NAME

true - automatically return a true value when a file is required

SYNOPSIS

  package Contemporary::Perl;

  use strict;
  use warnings;
  use true;

  sub import {
      strict->import();
      warnings->import();
      true->import();
  }

DESCRIPTION

Perl's require builtin (and its use wrapper) requires the files it loads to return a true value. This is usually accomplished by placing a single

    1;
    

statement at the end of included scripts or modules. It's not onerous to add but it's a speed bump on the Perl novice's road to enlightenment. In addition, it appears to be a non-sequitur to the uninitiated, leading some to attempt to mitigate its appearance with a comment:

    1; # keep require happy

or:

    1; # Do not remove this line
    

or even:

    1; # Must end with this, because Perl is bogus.

This module packages this "return true" behaviour so that it need not be written explicitly. It shouldn't be used directly, except, perhaps, for pedagogical purposes. Rather it is intended to be invoked from the import method of a Modern::Perl-style module that enables modern Perl features and conveniences and cleans up legacy Perl warts.

METHODS

import

This method, which takes no arguments, should be invoked from the import method of a module that uses true. It inserts "1;" at the perl parser's current position. Code that uses this module solely on behalf of its caller can load true without importing it e.g.

    use true (); # don't import

    sub import {
        true->import();
    }

    1;

But there's nothing stopping a wrapper module also importing true to obviate its own need to explicitly return a true value:

    use true; # both load and import it

    sub import {
        true->import();
    }

    # no need to return true

EXPORT

None by default.

CAVEATS

The true return value is injected at the point where true is imported. No attempt is made to inject it at the top-level of the currently-compiling file if true is used in a nested scope. Thus, modules that export true should be used at the top-level e.g.

This works:

    package MyModule;

    use Contemporary::Perl; # true value injected here

    # no need to return true

This doesn't:

    package MyModule;

    {
        use Contemporary::Perl; # true value injected here

        # ...
    }

    # true value not injected here; error when the module is required

SEE ALSO

• Modern::Perl

• Toolkit

• latest

• uni::perl

AUTHOR

chocolateboy, <chocolate@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2010 by chocolateboy

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.10.0 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.

cpanm true

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install true