What's the best way to discover all subroutines a Perl module has?

Question

What's the best way to programatically discover all of the subroutines a perl module has? This could be a module, a class (no @EXPORT), or anything in-between.

Edit: All of the methods below look like they will work. I'd probably use the Class::Sniff or Class::Inspector in production. However, Leon's answer is marked as 'accepted' since it answers the question as posed, even though no strict 'refs' has to be used. :-) Class::Sniff may be a good choice as it progresses; it looks like a lot of thought has gone into it.

Aeroembolism

Answer 1

sub list_module {
    my $module = shift;
    no strict 'refs';
    return grep { defined &{"$module\::$_"} } keys %{"$module\::"}
}

ETA: if you want to filter out imported subroutines, you can do this

use B qw/svref_2object/;

sub in_package {
    my ($coderef, $package) = @_;
    my $cv = svref_2object($coderef);
    return if not $cv->isa('B::CV') or $cv->GV->isa('B::SPECIAL');
    return $cv->GV->STASH->NAME eq $package;
}

sub list_module {
    my $module = shift;
    no strict 'refs';
    return grep { defined &{"$module\::$_"} and in_package(\&{*$_}, $module) } keys %{"$module\::"}
}

Existent

This will also list subroutines that the module imported from other modules. – Mussorgsky

On second thought, it may also be important, depending on the application. – Aeroembolism

True, but there is no easy way to get around that, I think. namespace::clean is the answer to such problems ;-) – Existent

You'd want exists instead of defined to pick up autoloaded subs. – Sly

Second \&.. in 2nd list_module should be same as first. Also, in_package is not filtering imported constants for me on 5.10...will research – Sly

5.10 uses the new constsubs, so it's logical they aren't filtered out. Not sure how to filter those out though... – Existent

Answer 2

Class::Inspector:

Class::Inspector allows you to get information about a loaded class. Most or all of this information can be found in other ways, but they aren't always very friendly, and usually involve a relatively high level of Perl wizardry, or strange and unusual looking code. Class::Inspector attempts to provide an easier, more friendly interface to this information...

Shulamite

For me, this answer was better than Leon's, since I needed all object methods (everything in the inheritance chain). – Tuition

Using Class::Inspector from inside perl debugger is extremely useful, thanks. – Cupbearer

Answer 3

Have a look at this: Class::Sniff

The interface is rather ad-hoc at the moment and is likely to change. After creating a new instance, calling the report method is your best option. You can then visually examine it to look for potential problems:

my $sniff = Class::Sniff->new({class => 'Some::Class'});
print $sniff->report;

This module attempts to help programmers find 'code smells' in the object-oriented code. If it reports something, it does not mean that your code is wrong. It just means that you might want to look at your code a little bit more closely to see if you have any problems.

At the present time, we assume Perl's default left-most, depth-first search order. We may alter this in the future (and there's a work-around with the paths method. More on this later)...

Paronychia

Looks interesting, but fairly new. I'd be hesitant to use it in a production environment. – Aeroembolism

What reasons could you possibly have to get a list of methods in a production environment? – Mussorgsky

I'm interested in prototyping out a Test::Class like tool. Developing prototypes off other untested code can lead to big headaches. :) – Aeroembolism

Good point. I just hope you are not going to test on the production servers. – Mussorgsky

It's new, but Ovid has thought about this problem in great depth. It's not written lightly. See various journal posts related to Class::Sniff here: use.perl.org/journal.pl?op=list&uid=2709 – Nevis

@RobertP You're ready to copy a snippet of code off a web page but balking at a module with documentation and tests? Face your CPAN-phobia. – Jackson

Not CPAN phobia, just a natural instinct to shy at "version 0.08". :) – Aeroembolism