Makeshifts last the longest.

Definitely no. If I did

sub foo {
 local $SWAP = 1;
 alias $alias => $original;
 ...
 Module::bar(some,params);
 ...
}
[download]

and someone else in the Module writes

sub bar {
 alias $original => $alias;
 ...
}
[download]

And suddenly his/her code starts trying to do something else than it should. Just because it was called from my foo() instead of directly. The local() could only "help" if I used it like this:

sub foo {
 {local $SWAP = 1;alias $alias => $original;}
 ...
}
[download]

But that's to long. I'd need the $SWAP to be lexical to my whole file, not local to the current call/block stack.

I think the nicest solution is alias $original => $alias; and Alias $alias => $original;.

Or maybe I should just learn it's the other way around versus what I'd expect :-)

Jenda
Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.
   -- Rick Osborne

Edit by castaway: Closed small tag in signature

You're safe if you make sure to always localize $SWAP and make sure it's what you want it to be. Admittedly that adds needless red tape. I am really opposed to making such distinctions by letter case though - there's just no criterion for why it's the capitalized version that does it that way around, and not the lowercase.

As far as the ordering is concerned, I believe you should just learn it, yes. :) It follows the convention of most every other comparable function: link, symlink, rename etc all take the source as first and the target as second argument.

Makeshifts last the longest.