in reply to Re^2: Inherit custom sort method from base class
in thread Inherit custom sort method from base class

Try 
sort { $self->specialSort($a, $b) } @{$self->{things}})

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and remove specialSort from MySubclass.
you have to use 1st and 2nd arguments instead of $a and $b in base class' specialSort

You cannot use $self->specialSort as subroutine name, so you have to use new "subroutine": 
{ $self->specialSort($a, $b) }

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Also, technically, you can put 
use base qw/Exporter/;
@EXPORT = qw/specialSort/;

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into base class,
then remove specialSort from MySubclass, and then it will work.
but it's probably bad style to mix inheritance and exported functions.

UPD: fixed $a,$b in code

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Re^4: Inherit custom sort method from base class
by AnomalousMonk (Archbishop) on Oct 02, 2013 at 00:30 UTC

    Here's another, slightly different approach to what vsespb is talking about. (But I still don't understand how
        $self->specialSort(my ($a, $b))
    works!) 

    >perl -wMstrict -le
"{ package Base;
   ;;
   sub new {
     my $class = shift;
     return bless({} => $class)->init(@_);
     }
   ;;
   sub init {
     my $self = shift;
     @{ $self->{things} } = (qw(a E d Bee Z cee d C zee E eks), @_);
     return $self;
     }
   ;;
   sub print {
     my $self = shift;
     CORE::print qq{@{ $self->{things}} };
     }
   ;;
   sub nocase_descending {
     my $class_obj = shift;
     return lc($_[1]) cmp lc($_[0]);
     }
   ;;
   }
 ;;
 ;;
 { package Derived;
   use parent -norequire, qw(Base);
   ;;
   sub sort {
     my $self = shift;
     return
       CORE::sort { $self->nocase_descending($a, $b) }
       @{ $self->{things} }
       ;
     }
   ;;
   }
 ;;
 ;;
 my $d = Derived->new(qw(SS r QQ p PP q RR s));
 ;;
 $d->print;
 ;;
 my @sorted = $d->sort;
 print qq{@sorted};
 ;;
 @sorted = sort @{ $d->{things} };
 print qq{@sorted};
 ;;
 print $d;
"
a E d Bee Z cee d C zee E eks SS r QQ p PP q RR s
zee Z SS s RR r QQ q PP p eks E E d d cee C Bee a
Bee C E E PP QQ RR SS Z a cee d d eks p q r s zee
Derived=HASH(0x1e931f4)

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    Update: Moved  print method from  Derived class 'up' into  Base class (just because I can).

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[d/l]
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Re^4: Inherit custom sort method from base class
by adaughterson (Initiate) on Oct 01, 2013 at 23:35 UTC

    That worked great! Thanks for the assist :)

    sort { $self->specialSort(my ($a,$b)) } @{$self->{things}} # ...my, because use strict is in play
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[d/l]
      Hm. Strange. It should work without "my", and should not work with "my".
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        It should work without "my", and should not work with "my".

        Ditto that.

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