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Readonly::Tiny(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation Readonly::Tiny(3pm)

Readonly::Tiny - Simple, correct readonly values

    use Readonly::Tiny;
    my $x = readonly [1, 2, 3];
    # $x is not readonly, but the array it points to is.
    
    my @y = (4, 5, 6);
    readonly \@y;
    # @y is readonly, as well as its contents.

Readonly::Tiny provides a simple and correct way of making values readonly. Unlike Readonly it does not cause arrays and hashes to be tied, it just uses the core "SvREADONLY" flag.

    my $ro = readonly $ref, \%opts;

Make a data structure readonly. $ref must be a reference; the referenced value, and any values referenced recursively, will be made readonly. $ref is returned, but it will not itself be readonly; it is possible to make a variable readonly by passing a reference to it, as in the "SYNOPSIS".

%opts is a hashref of options:

Normally blessed references will not be looked through. The scalar holding the reference will be made readonly (so a different object cannot be assigned) but the contents of the object itself will be left alone. Supplying "peek => 1" allows blessed refs to be looked through.
This should be a hashref keyed by refaddr. Any object whose refaddr is in the hash will be skipped.

Note that making a hash readonly has the same effect as calling "Hash::Util::lock_hash"; in particular, it causes restricted hashes to be re-restricted to their current set of keys.

    my $rw = readwrite $ref, \%opts;

Undo the effects of "readonly". %opts is the same. Note that making a hash readwrite will undo any restrictions put in place using Hash::Util.

BE VERY CAREFUL calling this on values you have not made readonly yourself. It will silently ignore attempts to make the core values "PL_sv_undef", "PL_sv_yes" and "PL_sv_no" readwrite, but there are many other values the core makes readonly, usually with good reason. Recent versions of perl will not allow you to make readwrite a value the core has set readonly, but you should probably not rely on this.

    Readonly my $x, 1;
    Readonly my @y, 2, 3, 4;
    Readonly my %z, foo => 5;

This is a compatibility shim for Readonly. It is prototyped to take a reference to its first argument, and assigns the rest of the argument list to that argument before making the whole thing readonly.

"readonly" is exported by default. "readwrite" and "Readonly" are exported on request.

Readonly was the first module to supply readonly values. It was written for Perl 5.6, and as a result the interface and implementation are both rather clunky. With Readonly::XS the performance is improved for scalar varuables, but arrays and hashes still use a tied implementation which is very slow.

Const::Fast is a greatly improved reaoonly module which uses perl's internal "SvREADONLY" flag instead of ties. The differences between this module and Const::Fast are:

  • The "readonly" function does not insist on performing an assignment, it just returns a readonly value. This is, IMHO, more useful, since it means a readonly value can be returned from a function. In particular, it is often useful to return a readonly value from a builder method.
  • It does not attempt to clone deep structures. If "Clone::Fast" is applied to a structure with cross-links it will clone the whole thing, on the principle that parts of the graph may be shared with something else which should not be readonly. This module takes the approach that if you asked for something to be made readonly you meant it, and if it points to something it shouldn't that's your mistake.

Please report bugs to <bug-Readonly-Tiny@rt.cpan.org>.

Ben Morrow <ben@morrow.me.uk>

Copyright 2015 Ben Morrow.

Released under the 2-clause BSD licence.

2022-10-13 perl v5.34.0