B::Showlex - Show lexical variables used in functions or files perl -MO=Showlex[,-OPTIONS][,SUBROUTINE] foo.pl When a comma-separated list of subroutine names is given as options, Showlex prints the lexical variables used in those subroutines. Otherwise, it prints the file-scope lexicals in the file. Traditional form: $ perl -MO=Showlex -e 'my ($i,$j,$k)=(1,"foo")' Pad of lexical names for comppadlist has 4 entries 0: SPECIAL #1 &PL_sv_undef 1: PVNV (0x9db0fb0) $i 2: PVNV (0x9db0f38) $j 3: PVNV (0x9db0f50) $k Pad of lexical values for comppadlist has 5 entries 0: SPECIAL #1 &PL_sv_undef 1: NULL (0x9da4234) 2: NULL (0x9db0f2c) 3: NULL (0x9db0f44) 4: NULL (0x9da4264) -e syntax OK New-style form: $ perl -MO=Showlex,-newlex -e 'my ($i,$j,$k)=(1,"foo")' main Pad has 4 entries 0: SPECIAL #1 &PL_sv_undef 1: PVNV (0xa0c4fb8) "$i" = NULL (0xa0b8234) 2: PVNV (0xa0c4f40) "$j" = NULL (0xa0c4f34) 3: PVNV (0xa0c4f58) "$k" = NULL (0xa0c4f4c) -e syntax OK New form, no specials, outside O framework: $ perl -MB::Showlex -e \ 'my ($i,$j,$k)=(1,"foo"); B::Showlex::compile(-newlex,-nosp)->()' main Pad has 4 entries 1: PVNV (0x998ffb0) "$i" = IV (0x9983234) 1 2: PVNV (0x998ff68) "$j" = PV (0x998ff5c) "foo" 3: PVNV (0x998ff80) "$k" = NULL (0x998ff74) Note that this example shows the values of the lexicals, whereas the other examples did not (as they're compile-time only).

OPTIONS
The "-newlex" option produces a more readable "name => value" format, and is shown in the second example above. The "-nosp" option eliminates reporting of SPECIALs, such as "0: SPECIAL #1 &PL_sv_undef" above. Reporting of SPECIALs can sometimes overwhelm your declared lexicals. "B::Showlex" can also be used outside of the O framework, as in the third example. See "B::Concise" for a fuller explanation of reasons. Some of the reported info, such as hex addresses, is not particularly valuable. Other information would be more useful for the typical programmer, such as line-numbers, pad-slot reuses, etc.. Given this, -newlex isnt a particularly good flag-name. Malcolm Beattie, "mbeattie@sable.ox.ac.uk"