can't seem to import properly when using require

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

Hello, I'm trying to figure out how to test if the Term::ANSIColor module is present, and if so "use" it.

I'm trying to get the equivalant functionality as doing:

use Term::ANSIColor qw(:constants);
[download]

The problem is I need to use require instead so the script doesn't exit when it's not found, and I can't seem to get the :constants that way...

The code:

my $can_color = 0;
eval {
  require Term::ANSIColor; 
};
unless ($@) {
  ## I tried these next two lines but it does NOT seem to work (compla
+ins about the constants not being defined)...
  Term::ANSIColor->import();
  Term::ANSIColor->import(qw(:constants));

  $Term::ANSIColor::AUTORESET = 1;
  $can_color = 1 
}
[download]

What could I be missing?

Thanks!

Comment on can't seem to import properly when using require Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: can't seem to import properly when using require by Anonymous Monk on Feb 26, 2012 at 22:29 UTC
What could I be missing? A `BEGIN{}` block As in `BEGIN { eval { require Term::ANSIColor ; 1; } and do { Term::ANSIColor ->import( ); Term::ANSIColor ->import( qw/:constants / ); }; }` [download] See also Re: Best way to dynamically use a .pm?	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: can't seem to import properly when using require by ttlgreen (Sexton) on Feb 26, 2012 at 23:35 UTC
Perfect! Thanks!	[reply]
Re^3: can't seem to import properly when using require (test more) by tye (Sage) on Feb 27, 2012 at 02:05 UTC
I see you have yet to test in an environment where Term::ANSIColor isn't installed. You also didn't actually show any of the code where the errors actually happen. You can't conditionally use compile-time magic unless you also only conditionally compile the magic-using code. So, I usually drop the BEGIN block and fix my code so it does not depend on compile-time magic from the optional module. But, looking at the docs for Term::ANSIColor, it looks like it flings compile-time magic all over the place. So you might find it easier to conditionally compile any code that makes use of said magic. Not that I will help with that since you didn't include any of said magic-using code (that was failing). - tye	[reply]