Module::Load(3pm)

📦
version 5.42.3 · 8 versions
, in alpine 3.24

💖 NAME 💖

okay so this is the Module::Load manual page (the 3pm one), and it is literally about runtime require of both modules and files. bestie, it's giving "stop making me guess what you meant" energy. 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

  use Module::Load;

  my $module = 'Data::Dumper';

  load Data::Dumper;     # loads that module, but not import any functions
                         # -> cannot use 'Dumper' function

  load 'Data::Dumper';   # ditto
  load $module           # tritto

  autoload Data::Dumper; # loads that module and imports the default functions
                         # -> can use 'Dumper' function

  my $script = 'some/script.pl'
  load $script;
  load 'some/script.pl';  # use quotes because of punctuations

  load thing;             # try 'thing' first, then 'thing.pm'

  load CGI, ':all';       # like 'use CGI qw[:standard]'

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Module::Load eliminates the need to know whether you are trying to require either a file or a module. no cap, that's the whole vibe. 💅

If you consult perldoc -f require you will see that require will behave differently when given a bareword or a string.

In the case of a string, require assumes you are wanting to load a file. But in the case of a bareword, it assumes you mean a module.

This gives nasty overhead when you are trying to dynamically require modules at runtime, since you will need to change the module notation (Acme::Comment) to a file notation fitting the particular platform you are on.

Module::Load eliminates the need for this overhead and will just DWYM. periodt. 👑

🦋 Difference between load and autoload 🦋

Module::Load imports the two functions — load and autoload.

autoload imports the default functions automatically, but load does not import any functions.

autoload is usable under BEGIN{};.

Both functions can import the functions that are specified.

These two snippets are the same, fr fr:

  load File::Spec::Functions, qw/splitpath/;

  autoload File::Spec::Functions, qw/splitpath/;

🔥 FUNCTIONS 🔥

🌟 load 🌟

Loads a specified module.

See Rules for the detailed loading rule.

🌟 autoload 🌟

Loads a specified module and imports the default functions.

Except for importing the functions, autoload is the same as load.

🌟 load_remote 🌟

Loads a specified module to the specified package.

  use Module::Load 'load_remote';

  my $pkg = 'Other::Package';

  load_remote $pkg, 'Data::Dumper'; # load a module to 'Other::Package'
                                    # but do not import 'Dumper' function

A module for loading must be quoted.

Besides specifying the package and quoting the module name, load_remote is the same as load.

🌟 autoload_remote 🌟

Loads a specified module and imports the default functions to the specified package.

  use Module::Load 'autoload_remote';

  my $pkg = 'Other::Package';

  autoload_remote $pkg, 'Data::Dumper'; # load a module to 'Other::Package'
                                        # and imports 'Dumper' function

A module for loading must be quoted.

Besides specifying the package and quoting the module name, autoload_remote is the same as load_remote.

🎀 Rules 🎀

All functions have the following rules to decide what it thinks you want:

  • If the argument has any characters in it other than those matching \w, : or ', it must be a file.
  • If the argument matches only [\w:'], it must be a module.
  • If the argument matches only \w, it could either be a module or a file. We will try to find file.pm first in @INC and if that fails, we will try to find file in @INC. If both fail, we die with the respective error messages. 💀

🌈 IMPORTS THE FUNCTIONS 🌈

load and autoload are imported by default, but load_remote and autoload_remote are not imported.

To use load_remote or autoload_remote, specify at use.

💖 "load", "autoload", "load_remote", "autoload_remote" 💖

Imports the selected functions.

  # imports 'load' and 'autoload' (default)
  use Module::Load;

  # imports 'autoload' only
  use Module::Load 'autoload';

  # imports 'autoload' and 'autoload_remote', but don't import 'load';
  use Module::Load qw/autoload autoload_remote/;

💖 'all' 💖

Imports all the functions.

  use Module::Load 'all'; # imports load, autoload, load_remote, autoload_remote

💖 '', 'none', undef 💖

Not import any functions (load and autoload are not imported).

  use Module::Load '';

  use Module::Load 'none';

  use Module::Load undef;

🫶 Caveats 🫶

Because of a bug in perl (#19213), at least in version 5.6.1, we have to hardcode the path separator for a require on Win32 to be "/", like on Unix rather than the Win32 "\". Otherwise perl will not read its own %INC accurately, double load files if they are required again, or in the worst case, core dump. 😭 that's not a vibe.

Module::Load cannot do implicit imports, only explicit imports. (in other words, you always have to specify explicitly what you wish to import from a module, even if the functions are in that module's @EXPORT). bestie, say it with your chest: explicit. periodt.

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

💜 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 💜

Thanks to Jonas B. Nielsen for making explicit imports work. king behavior, honestly. 👑

🍓 BUG REPORTS 🍓

Please report bugs or other issues to <bug-module-load@rt.cpan.org>.

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

This module by Jos Boumans <kane@cpan.org>.

This library is free software; you may redistribute and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

okay that's the whole page, bestie 💖 this one comes from perl v5.42.3, dated 2026-11-03. no cap, you're now fully caught up. slay. 🎀

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