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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
    stored in $var is referenced by:

    - the lexical $closure_var (0x8abcc8), which is inside an instantiated
    closure, which in turn is used quite a bit.
    - the package-level lexical $global_my.
    - the global package variable named $Test::var.
    - the hash element "ukukey2", in the hash in the my variable
    $testsub_local in the sub "Test::testsub" and also in the hash
    "$referenced by Test::hash2".
    - the hash element with key "ukukey" in the hash stored in %Test::hash.
    - some anonymous mortalised reference on the stack (which is caused by
    calling "track" with the expression "\$var", which creates the
    reference).

    And all these account for six reference counts.

EXPORTS
    None.

FUNCTIONS
    $string = Devel::FindRef::track $ref[, $depth]
        Track the perl value pointed to by $ref up to a depth of $depth and
        return a descriptive string. $ref can point at any perl value, be it
        anonymous sub, hash, array, scalar etc.

        This is the function you most likely want to use when tracking down