You probably don't need to be able to copy any arbitrary object: just objects in one or more of your object hierarchies. Simply add the proper clone method to the top of each object tree, overriding the needed sub-parts when you specialize, and you should do fine. Then, you have access to the different modalities:

my $b = $a; # copy the reference, to pass a single object around
my $c = $a->copy; # create a copy, to have a new object like the old o
+ne
[download]

That way, the code will "do the right thing" depending on the object type as well. For a simple shallow copy of a hash object, this will work:

sub copy {
  my $self = shift;
  bless { %$self }, ref $self;
}
[download]

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

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