1Devel::REPL(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Devel::REPL(3)
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6 Devel::REPL - A modern perl interactive shell
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9 version 1.003028
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12 my $repl = Devel::REPL->new;
13 $repl->load_plugin($_) for qw(History LexEnv);
14 $repl->run
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16 Alternatively, use the 're.pl' script installed with the distribution
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18 system$ re.pl
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21 This is an interactive shell for Perl, commonly known as a REPL - Read,
22 Evaluate, Print, Loop. The shell provides for rapid development or
23 testing of code without the need to create a temporary source code
24 file.
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26 Through a plugin system, many features are available on demand. You can
27 also tailor the environment through the use of profiles and run control
28 files, for example to pre-load certain Perl modules when working on a
29 particular project.
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32 To start a shell, follow one of the examples in the "SYNOPSIS" above.
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34 Once running, the shell accepts and will attempt to execute any code
35 given. If the code executes successfully you'll be shown the result,
36 otherwise an error message will be returned. Here are a few examples:
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38 $_ print "Hello, world!\n"
39 Hello, world!
40 1
41 $_ nosuchfunction
42 Compile error: Bareword "nosuchfunction" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at (eval 130) line 5.
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44 $_
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46 In the first example above you see the output of the command ("Hello,
47 world!"), if any, and then the return value of the statement (1).
48 Following that example, an error is returned when the execution of some
49 code fails.
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51 Note that the lack of semicolon on the end is not a mistake - the code
52 is run inside a Block structure (to protect the REPL in case the code
53 blows up), which means a single statement doesn't require the
54 semicolon. You can add one if you like, though.
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56 If you followed the first example in the "SYNOPSIS" above, you'll have
57 the History and LexEnv plugins loaded (and there are many more
58 available). Although the shell might support "up-arrow" history, the
59 History plugin adds "bang" history to that so you can re-execute chosen
60 commands (with e.g. "!53"). The LexEnv plugin ensures that lexical
61 variables declared with the "my" keyword will automatically persist
62 between statements executed in the REPL shell.
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64 When you "use" any Perl module, the "import()" will work as expected -
65 the exported functions from that module are available for immediate
66 use:
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68 $_ carp "I'm dieeeing!\n"
69 String found where operator expected at (eval 129) line 5, near "carp "I'm dieeeing!\n""
70 (Do you need to predeclare carp?)
71 Compile error: syntax error at (eval 129) line 5, near "carp "I'm dieeeing!\n""
72 BEGIN not safe after errors--compilation aborted at (eval 129) line 5.
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74 $_ use Carp
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76 $_ carp "I'm dieeeing!\n"
77 I'm dieeeing!
78 at /usr/share/perl5/Lexical/Persistence.pm line 327
79 1
80 $_
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82 To quit from the shell, hit "Ctrl+D" or "Ctrl+C".
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84 MSWin32 NOTE: control keys won't work if TERM=dumb
85 because readline functionality will be disabled.
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87 Run Control Files
88 For particular projects you might well end up running the same commands
89 each time the REPL shell starts up - loading Perl modules, setting
90 configuration, and so on. A run control file lets you have this done
91 automatically, and you can have multiple files for different projects.
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93 By default the "re.pl" program looks for "$HOME/.re.pl/repl.rc", and
94 runs whatever code is in there as if you had entered it at the REPL
95 shell yourself.
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97 To set a new run control file that's also in that directory, pass it as
98 a filename like so:
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100 system$ re.pl --rcfile myproject.pc
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102 If the filename happens to contain a forward slash, then it's used
103 absolutely, or realive to the current working directory:
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105 system$ re.pl --rcfile /path/to/my/project/repl.rc
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107 Within the run control file you might want to load plugins. This is
108 covered in "The REPL shell object" section, below.
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110 Profiles
111 To allow for the sharing of run control files, you can fashion them
112 into a Perl module for distribution (perhaps via the CPAN). For more
113 information on this feature, please see the Devel::REPL::Profile manual
114 page.
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116 A "Standard" profile ships with "Devel::REPL"; it loads the following
117 plugins (note that some of these require optional features -- or you
118 can also use the "Minimal" profile):
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120 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::History
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122 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::LexEnv
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124 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::DDS
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126 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::Packages
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128 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::Commands
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130 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::MultiLine::PPI
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132 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::Colors
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134 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::Completion
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136 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::CompletionDriver::INC
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138 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::CompletionDriver::LexEnv
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140 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::CompletionDriver::Keywords
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142 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::CompletionDriver::Methods
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144 · Devel::REPL::Plugin::ReadlineHistory
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146 Plugins
147 Plugins are a way to add functionality to the REPL shell, and take
148 advantage of "Devel::REPL" being based on the Moose object system for
149 Perl 5. This means it's simple to 'hook into' many steps of the R-E-P-L
150 process. Plugins can change the way commands are interpreted, or the
151 way their results are output, or even add commands to the shell
152 environment.
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154 A number of plugins ship with "Devel::REPL", and more are available on
155 the CPAN. Some of the shipped plugins are loaded in the default
156 profile, mentioned above. These plugins can be loaded in your
157 $HOME/.re.pl/repl.rc like:
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159 load_plugin qw( CompletionDriver::Global DumpHistory );
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161 Writing your own plugins is not difficult, and is discussed in the
162 Devel::REPL::Plugin manual page, along with links to the manual pages
163 of all the plugins shipped with "Devel::REPL".
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165 The REPL shell object
166 From time to time you'll want to interact with or manipulate the
167 "Devel::REPL" shell object itself; that is, the instance of the shell
168 you're currently running.
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170 The object is always available through the $_REPL variable. One common
171 requirement is to load an additional plugin, after your profile and run
172 control files have already been executed:
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174 $_ $_REPL->load_plugin('Timing');
175 1
176 $_ print "Hello again, world!\n"
177 Hello again, world!
178 Took 0.00148296356201172 seconds.
179 1
180 $_
181
183 In addition to the prerequisites declared in this distribution, which
184 should be automatically installed by your CPAN client, there are a
185 number of optional features, used by additional plugins. You can
186 install any of these features by installing this distribution
187 interactively (e.g. "cpanm --interactive Devel::REPL").
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189 · Completion plugin - extensible tab completion
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191 · DDS plugin - better format results with Data::Dump::Streamer
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193 · DDC plugin - even better format results with Data::Dumper::Concise
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195 · INC completion driver - tab complete module names in use and
196 require
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198 · Interrupt plugin - traps SIGINT to kill long-running lines
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200 · Keywords completion driver - tab complete Perl keywords and
201 operators
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203 · LexEnv plugin - variables declared with "my" persist between
204 statements
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206 · MultiLine::PPI plugin - continue reading lines until all blocks are
207 closed
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209 · Nopaste plugin - upload a session\'s input and output to a Pastebin
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211 · PPI plugin - PPI dumping of Perl code
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213 · Refresh plugin - automatically reload libraries with
214 Module::Refresh
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217 · A comparison of various REPLs <http://shadow.cat/blog/matt-s-
218 trout/mstpan-17/>
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221 Bugs may be submitted through the RT bug tracker
222 <https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Devel-REPL> (or
223 bug-Devel-REPL@rt.cpan.org <mailto:bug-Devel-REPL@rt.cpan.org>).
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225 There is also an irc channel available for users of this distribution,
226 at "#devel" on "irc.perl.org" <irc://irc.perl.org/#devel-repl>.
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229 Matt S Trout - mst (at) shadowcatsystems.co.uk
230 (<http://www.shadowcatsystems.co.uk/>)
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233 · Karen Etheridge <ether@cpan.org>
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235 · Shawn M Moore <code@sartak.org>
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237 · Chris Marshall <devel.chm.01@gmail.com>
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239 · Matt S Trout <mst@shadowcat.co.uk>
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241 · Oliver Gorwits <oliver@cpan.org>
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243 · יובל קוג'מן (Yuval Kogman) <nothingmuch@woobling.org>
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245 · Arthur Axel 'fREW' Schmidt <frioux@gmail.com>
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247 · Andrew Moore <amoore@cpan.org>
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249 · Alexis Sukrieh <sukria+perl@sukria.net>
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251 · Tomas Doran (t0m) <bobtfish@bobtfish.net>
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253 · epitaph <unknown>
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255 · Norbert Buchmuller <norbi@nix.hu>
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257 · Jesse Luehrs <doy@tozt.net>
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259 · Dave Houston <dhouston@cpan.org>
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261 · Dagfinn Ilmari Mannsåker <ilmari@ilmari.org>
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263 · Zakariyya Mughal <zaki.mughal@gmail.com>
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265 · Ryan Niebur <ryan@debian.org>
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267 · Justin Hunter <justin.d.hunter@gmail.com>
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269 · Ash Berlin <ash_github@firemirror.com>
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271 · naquad <naquad@bd8105ee-0ff8-0310-8827-fb3f25b6796d>
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273 · Stevan Little <stevan.little@iinteractive.com>
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276 This software is copyright (c) 2007 by Matt S Trout - mst (at)
277 shadowcatsystems.co.uk (<http://www.shadowcatsystems.co.uk/>).
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279 This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
280 the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
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284perl v5.32.0 2020-07-28 Devel::REPL(3)