Foo.pm:

package Foo;

use strict;
use warnings;

sub new {
  return bless {};
}

sub method {
    return 1;
}

1;
[download]

script.pl:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
require Foo;

my $class = 'Foo';
my $obj = bless {}, $class;

print $obj->method;
[download]

Works fine, but if you remove the require Foo; line, you get the error Can't locate object method "method" via package "Foo" at script.pl line 9. perl needs the require statement to find and compile the source files.

Thanks.. though, I understood that it (the use statement) would be required for something I explicitly created in code.

I was just thrown off by the built-in nature of STDOUT and its ilk; I thought perhaps IO::Handle would have already been 'used', thus the methods would've been available, but that somehow I wasn't doing it "right". Thanks for the example.

Would you want perl to load the entire Core module set before running a one-liner?

Okay, so even though STDOUT is, by default, a blessed IO::Handle object, and thus possesses the methods described, perl needs to be directed to the IO::Handle module via the 'use' statement so it can find the definitions for those methods. Does that sum it up correctly?

Unfortunately, it's all wrong.

• STDOUT isn't blessed. It's not a reference, so it can't be blessed. Globs only act as if they are blessed references.

• Given a blessed reference or a glob, Perl knows where to look for the methods. For globs, it looks in the IO::Handle namespace.

• Loading a module doesn't help Perl find anything. It typically loads subroutines. IO::Handle is no exception.

Perl knows where to look for the method (as indicated by the error message), but there's nothing to find (as indicated in the error message) because IO::Handle wasn't loaded (which isn't indicated in the error message).

Heh.. not the first time I've been all wrong; likely not the last.
So, STDOUT is a glob? Of what? My understanding of globs is it's a bunch of filenames, which you can then iterate over to open, close, test, etc. Is that wrong too?
I'm not sure I follow your logic on the last statement. If, for a glob, Perl will check the IO::Handle namespace, then loading the IO::Handle module will populate that namespace with what Perl needs to find (in this case, the print method), yes? If not, please clarify your statements; I'd appreciate it.