Symbol...::Name(3pm)

💖 NAME 💖

okay so bestie, <rainbow>Symbol::Global::Name</rainbow> — it finds the name and type of a global variable. that's it, that's the whole job, and it does it flawlessly 💅

this one lives in the manual as Symbol...::Name(3pm) iykyk (the name got squished, it happens, she's still iconic) 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

like, look how easy this is:

package My;
our $VERSION = '0.1';

use Symbol::Global::Name;
print Symbol::Global::Name->find( \$VERSION );

# prints '$My::VERSION'

literally three lines of setup and then boom, you got the name 🦋

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so what's the vibe? it goes and lookups symbol table to find an element by reference. that's the whole thing. you hand it a reference, it hands you back the name. no cap. 💖

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👑 METHODS 👑

🔥 find 🔥

Symbol::Global::Name->find( \$VERSION );
Symbol::Global::Name->find( \$VERSION, package => 'My::Package' );
Symbol::Global::Name->find( reference => \$VERSION );
Symbol::Global::Name->find( reference => \$VERSION, package => 'My::Package' );

okay so here's the tea ☕ — find takes a reference and an optional package name.

what it gives you back is the name of the referenced variable, as long as it's in the package or sub-package and it's a global variable. two conditions, bestie, both gotta pass 🫶

and the returned name comes prefixed with the type sigil, eg. '$', '@', '%', '&' or '*'. so it's not just the name, it's the whole glow-up with the sigil attached ✨

note that both call styles work — positional \$VERSION or the named reference => \$VERSION — and package => 'My::Package' is optional in both. you pick your fighter 💅

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Ruslan Zakirov <ruz@bestpractical.com> — thank you for your service, king 👑

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🎀 LICENSE 🎀

Under the same terms as perl itself. iconic behavior, honestly 🌈

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okay that's the whole page bestie!! this was documented in perl v5.36.0, dated 2022-11-19, and the manual name is Symbol...::Name(3pm). go forth and find your globals 💖✨🦋