lib(3) — IRIX 6.5.3f



lib(3)                                                                  lib(3)



NAME
     lib - manipulate @INC at compile time

SYNOPSIS
         use lib LIST;

         no lib LIST;


DESCRIPTION
     This is a small simple module which simplifies the manipulation of @INC
     at compile time.

     It is typically used to add extra directories to perl's search path so
     that later use or require statements will find modules which are not
     located on perl's default search path.

     ADDING DIRECTORIES TO @INC

     The parameters to use lib are added to the start of the perl search path.
     Saying

         use lib LIST;

     is almost the same as saying

         BEGIN { unshift(@INC, LIST) }

     For each directory in LIST (called $dir here) the lib module also checks
     to see if a directory called $dir/$archname/auto exists.  If so the
     $dir/$archname directory is assumed to be a corresponding architecture
     specific directory and is added to @INC in front of $dir.

     If LIST includes both $dir and $dir/$archname then $dir/$archname will be
     added to @INC twice (if $dir/$archname/auto exists).

     DELETING DIRECTORIES FROM @INC

     You should normally only add directories to @INC.  If you need to delete
     directories from @INC take care to only delete those which you added
     yourself or which you are certain are not needed by other modules in your
     script.  Other modules may have added directories which they need for
     correct operation.

     By default the no lib statement deletes the first instance of each named
     directory from @INC.  To delete multiple instances of the same name from
     @INC you can specify the name multiple times.

     To delete all instances of all the specified names from @INC you can
     specify ':ALL' as the first parameter of no lib. For example:





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lib(3)                                                                  lib(3)



         no lib qw(:ALL .);

     For each directory in LIST (called $dir here) the lib module also checks
     to see if a directory called $dir/$archname/auto exists.  If so the
     $dir/$archname directory is assumed to be a corresponding architecture
     specific directory and is also deleted from @INC.

     If LIST includes both $dir and $dir/$archname then $dir/$archname will be
     deleted from @INC twice (if $dir/$archname/auto exists).

     RESTORING ORIGINAL @INC

     When the lib module is first loaded it records the current value of @INC
     in an array @lib::ORIG_INC. To restore @INC to that value you can say

         @INC = @lib::ORIG_INC;


SEE ALSO
     FindBin - optional module which deals with paths relative to the source
     file.

AUTHOR
     Tim Bunce, 2nd June 1995.































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