lib - manipulate @INC at compile time use lib LIST; no lib LIST; This is a small simple module which simplifies the manipulation of @INC at compile time. It is typically used to add extra directories to perl's search path so that later "use" or "require" statements will find modules which are not located on perl's default search path.

Adding directories to @INC
The parameters to "use lib" are added to the start of the perl search path. Saying use lib LIST; is almost the same as saying BEGIN { unshift(@INC, LIST) } For each directory in LIST (called $dir here) the lib module also checks to see if a directory called $dir/$archname/auto exists. If so the $dir/$archname directory is assumed to be a corresponding architecture specific directory and is added to @INC in front of $dir. To avoid memory leaks, all trailing duplicate entries in @INC are removed.

Deleting directories from @INC
You should normally only add directories to @INC. If you need to delete directories from @INC take care to only delete those which you added yourself or which you are certain are not needed by other modules in your script. Other modules may have added directories which they need for correct operation. The "no lib" statement deletes all instances of each named directory from @INC. For each directory in LIST (called $dir here) the lib module also checks to see if a directory called $dir/$archname/auto exists. If so the $dir/$archname directory is assumed to be a corresponding architecture specific directory and is also deleted from @INC.

Restoring original @INC
When the lib module is first loaded it records the current value of @INC in an array "@lib::ORIG_INC". To restore @INC to that value you can say @INC = @lib::ORIG_INC; FindBin - optional module which deals with paths relative to the source file. Tim Bunce, 2nd June 1995.