these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it

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

I have some functions that use far too many parameters, and many of the parameters are optional. So as to simplify, I'm converting a lot of them from using many params, so just using one: a hash (whose key/value pairs represent the params that used to be passed).

So, now what I have is a nice elegant API that looks like:

foo ( { param => "value", ... } );
[download]

Until I actually convert all the CALLS to the function in the new format, I've written the functions in such a way that it can accept either form by using ref() on the first param and seeing if it's a hash. If so, the function's vars are set to the has key/value pairs. otherwise, the rest of the args are read from @_.

All's well and good, and things work properly. However, for one function, there were so many params that I thought I would simplify the above process using a loop as illustrated in the code below. The surprise isn't so much to do with the parameters to the function, but the setting of the values to the local my variables within the function.

Can someone explain the scoping going on here that isn't preserving the variables' values outside of the "using args..." block?

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;

sub foo
{
    my ( $flags, $img, $name, $big, $gallery, $page, $caption, $num );
    my $opts = shift;
    if (ref $opts eq "HASH") {
        print "using hash...\n";
        no strict;
        for (qw( flags img name big gallery page caption num ) )  {
            $$_ = $opts->{$_};
            print "\tsetting $_ to $$_ ($opts->{$_})\n";
        }
        use strict;
    } else {
        print "using args...\n";
        $flags = $opts;
        # these vars are local for some reason... ???
        ( $img, $name, $big, $gallery, $page, $caption, $num ) = @_;
        print "flags = $flags, img = $img\n"; # they're getting set...
        # but their values are now going to vanish...
    }
    print "reviewing what's been set...\n";
    no strict;
    for (qw( flags img name big gallery page caption num ) )  {
        print "\t$_ = $$_\n";
    }
    use strict;
}

# it doesn't matter which order you call these functions...
foo( "hi", "apoinv", "slkjhfp", "876", "poi", "asdf", "sdf", "there" )
+;

foo( {
    flags => "hi",
    img => "apoinv",
    name => "slkjhfp",
    big => "876",
    gallery => "poi",
    page => "asdf",
    caption => "sdf",
    num => "there" });
[download]

Dan Heller
http://www.danheller.com

Comment on these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it Select or Download Code

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Re: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by jdporter (Paladin) on Mar 11, 2007 at 19:30 UTC
The `no strict` should be the giveaway. When you do `$name = 'flags'; print $$name;` [download] you are accessing a global (i.e. package) variable named `$flags`, not a lexical variable. If you print out all the lexical variables explicitly, instead of trying to loop over them by name, you'll see that they are set as you expected. A word spoken in Mind will reach its own level, in the objective world, by its own weight	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by argv (Pilgrim) on Mar 11, 2007 at 20:11 UTC
you are accessing a global (i.e. package) variable named $flags, not a lexical variable. I see... I was under the mistaken idea that perl would dereference $$var up the scoping levels till it found a match, and only use global/package names as last resort. It'd be sure nice to have such a feature. :-/ Dan Heller http://www.danheller.com	[reply]
Re^3: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by bart (Canon) on Mar 12, 2007 at 11:43 UTC
It'd be sure nice to have such a feature. :-/ Well, I think you can, because `eval STRING` behaves pretty much this way. So, you can use `$ref = eval "\\\$$name";` [download] to get a real reference of the variable you know the name of — a reference, not the value, so you're actually able to change the value. Try it: `#! perl -w use strict; my $ref; my $name = 'x'; our $x; $x = 'global'; $ref = eval "\\\$$name"; print "\$$name = '$$ref'\n"; { my $x = 'lexical'; $ref = eval "\\\$$name"; print "\$$name = '$$ref'\n"; { my $x = 'nested lexical'; $ref = eval "\\\$$name"; print "\$$name = '$$ref'\n"; } }` [download] Result: `$x = 'global' $x = 'lexical' $x = 'nested lexical'` [download] Caution: You do realize that you're skating on very thin ice, do you? In other words, only use this feature to help you debug what is going on (even though I'm not sure how it could help), do not ever use this in production code to reach for any variable that can be used anywhere in your code. But, for debugging purposes, it still won't work to get at variable you don't have normal access to, such as lexicals in a sub that calls your sub. For that purpose, there is PadWalker.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by chromatic (Archbishop) on Mar 11, 2007 at 21:03 UTC
That would make code difficult to debug (what if you have variable shadowing?), but if you really want some deep hurting, try PadWalker.	[reply]
Re^3: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by Anonymous Monk on Mar 12, 2007 at 04:17 UTC
Why it's stupid to `use a variable as a variable name' Part 1 2 3	[reply]
Re^2: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by ysth (Canon) on Mar 12, 2007 at 23:47 UTC
More succinctly: symbolic refs affect symbol table variables, not lexicals. I'm looking for a job.	[reply]
Re: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by GrandFather (Saint) on Mar 11, 2007 at 20:38 UTC
You might like to consider accessing the parameters using the hash. When you start using Perl's OO features you will find that that is standard technique anyway. Consider: `use strict; use warnings; foo( "hi", "apoinv", "slkjhfp", "876", "poi", "asdf", "sdf", "there" ) +; print "\n"; foo( { flags => "hi", img => "apoinv", name => "slkjhfp", big => "876", gallery => "poi", page => "asdf", caption => "sdf", num => "there" }); sub foo { my %args; if (ref $_[0] eq "HASH") { %args = %{$_[0]}; } else { @args{qw(flags img name big gallery page caption num)} = @_; } print "$_:\t$args{$_}\n" for sort keys %args; }` [download] Prints: `big: 876 caption: sdf flags: hi gallery: poi img: apoinv name: slkjhfp num: there page: asdf big: 876 caption: sdf flags: hi gallery: poi img: apoinv name: slkjhfp num: there page: asdf` [download] DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by argv (Pilgrim) on Mar 12, 2007 at 15:27 UTC
I love your solution: `my %args; if (ref $_[0] eq "HASH") { %args = %{$_[0]}; } else { @args{qw(flags img name big gallery page caption num)} = @_; }` [download] But one of the things I left out so as to keep the code concise was the use of default values to apply to the locals in the even the caller didn't pass them in. This is why I used the looping mechanism that I did. Rather than specifying each line precisely, which worked, I wrote a loop for brevity and attempted elegance. The solution above is what the doctor (or grandfather) ordered. So, let's revisit my other original objective again and replace what i took out: `$defaults = { flags => 0x8001, img => "/path/file.jpg", ... }; for (qw( flags img name big gallery page caption num ) ) { $$_ = $opts->{$_} \|\| $defaults->{$_}; }` [download] We know why this doesn't work now, but how can I apply defaults from a default hash for those values not passed in using the new method (to me) shown above? Dan Heller http://www.danheller.com	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by mreece (Friar) on Mar 12, 2007 at 16:30 UTC
consider: `my %args = ( flags => 0x8001, img => "/path/file.jpg", ... ); if (ref $_[0] eq 'HASH') { @args{keys %{ $_[0] }} = values %{ $_[0] }; } else { for (qw( flags img name big gallery page caption num )) { $args{$_} = shift if @_; } }` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by sgifford (Prior) on Mar 12, 2007 at 16:43 UTC
If you want the defaults to apply whether the parameters are passed by name or not, after you have initialized parameters from the values passed in to your sub you could simply say something like this (untested): `foreach my $k (keys %args) { if (!defined($args{$k})) { $args{$k} = $defaults->{$k}; } }` [download] -- sgifford's Web page	[reply] [d/l]
Re: these aren't locals, but they seem to act like it by sgifford (Prior) on Mar 12, 2007 at 05:34 UTC
Since jdporter seems to have identified the problem, here's a fairly clean way to do what you want with a minimum of typing: `($flags, $img, $name, $big, $gallery, $page, $caption. $num ) = @$opts{qw(flags img name big gallery page caption num)};` [download] -- sgifford's Web page	[reply] [d/l]