localizing __PACKAGE_

perl5ever has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

When I create a closure, are unqualified function names permanently tied to a particular package, or is it possible to change what package they will be looked up in at the time the closure is executed?

Example:

package other;
sub hello { ... }

package main;

sub foo {
  # some magic here to make hello -> other::hello?
  $_[0]->();
}

foo(sub { hello() });
[download]

When this code is executed, the call hello() will try to call main::hello. However, is it possible to put some magic in foo so that the function call hello() will be resolved as a call to other::hello()?

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Re: localizing __PACKAGE__? by Corion (Patriarch) on Feb 25, 2011 at 23:56 UTC
You can do something like the following but it's a horrible thing to do in the long run: `package main; sub foo { local *main::hello = \&other::hello; $_[0]->(); };` [download] What problem are you trying to solve that you can't solve by rewriting the calling code?	[reply] [d/l]
Re: localizing __PACKAGE__? by JavaFan (Canon) on Feb 26, 2011 at 12:41 UTC
No, doing it in `foo` is too late, and short of actually overriding `main::hello`, you cannot do what you want. The code to hello() is resolved inside the anon sub, not inside foo(). Said sub is compiled inside the package `main`, so a call to an unqualified sub will be resolved in the package. You may want to do something like: `foo(sub {package other; hello()}); # Always calls other::hello` [download] or `sub foo {package other; $_[0]->()} foo(sub {no strict 'refs'; &{(caller)[0] . "::hello"}()}); # Always ca +ll hello in callers namespace.` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: localizing __PACKAGE__? by TomDLux (Vicar) on Feb 26, 2011 at 01:24 UTC
The better solution would be to be clear when you invoke foo() as to which hello(0) you want it to call. If, instead of passing the anonymous sub to foo(), you were to attempt to invoke hello(), it would fail because there is no hello(). What makes you think it should work any better inside foo()? `foo(sub { other::hello() } );` [download] As Occam said: Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.	[reply] [d/l]