$Id: README,v 1.6 2006-02-05 00:11:42 ian Exp $ NAME Acme::Damn - 'Unbless' Perl objects. SYNOPSIS use Acme::Damn; my $ref = ... some reference ... my $obj = bless $ref , 'Some::Class'; ... do something with your object ... $ref = damn $obj; # recover the original reference (unblessed) ... neither $ref nor $obj are Some::Class objects ... INSTALLATION To install this module type the following: perl Makefile.PL make make test make install Acme::Damn uses XS to access the internals of Perl for it's magic, and therefore must be compiled to be installed. Also, for testing, Acme::Damn relies on Test::More and Test::Exception. DESCRIPTION Acme::Damn provides a single routine, damn(), which takes a blessed reference (a Perl object), and *unblesses* it, to return the original reference. I can't think of any reason why you might want to do this, but just because it's of no use doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to do it. EXPORT By default, Acme::Damn exports the method damn() into the current namespace. Aliases for damn() (see below) may be imported upon request. Methods damn *object* damn() accepts a single blessed reference as its argument, and returns that reference unblessed. If *object* is not a blessed reference, then damn() will "die" with an error. Method Aliases Not everyone likes to damn the same way or in the same language, so Acme::Damn offers the ability to specify any alias on import, provided that alias is a valid Perl subroutine name (i.e. all characters match "\w"). use Acme::Damn qw( unbless ); use Acme::Damn qw( foo ); use Acme::Damn qw( unblessthyself ); use Acme::Damn qw( recant ); Version 0.02 supported a defined list of aliases, and this has been replaced in v0.03 by the ability to import any alias for "damn()". WARNING Just as "bless" doesn't call an object's initialisation code, "damn" doesn't invoke an object's "DESTROY" method. For objects that need to be "DESTROY"ed, either don't "damn" them, or call "DESTROY" before judgement is passed. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to Claes Jacobsson for suggesting the use of aliases. SEE ALSO bless, perlboot, perltoot, perltooc, perlbot, perlobj. AUTHOR Ian Brayshaw, COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE Copyright 2003-2006 Ian Brayshaw This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.