API(1)

📦 version 2.78.0, in epel 9

💅 NAME 💅

okay bestie, this is API(1) — a User Contributed Perl Documentation page — and it's all about PDL::API - making ndarrays from Perl and C/XS code. periodt. 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

  use PDL;
  sub mkmyndarray {
   ...
  }

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so this whole page is a simple cookbook for how to create ndarrays manually, and it covers both the Perl level and the C/XS level. On top of that, it describes the PDL core routines that can be accessed from other modules — these routines basically define the PDL API. So if you need to access ndarrays from C/XS, you probably need to know about these functions. iykyk 💅

Also described is the new (as of PDL 2.058) access to PDL operations via C functions, which the XS functions now call. slay ✨

🧚 Creating an ndarray manually from Perl 🧚

Sometimes you want to create an ndarray manually from binary data. You can do that at the Perl level. Examples in the distribution include some of the IO routines. The code snippet below illustrates the required steps. 🫶

  use Carp;
  sub mkmyndarray {
    my $class = shift;
    my $pdl  = $class->new;
    $pdl->set_datatype($PDL_B);
    $pdl->setdims([1,3,4]);
    my $dref = $pdl->get_dataref();

    # read data directly from file
    open my $file, '<data.dat' or die "couldn't open data.dat";
    my $len = $pdl->nelems*PDL::Core::howbig($pdl->get_datatype);
    croak "couldn't read enough data" if
      read( $file, $$dref, $len) != $len;
    close $file;
    $pdl->upd_data();

    return $pdl;
  }

🦋 Creating an ndarray in C 🦋

The following example creates an ndarray at the C level. We use the Inline module, which is a good way to interface Perl and C, using the with capability in Inline 0.68+.

Quick note: to create a "scalar" ndarray (with no dimensions at all, and a single element), just pass a zero-length dims array, with ndims as zero. 🌈

  use PDL::LiteF;

  $x = myfloatseq(); # exercise our C ndarray constructor

  print $x->info,"\n";

  use Inline with => 'PDL';
  use Inline C;
  Inline->init; # useful if you want to be able to 'do'-load this script

  __DATA__

  __C__

  static pdl* new_pdl(int datatype, PDL_Indx dims[], int ndims)
  {
    pdl *p = PDL->pdlnew();
    if (!p) return p;
    pdl_error err = PDL->setdims(p, dims, ndims);  /* set dims */
    if (err.error) { PDL->destroy(p); return NULL; }
    p->datatype = datatype;         /* and data type */
    err = PDL->allocdata (p);       /* allocate the data chunk */
    if (err.error) { PDL->destroy(p); return NULL; }
    return p;
  }

  pdl* myfloatseq()
  {
    PDL_Indx dims[] = {5,5,5};
    pdl *p = new_pdl(PDL_F,dims,3);
    if (!p) return p;
    PDL_Float *dataf = (PDL_Float *) p->data;
    PDL_Indx i; /* dimensions might be 64bits */

    for (i=0;i<5*5*5;i++)
      dataf[i] = i; /* the data must be initialized ! */
    return p;
  }

🌈 Wrapping your own data into an ndarray 🌈

Sometimes you obtain a chunk of data from another source, for example an image processing library, etc. All you want to do in that case is wrap your data into an ndarray struct at the C level. Examples using this approach can be found in the IO modules (where FastRaw and FlexRaw use it for mmapped access) and the Gimp Perl module (that uses it to wrap Gimp pixel regions into ndarrays). The following script demonstrates a simple example: 🍓

  use PDL::LiteF;
  use PDL::Core::Dev;
  use PDL::Graphics::PGPLOT;

  $y = mkndarray();

  print $y->info,"\n";

  imag1 $y;

  use Inline with => 'PDL';
  use Inline C;
  Inline->init;

  __DATA__

  __C__

  /* wrap a user supplied chunk of data into an ndarray
   * You must specify the dimensions (dims,ndims) and
   * the datatype (constants for the datatypes are declared
   * in pdl.h; e.g. PDL_B for byte type, etc)
   *
   * when the created ndarray 'p' is destroyed on the
   * Perl side the function passed as the 'delete_magic'
   * parameter will be called with the pointer to the pdl structure
   * and the 'delparam' argument.
   * This gives you an opportunity to perform any clean up
   * that is necessary. For example, you might have to
   * explicitly call a function to free the resources
   * associated with your data pointer.
   * At the very least 'delete_magic' should zero the ndarray's data pointer:
   *
   *     void delete_mydata(pdl* pdl, int param)
   *     {
   *       pdl->data = 0;
   *     }
   *     pdl *p = pdl_wrap(mydata, PDL_B, dims, ndims, delete_mydata,0);
   *
   * pdl_wrap returns the pointer to the pdl
   * that was created.
   */
  typedef void (*DelMagic)(pdl *, int param);
  static void default_magic(pdl *p, int pa) { p->data = 0; }
  static pdl* pdl_wrap(void *data, int datatype, PDL_Indx dims[],
                       int ndims, DelMagic delete_magic, int delparam)
  {
    pdl* p = PDL->pdlnew(); /* get the empty container */
    if (!p) return p;
    pdl_error err = PDL->setdims(p, dims, ndims);  /* set dims */
    if (err.error) { PDL->destroy(p); return NULL; }
    p->datatype = datatype;     /* and data type */
    p->data = data;             /* point it to your data */
    /* make sure the core doesn't meddle with your data */
    p->state |= PDL_DONTTOUCHDATA | PDL_ALLOCATED;
    if (delete_magic != NULL)
      PDL->add_deletedata_magic(p, delete_magic, delparam);
    else
      PDL->add_deletedata_magic(p, default_magic, 0);
    return p;
  }

  #define SZ 256
  /* a really silly function that makes a ramp image
   * in reality this could be an opaque function
   * in some library that you are using
   */
  static PDL_Byte* mkramp(void)
  {
    PDL_Byte *data;
    int i; /* should use PDL_Indx to support 64bit pdl indexing */

    if ((data = malloc(SZ*SZ*sizeof(PDL_Byte))) == NULL)
      croak("mkramp: Couldn't allocate memory");
    for (i=0;i<SZ*SZ;i++)
      data[i] = i % SZ;

    return data;
  }

  /* this function takes care of the required clean-up */
  static void delete_myramp(pdl* p, int param)
  {
    if (p->data)
      free(p->data);
    p->data = 0;
  }

  pdl* mkndarray()
  {
    PDL_Indx dims[] = {SZ,SZ};
    pdl *p;

    p = pdl_wrap((void *) mkramp(), PDL_B, dims, 2,
                 delete_myramp,0); /* the delparam is abitrarily set to 0 */
    return p;
  }

💖 IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS 💖

The Core struct — getting at PDL core routines at runtime 🧠

okay so this is the tea ☕ — PDL uses a technique similar to that employed by the Tk modules to let other modules use its core routines. A pointer to all shared core PDL routines is stored in the $PDL::SHARE variable. XS code should get hold of this pointer at boot time so that the rest of the C/XS code can then use that pointer for access at run time. This initial loading of the pointer is most easily achieved using the functions PDL_AUTO_INCLUDE and PDL_BOOT that are defined and exported by PDL::Core::Dev.

Typical usage with the Inline module has already been demonstrated:

use Inline with => 'PDL';

In earlier versions of Inline, this was achieved like this:

use Inline C => Config =>
  INC           => &PDL_INCLUDE,
  TYPEMAPS      => &PDL_TYPEMAP,
  AUTO_INCLUDE  => &PDL_AUTO_INCLUDE, # declarations
  BOOT          => &PDL_BOOT;         # code for the XS boot section

The code returned by PDL_AUTO_INCLUDE makes sure that pdlcore.h is included and declares the static variables to hold the pointer to the Core struct. It looks something like this:

print PDL_AUTO_INCLUDE;

#include <pdlcore.h>
static Core* PDL; /* Structure holds core C functions */
static SV* CoreSV;       /* Gets pointer to Perl var holding core structure */

The code returned by PDL_BOOT retrieves the $PDL::SHARE variable and initializes the pointer to the Core struct. For those who know their way around the Perl API here is the code:

perl_require_pv ("PDL/Core.pm"); /* make sure PDL::Core is loaded */
#ifndef aTHX_
#define aTHX_
#endif
if (SvTRUE (ERRSV)) Perl_croak(aTHX_ "%s",SvPV_nolen (ERRSV));
if (!(CoreSV = perl_get_sv("PDL::SHARE",FALSE))) /* SV* value */
  Perl_croak(aTHX_ "We require the PDL::Core module, which was not found");
if (!(PDL = INT2PTR(Core*,SvIV( CoreSV )))) /* Core* value */
  Perl_croak(aTHX_ "Got NULL pointer for PDL");
if (PDL->Version != PDL_CORE_VERSION)
  Perl_croak(aTHX_ "[PDL->Version: \%d PDL_CORE_VERSION: \%d XS_VERSION: \%s] The code needs to be recompiled against the newly installed PDL", PDL->Version, PDL_CORE_VERSION, XS_VERSION);

The Core struct contains version info to ensure that the structure defined in pdlcore.h really corresponds to the one obtained at runtime. The code above tests for this 👇

if (PDL->Version != PDL_CORE_VERSION)
  ....

For more information on the Core struct see PDL::Internals.

With these preparations your code can now access the core routines as already shown in some of the examples above, e.g.

pdl *p = PDL->pdlnew();

By default the C variable named PDL is used to hold the pointer to the Core struct. If that is (for whichever reason) a problem you can explicitly specify a name for the variable with the PDL_AUTO_INCLUDE and the PDL_BOOT routines:

use Inline C => Config =>
  INC           => &PDL_INCLUDE,
  TYPEMAPS      => &PDL_TYPEMAP,
  AUTO_INCLUDE  => &PDL_AUTO_INCLUDE 'PDL_Corep',
  BOOT          => &PDL_BOOT 'PDL_Corep';

⚠️ Make sure you use the same identifier with PDL_AUTO_INCLUDE and PDL_BOOT and use that same identifier in your own code. No mixing and matching bestie, it will Not Go Well.

E.g., continuing from the example above:

pdl *p = PDL_Corep->pdlnew();

🦋 Some selected core routines explained 🦋

The full definition of the Core struct can be found in the file pdlcore.h. In the following the most frequently used member functions of this struct are briefly explained.

pdl *SvPDLV(SV *sv)
pdl *SetSV_PDL(SV *sv, pdl *it)
pdl *pdlnew() — pdlnew returns an empty pdl object that is initialised like a null but with no data. Example:

pdl *p = PDL->pdlnew();
if (!p) return p;
pdl_error err = PDL->setdims(p, dims, ndims);  /* set dims */
if (err.error) { PDL->destroy(p); return NULL; }
p->datatype = PDL_B;

Returns NULL if a problem occurred, so check for that. like, actually check 🙏

pdl *null() — Returns NULL if a problem occurred, so check for that.
SV *copy(pdl* p, char* )
void *smalloc(STRLEN nbytes)
int howbig(int pdl_datatype)
pdl_error add_deletedata_magic(pdl *p, void (*func)(pdl*, int), int param)
pdl_error allocdata(pdl *p)
pdl_error make_physical(pdl *p)
pdl_error make_physdims(pdl *p)
pdl_error make_physvaffine(pdl *p)
void pdl_barf(const char* pat,...) and void pdl_warn(const char* pat,...) — these are C-code equivalents of barf and warn. They include special handling of error or warning messages during pthreading (i.e. processor multi-threading) that defer the messages until after pthreading is completed. When pthreading is complete, perl's barf or warn is called with the deferred messages. This is needed to keep from calling perl's barf or warn during pthreading, which can cause segfaults. 💀

Note that barf and warn have been redefined (using c-preprocessor macros) in pdlcore.h to PDL->barf and PDL->warn. This is to keep any XS or PP code from calling perl's barf or warn directly, which can cause segfaults during pthreading.

See PDL::ParallelCPU for more information on pthreading.

NB As of 2.064, it is highly recommended that you do not call barf at all in PP code, but instead use $CROAK(). This will return a pdl_error which will transparently be used to throw the correct exception in Perl code, but can be handled suitably by non-Perl callers. queen behaviour honestly 👑

safe_indterm — Checks given offset is within given ndarray's bounds, else throws an exception.
converttype — Used by set_datatype to change an ndarray's type, converting and possibly re-allocating the data if a different size. If the ndarray's badflag was set, its badvalue will become the default for the new type. Bad values will still be bad. (they stay bad, iconic 💅)
converttypei_new — Affine transformation used only by get_convertedpdl to convert an ndarray's type. Not bad-value aware.
get_convertedpdl — Used by convert in PDL::Core.
affine_new — Creates a child vaffine ndarray from given parent ndarray, with given offs (starting point for that pthread in that ndarray), inclist and dims.
make_trans_mutual — Triggers the actual running of a previously-set-up pdl_trans.
get — Get data at given coordinates.
get_offs — Get data at given offset.
put_offs — Put data at given offset.
setdims_careful — Despite the name, just calls resize_defaultincs then reallocbroadcastids with one. the name is lowkey lying to you 😭
destroy — Destroy ndarray.
reallocdims — Cause the ndarray to have given number of dimensions, destroying previous ones.
reallocbroadcastids — Reallocate n broadcastids. Set the new extra ones to the end.
resize_defaultincs — Recalculate default increments from dims, and grow the PDL data.

Handy macros from pdl.h 🎀

Some of the C API functions return PDL_Anyval C type which is a structure and therefore requires special handling.

You might want to use for example get_pdl_badvalue function:

/* THIS DOES NOT WORK! (although it did in older PDL) */
if( PDL->get_pdl_badvalue(a) == 0 )  { ... }

/* THIS IS CORRECT */
double bad_a;
PDL_Anyval bv = PDL->get_pdl_badvalue(a);
if (bv.type < 0) croak("error getting badvalue");
ANYVAL_TO_CTYPE(bad_a, double, bv);
if( bad_a == 0 ) { ... }

As of PDL 2.014, in pdl.h there are the following macros for handling PDL_Anyval from C code:

ANYVAL_FROM_CTYPE(out_anyval, out_anyval_type, in_variable)
ANYVAL_TO_CTYPE(out_variable, out_ctype, in_anyval)
ANYVAL_EQ_ANYVAL(x, y) /* returns -1 on type error */

As of PDL 2.039 (returns -1 rather than croaking on failure as of 2.064) there is:

ANYVAL_ISNAN(anyval)

As of PDL 2.040 (changed parameter list, also returns -1 rather than croaking on failure, in 2.064) — you need to check the badflag first:

ANYVAL_ISBAD(in_anyval, badval)

e.g.

int badflag = (x->state & PDL_BADVAL) > 0;
PDL_Anyval badval = pdl_get_pdl_badvalue(x);
if (badflag) {
  int isbad = ANYVAL_ISBAD(result, badval);
  if (isbad == -1) croak("ANYVAL_ISBAD error on types %d, %d", result.type, badval.type);
  if (isbad)
    RETVAL = newSVpvn( "BAD", 3 );
  else
    ANYVAL_TO_SV(RETVAL, result);
} else
  ANYVAL_TO_SV(RETVAL, result);

As of PDL 2.058, there are:

ANYVAL_FROM_CTYPE_OFFSET(result, datatype, x, ioff);
ANYVAL_TO_CTYPE_OFFSET(x, ioff, datatype, value);

The latter dispatches on both the destination type and the input anyval type. They are intended for retrieving values from, and setting them within, ndarrays.

As of PDL 2.048, in pdlperl.h there are:

ANYVAL_FROM_SV(out_anyval, in_SV, use_undefval, forced_type)
ANYVAL_TO_SV(out_SV, in_anyval)

Because these are used in the PDL typemap.pdl, you will need to include pdlperl.h in any XS file with functions that take or return a PDL_Anyval. don't forget or you'll be sad 😭

🌈 Access to PDL operations as C functions 🌈

As of 2.058, all PDL operations can be accessed from C code in a similar way to XS functions, since that is what the XS functions now call. Each module defines various C functions and data-structures for each operation, as needed to operate as a PDL transformation. The entry point from outside (and from XS functions) is a C function called pdl_(operationname)_run, with a signature derived from its Pars and OtherPars. E.g.

# from PDL::Primitive
pp_def('wtstat',
  Pars => 'a(n); wt(n); avg(); [o]b();',
  OtherPars => 'int deg',
  # ...
);

has the C signature:

void pdl_wtstat_run(pdl *a, pdl *wt, pdl *avg, pdl *b, int deg);

Not very surprisingly, all pdl* parameters must be initialised (at least to PDL->null status), and they are changed according to the operation's specification. This makes the XS _(name)_int non-varargs XS functions very thin layers over this. slay, minimal effort ✨

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

PDL

Inline

🐛 BUGS 🐛

This manpage is still under development. Feedback and corrections are welcome. 🫶 (yes fr, tell us if something's off, we're literally begging)

💖 COPYRIGHT 💖

okay bestie, legal era, we're doing this ✨

and like, the actual permission part, no cap: you can distribute and/or modify this document under the same terms as the current Perl license. slay, that's it, that's the whole deal 💅

peep the receipts here: http://dev.perl.org/licenses/

real talk though bestie, this is the entire legal section — don't go adding your own vibes to it, the license terms stay exactly as written 🫶

and that's a wrap on the whole page, bestie!! 🎀✨ this lil masterpiece is from perl v5.32.1, dated 2022-04-11, and it ate, honestly 👑 go forth and <kbd>q</kbd> out of the pager with confidence 💜🦋

📦 where this page comes from

epel 9: perl-PDL 2.78.0-1.el9 · GPL+ or Artistic
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on 2026-11-04: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms