) {
+        undef *{$pkg . $name};
+    }
+
+    # delete the symbol table
+
+    %$leaf_symtab = ();
+    delete $stem_symtab->{$leaf};
+}
+
 1;