Devel-FindRef
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NAME
Devel::FindRef - where is that reference to my variable hiding?
SYNOPSIS
use Devel::FindRef;
print Devel::FindRef::track \$some_variable;
DESCRIPTION
Tracking down reference problems (e.g. you expect some object to be
destroyed, but there are still references to it that keep it alive) can
be very hard. Fortunately, perl keeps track of all its values, so
tracking references "backwards" is usually possible.
The "track" function can help track down some of those references back
to the variables containing them.
For example, for this fragment:
package Test;
use Devel::FindRef;
use Scalar::Util;
our $var = "hi\n";
my $global_my = \$var;
our %global_hash = (ukukey => \$var);
our $global_hashref = { ukukey2 => \$var };
sub testsub {
my $testsub_local = $global_hashref;
print Devel::FindRef::track \$var;
}
my $closure = sub {
my $closure_var = \$_[0];
Scalar::Util::weaken (my $weak_ref = \$var);
testsub;
};
$closure->($var);
The output is as follows (or similar to this, in case I forget to update
the manpage after some changes):
SCALAR(0x7cc888) [refcount 6] is
+- referenced by REF(0x8abcc8) [refcount 1], which is
| the lexical '$closure_var' in CODE(0x8abc50) [refcount 4], which is
| +- the closure created at tst:18.
| +- referenced by REF(0x7d3c58) [refcount 1], which is
| | the lexical '$closure' in CODE(0x7ae530) [refcount 2], which is
| | +- the containing scope for CODE(0x8ab430) [refcount 3], which is
| | | the global &Test::testsub.
| | +- the main body of the program.
| +- the lexical '&' in CODE(0x7ae530) [refcount 2], which was seen before.
+- referenced by REF(0x7cc7c8) [refcount 1], which is
| the lexical '$global_my' in CODE(0x7ae530) [refcount 2], which was seen before.
+- the global $Test::var.
+- referenced by REF(0x7cc558) [refcount 1], which is
| the member 'ukukey2' of HASH(0x7ae140) [refcount 2], which is
| +- referenced by REF(0x8abad0) [refcount 1], which is
| | the lexical '$testsub_local' in CODE(0x8ab430) [refcount 3], which was seen before.
| +- referenced by REF(0x8ab4f0) [refcount 1], which is
| the global $Test::global_hashref.
+- referenced by REF(0x7ae518) [refcount 1], which is
| the member 'ukukey' of HASH(0x7d3bb0) [refcount 1], which is
| the global %Test::global_hash.
+- referenced by REF(0x7ae2f0) [refcount 1], which is
a temporary on the stack.
It is a bit convoluted to read, but basically it says that the value
( run in 1.983 second using v1.01-cache-2.11-cpan-39bf76dae61 )