You can do it like this using -M to load the module and -e to execute whatever is inside the ' ' . In this case we call clone with the args:

perl -MDBUtil -e 'clone(arg1 arg2 arg3)'

or

perl -MDBUtil -e 'clone(@ARGV)' arg1 arg2 arg3
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Another option is to add something like this to your module:

#!/usr/bin/perl

package DBUtil;

# run main if called with command line args
# will not execute when called as a module (no cmd line args)
main() if @ARGV;

sub main {
    # blah
}
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More typically you would write a 3 line script that uses your module like this:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use DBUtil;
clone(@ARGV)
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Then you just call the script. This is analagous to the command line version and is probably the more conventional way to do it.

cheers

tachyon

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When a module is used or required, the user (or requirer) is set up as a caller, accessible using caller. You can take advantage of that like so:

  unless (defined caller) {
    # run as command line script
    ...
  }
  1;
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I do this all the time, mostly as a way of incorporating unit test code into my modules, but I've seen no good reasons why it shouldn't be done for other purposes. I do it like this.

package My::Module;
...
return 1 if caller;

#! perl -slw
package main;
use My::Module;

my $thing = My::Module->new();
# Do My::Thing:)
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Use the module in the normal way in other programs, or invoke it using perl -x libpath/My/Module.pm to run the embedded program. The -x is only needed if you want any shebang line switches to be processed, omit it and put your switches on the command line if you prefer.

You could go the route that CPAN.pm uses:

Then just write a 'shell' sub that does what you want and export it by default.

If that is no good, you could possibly look at $0 to see if you are being invoked as ./DBUtil.pm or being required by another program or module. I have never tried that but it might work...

For a good example of this, look at the diagnostics module, which may also be called as the standalone program splain. (It 'splains what the error messages mean, get it?)

There's a bunch of stuff in there, but pay attention to how the variable $standalone is set and used. On top of which, the code's funny in several places....