Methods¶

PACKAGE->new(ARRAYREF [, ARRAYREF])

Returns a newly created "Data::Dumper" object. The first argument is an anonymous array of values to be dumped. The optional second argument is an anonymous array of names for the values. The names need not have a leading "$" sign, and must be comprised of alphanumeric characters. You can begin a name with a "*" to specify that the dereferenced type must be dumped instead of the reference itself, for ARRAY and HASH references.

The prefix specified by $Data::Dumper::Varname will be used with a numeric suffix if the name for a value is undefined.

Data::Dumper will catalog all references encountered while dumping the values. Cross-references (in the form of names of substructures in perl syntax) will be inserted at all possible points, preserving any structural interdependencies in the original set of values. Structure traversal is depth-first, and proceeds in order from the first supplied value to the last.

$OBJ->Dump or PACKAGE->Dump(ARRAYREF [, ARRAYREF])

Returns the stringified form of the values stored in the object (preserving the order in which they were supplied to "new"), subject to the configuration options below. In a list context, it returns a list of strings corresponding to the supplied values.

The second form, for convenience, simply calls the "new" method on its arguments before dumping the object immediately.

$OBJ->Seen([HASHREF])

Queries or adds to the internal table of already encountered references. You must use "Reset" to explicitly clear the table if needed. Such references are not dumped; instead, their names are inserted wherever they are encountered subsequently. This is useful especially for properly dumping subroutine references.

Expects an anonymous hash of name => value pairs. Same rules apply for names as in "new". If no argument is supplied, will return the "seen" list of name => value pairs, in a list context. Otherwise, returns the object itself.

$OBJ->Values([ARRAYREF])

Queries or replaces the internal array of values that will be dumped. When called without arguments, returns the values as a list. When called with a reference to an array of replacement values, returns the object itself. When called with any other type of argument, dies.

$OBJ->Names([ARRAYREF])

Queries or replaces the internal array of user supplied names for the values that will be dumped. When called without arguments, returns the names. When called with an array of replacement names, returns the object itself. If the number of replacment names exceeds the number of values to be named, the excess names will not be used. If the number of replacement names falls short of the number of values to be named, the list of replacment names will be exhausted and remaining values will not be renamed. When called with any other type of argument, dies.

$OBJ->Reset

Clears the internal table of "seen" references and returns the object itself.

Functions¶

Dumper(LIST)

Returns the stringified form of the values in the list, subject to the configuration options below. The values will be named $VARn in the output, where n is a numeric suffix. Will return a list of strings in a list context.

Configuration Variables or Methods¶

Several configuration variables can be used to control the kind of output generated when using the procedural interface. These variables are usually "local"ized in a block so that other parts of the code are not affected by the change.

These variables determine the default state of the object created by calling the "new" method, but cannot be used to alter the state of the object thereafter. The equivalent method names should be used instead to query or set the internal state of the object.

The method forms return the object itself when called with arguments, so that they can be chained together nicely.

• $Data::Dumper::Indent or $OBJ->Indent([NEWVAL])

  Controls the style of indentation. It can be set to 0, 1, 2 or 3. Style 0 spews output without any newlines, indentation, or spaces between list items. It is the most compact format possible that can still be called valid perl. Style 1 outputs a readable form with newlines but no fancy indentation (each level in the structure is simply indented by a fixed amount of whitespace). Style 2 (the default) outputs a very readable form which takes into account the length of hash keys (so the hash value lines up). Style 3 is like style 2, but also annotates the elements of arrays with their index (but the comment is on its own line, so array output consumes twice the number of lines). Style 2 is the default.

• $Data::Dumper::Purity or $OBJ->Purity([NEWVAL])

  Controls the degree to which the output can be "eval"ed to recreate the supplied reference structures. Setting it to 1 will output additional perl statements that will correctly recreate nested references. The default is 0.

• $Data::Dumper::Pad or $OBJ->Pad([NEWVAL])

  Specifies the string that will be prefixed to every line of the output. Empty string by default.

• $Data::Dumper::Varname or $OBJ->Varname([NEWVAL])

  Contains the prefix to use for tagging variable names in the output. The default is "VAR".

• $Data::Dumper::Useqq or $OBJ->Useqq([NEWVAL])

  When set, enables the use of double quotes for representing string values. Whitespace other than space will be represented as "[\n\t\r]", "unsafe" characters will be backslashed, and unprintable characters will be output as quoted octal integers. Since setting this variable imposes a performance penalty, the default is 0. "Dump()" will run slower if this flag is set, since the fast XSUB implementation doesn't support it yet.

• $Data::Dumper::Terse or $OBJ->Terse([NEWVAL])

  When set, Data::Dumper will emit single, non-self-referential values as atoms/terms rather than statements. This means that the $VARn names will be avoided where possible, but be advised that such output may not always be parseable by "eval".

• $Data::Dumper::Freezer or $OBJ->Freezer([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a method name, or to an empty string to disable the feature. Data::Dumper will invoke that method via the object before attempting to stringify it. This method can alter the contents of the object (if, for instance, it contains data allocated from C), and even rebless it in a different package. The client is responsible for making sure the specified method can be called via the object, and that the object ends up containing only perl data types after the method has been called. Defaults to an empty string.

  If an object does not support the method specified (determined using UNIVERSAL::can()) then the call will be skipped. If the method dies a warning will be generated.

• $Data::Dumper::Toaster or $OBJ->Toaster([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a method name, or to an empty string to disable the feature. Data::Dumper will emit a method call for any objects that are to be dumped using the syntax "bless(DATA, CLASS)->METHOD()". Note that this means that the method specified will have to perform any modifications required on the object (like creating new state within it, and/or reblessing it in a different package) and then return it. The client is responsible for making sure the method can be called via the object, and that it returns a valid object. Defaults to an empty string.

• $Data::Dumper::Deepcopy or $OBJ->Deepcopy([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a boolean value to enable deep copies of structures. Cross-referencing will then only be done when absolutely essential (i.e., to break reference cycles). Default is 0.

• $Data::Dumper::Quotekeys or $OBJ->Quotekeys([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a boolean value to control whether hash keys are quoted. A defined false value will avoid quoting hash keys when it looks like a simple string. Default is 1, which will always enclose hash keys in quotes.

• $Data::Dumper::Bless or $OBJ->Bless([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a string that specifies an alternative to the "bless" builtin operator used to create objects. A function with the specified name should exist, and should accept the same arguments as the builtin. Default is "bless".

• $Data::Dumper::Pair or $OBJ->Pair([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a string that specifies the separator between hash keys and values. To dump nested hash, array and scalar values to JavaScript, use: "$Data::Dumper::Pair = ' : ';". Implementing "bless" in JavaScript is left as an exercise for the reader. A function with the specified name exists, and accepts the same arguments as the builtin.

  Default is: " => ".

• $Data::Dumper::Maxdepth or $OBJ->Maxdepth([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a positive integer that specifies the depth beyond which we don't venture into a structure. Has no effect when "Data::Dumper::Purity" is set. (Useful in debugger when we often don't want to see more than enough). Default is 0, which means there is no maximum depth.

• $Data::Dumper::Useperl or $OBJ->Useperl([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a boolean value which controls whether the pure Perl implementation of "Data::Dumper" is used. The "Data::Dumper" module is a dual implementation, with almost all functionality written in both pure Perl and also in XS ('C'). Since the XS version is much faster, it will always be used if possible. This option lets you override the default behavior, usually for testing purposes only. Default is 0, which means the XS implementation will be used if possible.

• $Data::Dumper::Sortkeys or $OBJ->Sortkeys([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a boolean value to control whether hash keys are dumped in sorted order. A true value will cause the keys of all hashes to be dumped in Perl's default sort order. Can also be set to a subroutine reference which will be called for each hash that is dumped. In this case "Data::Dumper" will call the subroutine once for each hash, passing it the reference of the hash. The purpose of the subroutine is to return a reference to an array of the keys that will be dumped, in the order that they should be dumped. Using this feature, you can control both the order of the keys, and which keys are actually used. In other words, this subroutine acts as a filter by which you can exclude certain keys from being dumped. Default is 0, which means that hash keys are not sorted.

• $Data::Dumper::Deparse or $OBJ->Deparse([NEWVAL])

  Can be set to a boolean value to control whether code references are turned into perl source code. If set to a true value, "B::Deparse" will be used to get the source of the code reference. Using this option will force using the Perl implementation of the dumper, since the fast XSUB implementation doesn't support it.

  Caution : use this option only if you know that your coderefs will be properly reconstructed by "B::Deparse".

• $Data::Dumper::Sparseseen or $OBJ->Sparseseen([NEWVAL])

  By default, Data::Dumper builds up the "seen" hash of scalars that it has encountered during serialization. This is very expensive. This seen hash is necessary to support and even just detect circular references. It is exposed to the user via the "Seen()" call both for writing and reading.

  If you, as a user, do not need explicit access to the "seen" hash, then you can set the "Sparseseen" option to allow Data::Dumper to eschew building the "seen" hash for scalars that are known not to possess more than one reference. This speeds up serialization considerably if you use the XS implementation.

  Note: If you turn on "Sparseseen", then you must not rely on the content of the seen hash since its contents will be an implementation detail!

Exports¶

Dumper

NOTE¶

Starting from Perl 5.8.1 different runs of Perl will have different ordering of hash keys. The change was done for greater security, see "Algorithmic Complexity Attacks" in perlsec. This means that different runs of Perl will have different Data::Dumper outputs if the data contains hashes. If you need to have identical Data::Dumper outputs from different runs of Perl, use the environment variable PERL_HASH_SEED, see "PERL_HASH_SEED" in perlrun. Using this restores the old (platform-specific) ordering: an even prettier solution might be to use the "Sortkeys" filter of Data::Dumper.