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NAME

       perlintern - autogenerated documentation of purely internal
       Perl functions

DESCRIPTION

       This file is the autogenerated documentation of functions in the Perl
       interpreter that are documented using Perl’s internal documentation
       format but are not marked as part of the Perl API. In other words, they
       are not for use in extensions!

CV reference counts and CvOUTSIDE

       CvWEAKOUTSIDE
               Each CV has a pointer, "CvOUTSIDE()", to its lexically
               enclosing CV (if any). Because pointers to anonymous sub
               prototypes are stored in "&" pad slots, it is a possible to get
               a circular reference, with the parent pointing to the child and
               vice-versa. To avoid the ensuing memory leak, we do not
               increment the reference count of the CV pointed to by
               "CvOUTSIDE" in the one specific instance that the parent has a
               "&" pad slot pointing back to us. In this case, we set the
               "CvWEAKOUTSIDE" flag in the child. This allows us to determine
               under what circumstances we should decrement the refcount of
               the parent when freeing the child.

               There is a further complication with non-closure anonymous subs
               (i.e. those that do not refer to any lexicals outside that
               sub). In this case, the anonymous prototype is shared rather
               than being cloned. This has the consequence that the parent may
               be freed while there are still active children, eg

                   BEGIN { $a = sub { eval '$x' } }

               In this case, the BEGIN is freed immediately after execution
               since there are no active references to it: the anon sub
               prototype has "CvWEAKOUTSIDE" set since it’s not a closure, and
               $a points to the same CV, so it doesn’t contribute to BEGIN’s
               refcount either.  When $a is executed, the "eval '$x'" causes
               the chain of "CvOUTSIDE"s to be followed, and the freed BEGIN
               is accessed.

               To avoid this, whenever a CV and its associated pad is freed,
               any "&" entries in the pad are explicitly removed from the pad,
               and if the refcount of the pointed-to anon sub is still
               positive, then that child’s "CvOUTSIDE" is set to point to its
               grandparent. This will only occur in the single specific case
               of a non-closure anon prototype having one or more active
               references (such as $a above).

               One other thing to consider is that a CV may be merely
               undefined rather than freed, eg "undef &foo". In this case, its
               refcount may not have reached zero, but we still delete its pad
               and its "CvROOT" etc.  Since various children may still have
               their "CvOUTSIDE" pointing at this undefined CV, we keep its
               own "CvOUTSIDE" for the time being, so that the chain of
               lexical scopes is unbroken. For example, the following should
               print 123:

                   my $x = 123;
                   sub tmp { sub { eval '$x' } }
                   my $a = tmp();
                   undef &tmp;
                   print  $a->();

                       bool    CvWEAKOUTSIDE(CV *cv)

Functions in file pad.h

       CX_CURPAD_SAVE
               Save the current pad in the given context block structure.

                       void    CX_CURPAD_SAVE(struct context)

       CX_CURPAD_SV
               Access the SV at offset po in the saved current pad in the
               given context block structure (can be used as an lvalue).

                       SV *    CX_CURPAD_SV(struct context, PADOFFSET po)

       PAD_BASE_SV
               Get the value from slot "po" in the base (DEPTH=1) pad of a
               padlist

                       SV *    PAD_BASE_SV(PADLIST padlist, PADOFFSET po)

       PAD_CLONE_VARS
               Clone the state variables associated with running and compiling
               pads.

                       void    PAD_CLONE_VARS(PerlInterpreter *proto_perl, CLONE_PARAMS* param)

       PAD_COMPNAME_FLAGS
               Return the flags for the current compiling pad name at offset
               "po". Assumes a valid slot entry.

                       U32     PAD_COMPNAME_FLAGS(PADOFFSET po)

       PAD_COMPNAME_GEN
               The generation number of the name at offset "po" in the current
               compiling pad (lvalue). Note that "SvUVX" is hijacked for this
               purpose.

                       STRLEN  PAD_COMPNAME_GEN(PADOFFSET po)

       PAD_COMPNAME_GEN_set
               Sets the generation number of the name at offset "po" in the
               current ling pad (lvalue) to "gen".  Note that "SvUV_set" is
               hijacked for this purpose.

                       STRLEN  PAD_COMPNAME_GEN_set(PADOFFSET po, int gen)

       PAD_COMPNAME_OURSTASH
               Return the stash associated with an "our" variable.  Assumes
               the slot entry is a valid "our" lexical.

                       HV *    PAD_COMPNAME_OURSTASH(PADOFFSET po)

       PAD_COMPNAME_PV
               Return the name of the current compiling pad name at offset
               "po". Assumes a valid slot entry.

                       char *  PAD_COMPNAME_PV(PADOFFSET po)

       PAD_COMPNAME_TYPE
               Return the type (stash) of the current compiling pad name at
               offset "po". Must be a valid name. Returns null if not typed.

                       HV *    PAD_COMPNAME_TYPE(PADOFFSET po)

       PAD_DUP Clone a padlist.

                       void    PAD_DUP(PADLIST dstpad, PADLIST srcpad, CLONE_PARAMS* param)

       PAD_RESTORE_LOCAL
               Restore the old pad saved into the local variable opad by
               PAD_SAVE_LOCAL()

                       void    PAD_RESTORE_LOCAL(PAD *opad)

       PAD_SAVE_LOCAL
               Save the current pad to the local variable opad, then make the
               current pad equal to npad

                       void    PAD_SAVE_LOCAL(PAD *opad, PAD *npad)

       PAD_SAVE_SETNULLPAD
               Save the current pad then set it to null.

                       void    PAD_SAVE_SETNULLPAD()

       PAD_SETSV
               Set the slot at offset "po" in the current pad to "sv"

                       SV *    PAD_SETSV(PADOFFSET po, SV* sv)

       PAD_SET_CUR
               Set the current pad to be pad "n" in the padlist, saving the
               previous current pad. NB currently this macro expands to a
               string too long for some compilers, so it’s best to replace it
               with

                   SAVECOMPPAD();
                   PAD_SET_CUR_NOSAVE(padlist,n);

                       void    PAD_SET_CUR(PADLIST padlist, I32 n)

       PAD_SET_CUR_NOSAVE
               like PAD_SET_CUR, but without the save

                       void    PAD_SET_CUR_NOSAVE(PADLIST padlist, I32 n)

       PAD_SV  Get the value at offset "po" in the current pad

                       void    PAD_SV(PADOFFSET po)

       PAD_SVl Lightweight and lvalue version of "PAD_SV".  Get or set the
               value at offset "po" in the current pad.  Unlike "PAD_SV", does
               not print diagnostics with -DX.  For internal use only.

                       SV *    PAD_SVl(PADOFFSET po)

       SAVECLEARSV
               Clear the pointed to pad value on scope exit. (i.e. the runtime
               action of ’my’)

                       void    SAVECLEARSV(SV **svp)

       SAVECOMPPAD
               save PL_comppad and PL_curpad

                       void    SAVECOMPPAD()

       SAVEPADSV
               Save a pad slot (used to restore after an iteration)

               XXX DAPM it would make more sense to make the arg a PADOFFSET
                    void SAVEPADSV(PADOFFSET po)

GV Functions

       is_gv_magical
               Returns "TRUE" if given the name of a magical GV.

               Currently only useful internally when determining if a GV
               should be created even in rvalue contexts.

               "flags" is not used at present but available for future
               extension to allow selecting particular classes of magical
               variable.

               Currently assumes that "name" is NUL terminated (as well as len
               being valid).  This assumption is met by all callers within the
               perl core, which all pass pointers returned by SvPV.

                       bool    is_gv_magical(const char *name, STRLEN len, U32 flags)

       is_gv_magical_sv
               Returns "TRUE" if given the name of a magical GV. Calls
               is_gv_magical.

                       bool    is_gv_magical_sv(SV *name, U32 flags)

Hash Manipulation Functions

       refcounted_he_chain_2hv
               Generates and returns a "HV *" by walking up the tree starting
               at the passed in "struct refcounted_he *".

                       HV *    refcounted_he_chain_2hv(const struct refcounted_he *c)

       refcounted_he_free
               Decrements the reference count of the passed in "struct
               refcounted_he *" by one. If the reference count reaches zero
               the structure’s memory is freed, and "refcounted_he_free"
               iterates onto the parent node.

                       void    refcounted_he_free(struct refcounted_he *he)

       refcounted_he_new
               Creates a new "struct refcounted_he". As key is copied, and
               value is stored in a compact form, all references remain the
               property of the caller.  The "struct refcounted_he" is returned
               with a reference count of 1.

                       struct refcounted_he *  refcounted_he_new(struct refcounted_he *const parent, SV *const key, SV *const value)

IO Functions

       start_glob
               Function called by "do_readline" to spawn a glob (or do the
               glob inside perl on VMS). This code used to be inline, but now
               perl uses "File::Glob" this glob starter is only used by
               miniperl during the build process.  Moving it away shrinks
               pp_hot.c; shrinking pp_hot.c helps speed perl up.

                       PerlIO* start_glob(SV *tmpglob, IO *io)

Magical Functions

       magic_clearhint
               Triggered by a delete from %^H, records the key to
               "PL_compiling.cop_hints_hash".

                       int     magic_clearhint(SV* sv, MAGIC* mg)

       magic_sethint
               Triggered by a store to %^H, records the key/value pair to
               "PL_compiling.cop_hints_hash".  It is assumed that hints aren’t
               storing anything that would need a deep copy.  Maybe we should
               warn if we find a reference.

                       int     magic_sethint(SV* sv, MAGIC* mg)

       mg_localize
               Copy some of the magic from an existing SV to new localized
               version of that SV. Container magic (eg %ENV, $1, tie) gets
               copied, value magic doesn’t (eg taint, pos).

                       void    mg_localize(SV* sv, SV* nsv)

MRO Functions

       mro_get_linear_isa_dfs
               Returns the Depth-First Search linearization of @ISA the given
               stash.  The return value is a read-only AV*.  "level" should be
               0 (it is used internally in this function’s recursion).

               You are responsible for "SvREFCNT_inc()" on the return value if
               you plan to store it anywhere semi-permanently (otherwise it
               might be deleted out from under you the next time the cache is
               invalidated).

                       AV*     mro_get_linear_isa_dfs(HV* stash, U32 level)

       mro_isa_changed_in
               Takes the necessary steps (cache invalidations, mostly) when
               the @ISA of the given package has changed.  Invoked by the
               "setisa" magic, should not need to invoke directly.

                       void    mro_isa_changed_in(HV* stash)

Pad Data Structures

       CvPADLIST
               CV’s can have CvPADLIST(cv) set to point to an AV.

               For these purposes "forms" are a kind-of CV, eval""s are too
               (except they’re not callable at will and are always thrown away
               after the eval"" is done executing). Require’d files are simply
               evals without any outer lexical scope.

               XSUBs don’t have CvPADLIST set - dXSTARG fetches values from
               PL_curpad, but that is really the callers pad (a slot of which
               is allocated by every entersub).

               The CvPADLIST AV has does not have AvREAL set, so REFCNT of
               component items is managed "manual" (mostly in pad.c) rather
               than normal av.c rules.  The items in the AV are not SVs as for
               a normal AV, but other AVs:

               0’th Entry of the CvPADLIST is an AV which represents the
               "names" or rather the "static type information" for lexicals.

               The CvDEPTH’th entry of CvPADLIST AV is an AV which is the
               stack frame at that depth of recursion into the CV.  The 0’th
               slot of a frame AV is an AV which is @_.  other entries are
               storage for variables and op targets.

               During compilation: "PL_comppad_name" is set to the names AV.
               "PL_comppad" is set to the frame AV for the frame CvDEPTH == 1.
               "PL_curpad" is set to the body of the frame AV (i.e.
               AvARRAY(PL_comppad)).

               During execution, "PL_comppad" and "PL_curpad" refer to the
               live frame of the currently executing sub.

               Iterating over the names AV iterates over all possible pad
               items. Pad slots that are SVs_PADTMP (targets/GVs/constants)
               end up having &PL_sv_undef "names" (see pad_alloc()).

               Only my/our variable (SVs_PADMY/SVs_PADOUR) slots get valid
               names.  The rest are op targets/GVs/constants which are
               statically allocated or resolved at compile time.  These don’t
               have names by which they can be looked up from Perl code at run
               time through eval"" like my/our variables can be.  Since they
               can’t be looked up by "name" but only by their index allocated
               at compile time (which is usually in PL_op->op_targ), wasting a
               name SV for them doesn’t make sense.

               The SVs in the names AV have their PV being the name of the
               variable.  xlow+1..xhigh inclusive in the NV union is a range
               of cop_seq numbers for which the name is valid.  For typed
               lexicals name SV is SVt_PVMG and SvSTASH points at the type.
               For "our" lexicals, the type is also SVt_PVMG, with the
               SvOURSTASH slot pointing at the stash of the associated global
               (so that duplicate "our" declarations in the same package can
               be detected).  SvUVX is sometimes hijacked to store the
               generation number during compilation.

               If SvFAKE is set on the name SV, then that slot in the frame AV
               is a REFCNT’ed reference to a lexical from "outside". In this
               case, the name SV does not use xlow and xhigh to store a
               cop_seq range, since it is in scope throughout. Instead xhigh
               stores some flags containing info about the real lexical (is it
               declared in an anon, and is it capable of being instantiated
               multiple times?), and for fake ANONs, xlow contains the index
               within the parent’s pad where the lexical’s value is stored, to
               make cloning quicker.

               If the ’name’ is ’&’ the corresponding entry in frame AV is a
               CV representing a possible closure.  (SvFAKE and name of ’&’ is
               not a meaningful combination currently but could become so if
               "my sub foo {}" is implemented.)

               Note that formats are treated as anon subs, and are cloned each
               time write is called (if necessary).

               The flag SVf_PADSTALE is cleared on lexicals each time the my()
               is executed, and set on scope exit. This allows the ’Variable
               $x is not available’ warning to be generated in evals, such as

                   { my $x = 1; sub f { eval '$x'} } f();

               For state vars, SVf_PADSTALE is overloaded to mean ’not yet
               initialised’

                       AV *    CvPADLIST(CV *cv)

       cv_clone
               Clone a CV: make a new CV which points to the same code etc,
               but which has a newly-created pad built by copying the
               prototype pad and capturing any outer lexicals.

                       CV*     cv_clone(CV* proto)

       cv_dump dump the contents of a CV

                       void    cv_dump(const CV *cv, const char *title)

       do_dump_pad
               Dump the contents of a padlist

                       void    do_dump_pad(I32 level, PerlIO *file, PADLIST *padlist, int full)

       intro_my
               "Introduce" my variables to visible status.

                       U32     intro_my()

       pad_add_anon
               Add an anon code entry to the current compiling pad

                       PADOFFSET       pad_add_anon(SV* sv, OPCODE op_type)

       pad_add_name
               Create a new name and associated PADMY SV in the current pad;
               return the offset.  If "typestash" is valid, the name is for a
               typed lexical; set the name’s stash to that value.  If
               "ourstash" is valid, it’s an our lexical, set the name’s
               SvOURSTASH to that value

               If fake, it means we’re cloning an existing entry

                       PADOFFSET       pad_add_name(const char *name, HV* typestash, HV* ourstash, bool clone, bool state)

       pad_alloc
               Allocate a new my or tmp pad entry. For a my, simply push a
               null SV onto the end of PL_comppad, but for a tmp, scan the pad
               from PL_padix upwards for a slot which has no name and no
               active value.

                       PADOFFSET       pad_alloc(I32 optype, U32 tmptype)

       pad_block_start
               Update the pad compilation state variables on entry to a new
               block

                       void    pad_block_start(int full)

       pad_check_dup
               Check for duplicate declarations: report any of:
                    * a my in the current scope with the same name;
                    * an our (anywhere in the pad) with the same name and the
               same stash
                      as "ourstash" "is_our" indicates that the name to check
               is an ’our’ declaration

                       void    pad_check_dup(const char* name, bool is_our, const HV* ourstash)

       pad_findlex
               Find a named lexical anywhere in a chain of nested pads. Add
               fake entries in the inner pads if it’s found in an outer one.

               Returns the offset in the bottom pad of the lex or the fake
               lex.  cv is the CV in which to start the search, and seq is the
               current cop_seq to match against. If warn is true, print
               appropriate warnings.  The out_* vars return values, and so are
               pointers to where the returned values should be stored.
               out_capture, if non-null, requests that the innermost instance
               of the lexical is captured; out_name_sv is set to the innermost
               matched namesv or fake namesv; out_flags returns the flags
               normally associated with the IVX field of a fake namesv.

               Note that pad_findlex() is recursive; it recurses up the chain
               of CVs, then comes back down, adding fake entries as it goes.
               It has to be this way because fake namesvs in anon protoypes
               have to store in xlow the index into the parent pad.

                       PADOFFSET       pad_findlex(const char *name, const CV* cv, U32 seq, int warn, SV** out_capture, SV** out_name_sv, int *out_flags)

       pad_findmy
               Given a lexical name, try to find its offset, first in the
               current pad, or failing that, in the pads of any lexically
               enclosing subs (including the complications introduced by
               eval). If the name is found in an outer pad, then a fake entry
               is added to the current pad.  Returns the offset in the current
               pad, or NOT_IN_PAD on failure.

                       PADOFFSET       pad_findmy(const char* name)

       pad_fixup_inner_anons
               For any anon CVs in the pad, change CvOUTSIDE of that CV from
               old_cv to new_cv if necessary. Needed when a newly-compiled CV
               has to be moved to a pre-existing CV struct.

                       void    pad_fixup_inner_anons(PADLIST *padlist, CV *old_cv, CV *new_cv)

       pad_free
               Free the SV at offset po in the current pad.

                       void    pad_free(PADOFFSET po)

       pad_leavemy
               Cleanup at end of scope during compilation: set the max seq
               number for lexicals in this scope and warn of any lexicals that
               never got introduced.

                       void    pad_leavemy()

       pad_new Create a new compiling padlist, saving and updating the various
               global vars at the same time as creating the pad itself. The
               following flags can be OR’ed together:

                   padnew_CLONE        this pad is for a cloned CV
                   padnew_SAVE         save old globals
                   padnew_SAVESUB      also save extra stuff for start of sub

                       PADLIST*        pad_new(int flags)

       pad_push
               Push a new pad frame onto the padlist, unless there’s already a
               pad at this depth, in which case don’t bother creating a new
               one.  Then give the new pad an @_ in slot zero.

                       void    pad_push(PADLIST *padlist, int depth)

       pad_reset
               Mark all the current temporaries for reuse

                       void    pad_reset()

       pad_setsv
               Set the entry at offset po in the current pad to sv.  Use the
               macro PAD_SETSV() rather than calling this function directly.

                       void    pad_setsv(PADOFFSET po, SV* sv)

       pad_swipe
               Abandon the tmp in the current pad at offset po and replace
               with a new one.

                       void    pad_swipe(PADOFFSET po, bool refadjust)

       pad_tidy
               Tidy up a pad after we’ve finished compiling it:
                   * remove most stuff from the pads of anonsub prototypes;
                   * give it a @_;
                   * mark tmps as such.

                       void    pad_tidy(padtidy_type type)

       pad_undef
               Free the padlist associated with a CV.  If parts of it happen
               to be current, we null the relevant PL_*pad* global vars so
               that we don’t have any dangling references left.  We also
               repoint the CvOUTSIDE of any about-to-be-orphaned inner subs to
               the outer of this cv.

               (This function should really be called pad_free, but the name
               was already taken)

                       void    pad_undef(CV* cv)

Per-Interpreter Variables

       PL_DBsingle
               When Perl is run in debugging mode, with the -d switch, this SV
               is a boolean which indicates whether subs are being single-
               stepped.  Single-stepping is automatically turned on after
               every step.  This is the C variable which corresponds to Perl’s
               $DB::single variable.  See "PL_DBsub".

                       SV *    PL_DBsingle

       PL_DBsub
               When Perl is run in debugging mode, with the -d switch, this GV
               contains the SV which holds the name of the sub being debugged.
               This is the C variable which corresponds to Perl’s $DB::sub
               variable.  See "PL_DBsingle".

                       GV *    PL_DBsub

       PL_DBtrace
               Trace variable used when Perl is run in debugging mode, with
               the -d switch.  This is the C variable which corresponds to
               Perl’s $DB::trace variable.  See "PL_DBsingle".

                       SV *    PL_DBtrace

       PL_dowarn
               The C variable which corresponds to Perl’s $^W warning
               variable.

                       bool    PL_dowarn

       PL_last_in_gv
               The GV which was last used for a filehandle input operation.
               ("<FH>")

                       GV*     PL_last_in_gv

       PL_ofs_sv
               The output field separator - $, in Perl space.

                       SV*     PL_ofs_sv

       PL_rs   The input record separator - $/ in Perl space.

                       SV*     PL_rs

Stack Manipulation Macros

       djSP    Declare Just "SP". This is actually identical to "dSP", and
               declares a local copy of perl’s stack pointer, available via
               the "SP" macro.  See "SP".  (Available for backward source code
               compatibility with the old (Perl 5.005) thread model.)

                               djSP;

       LVRET   True if this op will be the return value of an lvalue
               subroutine

SV Manipulation Functions

       sv_add_arena
               Given a chunk of memory, link it to the head of the list of
               arenas, and split it into a list of free SVs.

                       void    sv_add_arena(char* ptr, U32 size, U32 flags)

       sv_clean_all
               Decrement the refcnt of each remaining SV, possibly triggering
               a cleanup. This function may have to be called multiple times
               to free SVs which are in complex self-referential hierarchies.

                       I32     sv_clean_all()

       sv_clean_objs
               Attempt to destroy all objects not yet freed

                       void    sv_clean_objs()

       sv_free_arenas
               Deallocate the memory used by all arenas. Note that all the
               individual SV heads and bodies within the arenas must already
               have been freed.

                       void    sv_free_arenas()

SV-Body Allocation

       sv_2num Return an SV with the numeric value of the source SV, doing any
               necessary reference or overload conversion.  You must use the
               "SvNUM(sv)" macro to access this function.

                       SV*     sv_2num(SV* sv)

Unicode Support

       find_uninit_var
               Find the name of the undefined variable (if any) that caused
               the operator o to issue a "Use of uninitialized value" warning.
               If match is true, only return a name if it’s value matches
               uninit_sv.  So roughly speaking, if a unary operator (such as
               OP_COS) generates a warning, then following the direct child of
               the op may yield an OP_PADSV or OP_GV that gives the name of
               the undefined variable. On the other hand, with OP_ADD there
               are two branches to follow, so we only print the variable name
               if we get an exact match.

               The name is returned as a mortal SV.

               Assumes that PL_op is the op that originally triggered the
               error, and that PL_comppad/PL_curpad points to the currently
               executing pad.

                       SV*     find_uninit_var(OP* obase, SV* uninit_sv, bool top)

       report_uninit
               Print appropriate "Use of uninitialized variable" warning

                       void    report_uninit(SV* uninit_sv)

AUTHORS

       The autodocumentation system was originally added to the Perl core by
       Benjamin Stuhl. Documentation is by whoever was kind enough to document
       their functions.

SEE ALSO

       perlguts(1), perlapi(1)