package

NAME

package - declare a separate global namespace


SYNOPSIS

package NAMESPACE


DESCRIPTION

Declares the compilation unit as being in the given namespace. The scope of the package declaration is from the declaration itself through the end of the enclosing block (the same scope as the local() operator). All further unqualified dynamic identifiers will be in this namespace. A package statement only affects dynamic variables--including those you've used local() on--but not lexical variables created with my() . Typically it would be the first declaration in a file to be included by the require or use operator. You can switch into a package in more than one place; it merely influences which symbol table is used by the compiler for the rest of that block. You can refer to variables and filehandles in other packages by prefixing the identifier with the package name and a double colon: $Package::Variable. If the package name is null, the main package as assumed. That is, $::sail is equivalent to $main::sail.

See ``Packages'' for more information about packages, modules, and classes. See the perlsub manpage for other scoping issues.