Perl require or use

[Ejdaha]

Hi all
I have a perl file, in it I declared a function, from another file I want to call this function, how I must write?

Thanks....

[perl_diver]

you could use "use" or "require". What have you tried so far?

[Ejdaha]

I have perl file with name "file_name" and in it I have function with "my_function"
I used require like this

require "file_name";

Perl_code.................
..........
and then

my_function;

There is no result :(

[uncle_bob]

If the included perl file just contains functions then I use

do "includefile.pl";

[Ejdaha]

How can I do it? can you show me brief introduction?

[uncle_bob]

If the file main.pl wants to include functions from subs.pl then the top of main.pl simply looks like

#!/usr/bin/perl 
do "subs.pl";

[Ejdaha]

Ok. Thank you very very much dear!

[perl_diver]

mainscript, call it main.pl:

#!perl
use strict;
use CGI qw/:standard/;;
require "my_subs.pl";

print header;
my $digits = param('digits') ¦¦ 100;
my $incremented = add($digits);
print $incremented;

my_subs.pl (in same folder as main.pl)

use strict;
sub add {
my $number = shift;
$number++;
return($number);
}
1;

note the last line of my_subs.pl, this is important as required files have to return a true value when first called with "require".

You can use the "do" function (not really a function but I don't know what it's called), but in the "do" documentation it says:

Note that inclusion of library modules is better done with the use() and require() operators, which also do automatic error checking and raise an exception if there's a problem.

Note: the ¦¦ is supposed to be the pipe character which is on the same key as the back-slash charater \ , this forum changes it for some reason.

[perl_diver]

note that my_subs.pl has no path to perl line as the first line, it's not needed although you can include it.

[rocknbil]

Doesn't "use" require that the included module be a formal package, adhering to exported package specs?

In any case, I read long ago "use" is preferred over require, but I use use "require" for all my includes.

Oh my, look at that, use require, require use . . .

[perl_diver]

according to the perl documentation, using "use" is the same as:

BEGIN { require Module; import Module LIST; }
except that Module must be a bareword.

for all the dirty details:

[perldoc.perl.org...]