Including and Finding Custom Modules

Cmdr Colstel has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi Perl Monks,

I want to include an edited version of a module which is included in standard Perl. I, however, don't want Perl to search for that module in my Perl installation but maybe in the current directory where I have my script and my edited version. Does Perl automatically first search in the current directory for my module or is there a way I can have Perl look in the current directory first before it goes searching for it in my Perl installation ?

Thanks

Comment on Including and Finding Custom Modules

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Re: Including and Finding Custom Modules by Corion (Patriarch) on Sep 21, 2015 at 18:12 UTC
See lib and maybe perlvar on `@INC`. Also, you could simply load your module explicitly first. Perl will load one module at most once. You don't need to patch Perl modules, you can even give them a different filename. To prevent Perl from loading the other file, see perlvar on `%INC` then.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Including and Finding Custom Modules by davido (Cardinal) on Sep 21, 2015 at 18:31 UTC
We don't know your specific use case for this, but would it be more appropriate to subclass the existing module instead of completely overriding it? Dave	[reply]
Re: Including and Finding Custom Modules by Anonymous Monk on Sep 21, 2015 at 18:48 UTC
See docs about the "PERL5LIB" environment variable. Use "perl -V" uppercase V to see what the library search list currently is. (Otherwise known as "@INC".) Perl searches in that order to find anything.	[reply]
Re: Including and Finding Custom Modules by kevbot (Vicar) on Sep 22, 2015 at 04:56 UTC
You can use the -I command line argument when invoking perl. For example, let's say that you have a script called my_test.pl in the current working directory which uses your version of the Foo::Bar module. Also, your version of the Foo::Bar module is in a subdir (in the current working directory) called lib. So, your file structure should look like this: `./my_test.pl ./lib/Foo/Bar.pm` [download] Use the following to run your script using your version of Foo::Bar `perl -I lib/ my_test.pl` [download] This will work for simple pure perl modules, but you may have issues if your module is more complicated (e.g. uses XS, File::ShareDir, etc.).	[reply] [d/l] [select]