UNIVERSAL man page on CentOS

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UNIVERSAL(3pm)	       Perl Programmers Reference Guide		UNIVERSAL(3pm)

NAME
       UNIVERSAL - base class for ALL classes (blessed references)

SYNOPSIS
	   $is_io = $fd->isa("IO::Handle");
	   $is_io = Class->isa("IO::Handle");

	   $sub = $obj->can("print");
	   $sub = Class->can("print");

	   use UNIVERSAL qw( isa can VERSION );
	   $yes = isa $ref, "HASH" ;
	   $sub = can $ref, "fandango" ;
	   $ver = VERSION $obj ;

DESCRIPTION
       "UNIVERSAL" is the base class which all bless references will inherit
       from, see perlobj.

       "UNIVERSAL" provides the following methods and functions:

       "$obj->isa( TYPE )"
       "CLASS->isa( TYPE )"
       "isa( VAL, TYPE )"
	   Where

	   "TYPE"
	       is a package name

	   $obj
	       is a blessed reference or a string containing a package name

	   "CLASS"
	       is a package name

	   "VAL"
	       is any of the above or an unblessed reference

	   When used as an instance or class method ("$obj->isa( TYPE )"),
	   "isa" returns true if $obj is blessed into package "TYPE" or inher‐
	   its from package "TYPE".

	   When used as a class method ("CLASS->isa( TYPE )": sometimes
	   referred to as a static method), "isa" returns true if "CLASS"
	   inherits from (or is itself) the name of the package "TYPE" or
	   inherits from package "TYPE".

	   When used as a function, like

	      use UNIVERSAL qw( isa ) ;
	      $yes = isa $h, "HASH";
	      $yes = isa "Foo", "Bar";

	   or

	      require UNIVERSAL ;
	      $yes = UNIVERSAL::isa $a, "ARRAY";

	   "isa" returns true in the same cases as above and also if "VAL" is
	   an unblessed reference to a perl variable of type "TYPE", such as
	   "HASH", "ARRAY", or "Regexp".

       "$obj->can( METHOD )"
       "CLASS->can( METHOD )"
       "can( VAL, METHOD )"
	   "can" checks if the object or class has a method called "METHOD".
	   If it does then a reference to the sub is returned. If it does not
	   then undef is returned.  This includes methods inherited or
	   imported by $obj, "CLASS", or "VAL".

	   "can" cannot know whether an object will be able to provide a
	   method through AUTOLOAD, so a return value of undef does not neces‐
	   sarily mean the object will not be able to handle the method call.
	   To get around this some module authors use a forward declaration
	   (see perlsub) for methods they will handle via AUTOLOAD. For such
	   'dummy' subs, "can" will still return a code reference, which, when
	   called, will fall through to the AUTOLOAD. If no suitable AUTOLOAD
	   is provided, calling the coderef will cause an error.

	   "can" can be called as a class (static) method, an object method,
	   or a function.

	   When used as a function, if "VAL" is a blessed reference or package
	   name which has a method called "METHOD", "can" returns a reference
	   to the subroutine.  If "VAL" is not a blessed reference, or if it
	   does not have a method "METHOD", undef is returned.

       "VERSION ( [ REQUIRE ] )"
	   "VERSION" will return the value of the variable $VERSION in the
	   package the object is blessed into. If "REQUIRE" is given then it
	   will do a comparison and die if the package version is not greater
	   than or equal to "REQUIRE".

	   "VERSION" can be called as either a class (static) method, an
	   object method or a function.

EXPORTS
       None by default.

       You may request the import of all three functions ("isa", "can", and
       "VERSION"), however it isn't usually necessary to do so.	 Perl magi‐
       cally makes these functions act as methods on all objects.  The one
       exception is "isa", which is useful as a function when operating on
       non-blessed references.

perl v5.8.8			  2001-09-21			UNIVERSAL(3pm)
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