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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
3 | perldebug - Perl debugging |
4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
6 | |
7 | First of all, have you tried using the B<-w> switch? |
8 | |
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9 | |
10 | If you're new to the Perl debugger, you may prefer to read |
11 | L<perldebtut>, which is a tutorial introduction to the debugger . |
12 | |
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13 | =head1 The Perl Debugger |
14 | |
15 | If you invoke Perl with the B<-d> switch, your script runs under the |
16 | Perl source debugger. This works like an interactive Perl |
17 | environment, prompting for debugger commands that let you examine |
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18 | source code, set breakpoints, get stack backtraces, change the values of |
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19 | variables, etc. This is so convenient that you often fire up |
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20 | the debugger all by itself just to test out Perl constructs |
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21 | interactively to see what they do. For example: |
22 | |
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23 | $ perl -d -e 42 |
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24 | |
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25 | In Perl, the debugger is not a separate program the way it usually is in the |
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26 | typical compiled environment. Instead, the B<-d> flag tells the compiler |
27 | to insert source information into the parse trees it's about to hand off |
28 | to the interpreter. That means your code must first compile correctly |
29 | for the debugger to work on it. Then when the interpreter starts up, it |
055fd3a9 |
30 | preloads a special Perl library file containing the debugger. |
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31 | |
32 | The program will halt I<right before> the first run-time executable |
33 | statement (but see below regarding compile-time statements) and ask you |
34 | to enter a debugger command. Contrary to popular expectations, whenever |
35 | the debugger halts and shows you a line of code, it always displays the |
36 | line it's I<about> to execute, rather than the one it has just executed. |
37 | |
38 | Any command not recognized by the debugger is directly executed |
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39 | (C<eval>'d) as Perl code in the current package. (The debugger |
40 | uses the DB package for keeping its own state information.) |
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41 | |
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42 | For any text entered at the debugger prompt, leading and trailing whitespace |
43 | is first stripped before further processing. If a debugger command |
44 | coincides with some function in your own program, merely precede the |
45 | function with something that doesn't look like a debugger command, such |
46 | as a leading C<;> or perhaps a C<+>, or by wrapping it with parentheses |
47 | or braces. |
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48 | |
49 | =head2 Debugger Commands |
50 | |
51 | The debugger understands the following commands: |
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52 | |
53 | =over 12 |
54 | |
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55 | =item h |
56 | |
57 | Prints out a summary help message |
58 | |
4e1d3b43 |
59 | =item h [command] |
60 | |
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61 | Prints out a help message for the given debugger command. |
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62 | |
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63 | =item h h |
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64 | |
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65 | The special argument of C<h h> produces the entire help page, which is quite long. |
66 | |
67 | If the output of the C<h h> command (or any command, for that matter) scrolls |
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68 | past your screen, precede the command with a leading pipe symbol so |
69 | that it's run through your pager, as in |
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70 | |
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71 | DB> |h h |
72 | |
73 | You may change the pager which is used via C<o pager=...> command. |
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74 | |
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75 | |
4e1d3b43 |
76 | =item p expr |
77 | |
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78 | Same as C<print {$DB::OUT} expr> in the current package. In particular, |
c997b287 |
79 | because this is just Perl's own C<print> function, this means that nested |
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80 | data structures and objects are not dumped, unlike with the C<x> command. |
81 | |
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82 | The C<DB::OUT> filehandle is opened to F</dev/tty>, regardless of |
83 | where STDOUT may be redirected to. |
84 | |
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85 | =item x [maxdepth] expr |
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86 | |
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87 | Evaluates its expression in list context and dumps out the result in a |
88 | pretty-printed fashion. Nested data structures are printed out |
89 | recursively, unlike the real C<print> function in Perl. When dumping |
90 | hashes, you'll probably prefer 'x \%h' rather than 'x %h'. |
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91 | See L<Dumpvalue> if you'd like to do this yourself. |
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92 | |
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93 | The output format is governed by multiple options described under |
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94 | L<"Configurable Options">. |
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95 | |
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96 | If the C<maxdepth> is included, it must be a numeral I<N>; the value is |
97 | dumped only I<N> levels deep, as if the C<dumpDepth> option had been |
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98 | temporarily set to I<N>. |
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99 | |
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100 | =item V [pkg [vars]] |
101 | |
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102 | Display all (or some) variables in package (defaulting to C<main>) |
103 | using a data pretty-printer (hashes show their keys and values so |
104 | you see what's what, control characters are made printable, etc.). |
105 | Make sure you don't put the type specifier (like C<$>) there, just |
106 | the symbol names, like this: |
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107 | |
108 | V DB filename line |
109 | |
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110 | Use C<~pattern> and C<!pattern> for positive and negative regexes. |
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111 | |
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112 | This is similar to calling the C<x> command on each applicable var. |
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113 | |
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114 | =item X [vars] |
115 | |
116 | Same as C<V currentpackage [vars]>. |
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117 | |
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118 | =item y [level [vars]] |
119 | |
120 | Display all (or some) lexical variables (mnemonic: C<mY> variables) |
121 | in the current scope or I<level> scopes higher. You can limit the |
122 | variables that you see with I<vars> which works exactly as it does |
123 | for the C<V> and C<X> commands. Requires the C<PadWalker> module |
124 | version 0.08 or higher; will warn if this isn't installed. Output |
125 | is pretty-printed in the same style as for C<V> and the format is |
126 | controlled by the same options. |
127 | |
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128 | =item T |
129 | |
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130 | Produce a stack backtrace. See below for details on its output. |
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131 | |
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132 | =item s [expr] |
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133 | |
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134 | Single step. Executes until the beginning of another |
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135 | statement, descending into subroutine calls. If an expression is |
136 | supplied that includes function calls, it too will be single-stepped. |
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137 | |
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138 | =item n [expr] |
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139 | |
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140 | Next. Executes over subroutine calls, until the beginning |
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141 | of the next statement. If an expression is supplied that includes |
142 | function calls, those functions will be executed with stops before |
143 | each statement. |
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144 | |
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145 | =item r |
146 | |
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147 | Continue until the return from the current subroutine. |
148 | Dump the return value if the C<PrintRet> option is set (default). |
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149 | |
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150 | =item <CR> |
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151 | |
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152 | Repeat last C<n> or C<s> command. |
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153 | |
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154 | =item c [line|sub] |
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155 | |
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156 | Continue, optionally inserting a one-time-only breakpoint |
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157 | at the specified line or subroutine. |
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158 | |
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159 | =item l |
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160 | |
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161 | List next window of lines. |
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162 | |
163 | =item l min+incr |
164 | |
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165 | List C<incr+1> lines starting at C<min>. |
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166 | |
167 | =item l min-max |
168 | |
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169 | List lines C<min> through C<max>. C<l -> is synonymous to C<->. |
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170 | |
171 | =item l line |
172 | |
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173 | List a single line. |
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174 | |
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175 | =item l subname |
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176 | |
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177 | List first window of lines from subroutine. I<subname> may |
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178 | be a variable that contains a code reference. |
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179 | |
180 | =item - |
181 | |
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182 | List previous window of lines. |
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183 | |
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184 | =item v [line] |
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185 | |
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186 | View a few lines of code around the current line. |
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187 | |
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188 | =item . |
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189 | |
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190 | Return the internal debugger pointer to the line last |
191 | executed, and print out that line. |
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192 | |
193 | =item f filename |
194 | |
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195 | Switch to viewing a different file or C<eval> statement. If I<filename> |
196 | is not a full pathname found in the values of %INC, it is considered |
197 | a regex. |
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198 | |
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199 | C<eval>ed strings (when accessible) are considered to be filenames: |
200 | C<f (eval 7)> and C<f eval 7\b> access the body of the 7th C<eval>ed string |
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201 | (in the order of execution). The bodies of the currently executed C<eval> |
202 | and of C<eval>ed strings that define subroutines are saved and thus |
203 | accessible. |
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204 | |
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205 | =item /pattern/ |
206 | |
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207 | Search forwards for pattern (a Perl regex); final / is optional. |
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208 | The search is case-insensitive by default. |
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209 | |
210 | =item ?pattern? |
211 | |
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212 | Search backwards for pattern; final ? is optional. |
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213 | The search is case-insensitive by default. |
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214 | |
492652be |
215 | =item L [abw] |
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216 | |
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217 | List (default all) actions, breakpoints and watch expressions |
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218 | |
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219 | =item S [[!]regex] |
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220 | |
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221 | List subroutine names [not] matching the regex. |
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222 | |
223 | =item t |
224 | |
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225 | Toggle trace mode (see also the C<AutoTrace> option). |
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226 | |
227 | =item t expr |
228 | |
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229 | Trace through execution of C<expr>. |
230 | See L<perldebguts/"Frame Listing Output Examples"> for examples. |
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231 | |
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232 | =item b |
233 | |
234 | Sets breakpoint on current line |
235 | |
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236 | =item b [line] [condition] |
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237 | |
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238 | Set a breakpoint before the given line. If a condition |
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239 | is specified, it's evaluated each time the statement is reached: a |
240 | breakpoint is taken only if the condition is true. Breakpoints may |
241 | only be set on lines that begin an executable statement. Conditions |
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242 | don't use C<if>: |
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243 | |
244 | b 237 $x > 30 |
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245 | b 237 ++$count237 < 11 |
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246 | b 33 /pattern/i |
247 | |
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248 | =item b subname [condition] |
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249 | |
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250 | Set a breakpoint before the first line of the named subroutine. I<subname> may |
251 | be a variable containing a code reference (in this case I<condition> |
83ee9e09 |
252 | is not supported). |
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253 | |
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254 | =item b postpone subname [condition] |
255 | |
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256 | Set a breakpoint at first line of subroutine after it is compiled. |
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257 | |
258 | =item b load filename |
259 | |
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260 | Set a breakpoint before the first executed line of the I<filename>, |
261 | which should be a full pathname found amongst the %INC values. |
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262 | |
263 | =item b compile subname |
264 | |
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265 | Sets a breakpoint before the first statement executed after the specified |
266 | subroutine is compiled. |
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267 | |
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268 | =item B line |
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269 | |
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270 | Delete a breakpoint from the specified I<line>. |
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271 | |
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272 | =item B * |
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273 | |
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274 | Delete all installed breakpoints. |
275 | |
276 | =item a [line] command |
277 | |
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278 | Set an action to be done before the line is executed. If I<line> is |
279 | omitted, set an action on the line about to be executed. |
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280 | The sequence of steps taken by the debugger is |
281 | |
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282 | 1. check for a breakpoint at this line |
283 | 2. print the line if necessary (tracing) |
284 | 3. do any actions associated with that line |
285 | 4. prompt user if at a breakpoint or in single-step |
286 | 5. evaluate line |
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287 | |
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288 | For example, this will print out $foo every time line |
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289 | 53 is passed: |
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290 | |
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291 | a 53 print "DB FOUND $foo\n" |
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292 | |
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293 | =item A line |
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294 | |
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295 | Delete an action from the specified line. |
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296 | |
492652be |
297 | =item A * |
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298 | |
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299 | Delete all installed actions. |
300 | |
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301 | =item w expr |
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302 | |
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303 | Add a global watch-expression. We hope you know what one of these |
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304 | is, because they're supposed to be obvious. |
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305 | |
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306 | =item W expr |
307 | |
308 | Delete watch-expression |
309 | |
310 | =item W * |
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311 | |
312 | Delete all watch-expressions. |
313 | |
492652be |
314 | =item o |
315 | |
316 | Display all options |
317 | |
318 | =item o booloption ... |
055fd3a9 |
319 | |
320 | Set each listed Boolean option to the value C<1>. |
321 | |
492652be |
322 | =item o anyoption? ... |
055fd3a9 |
323 | |
324 | Print out the value of one or more options. |
325 | |
492652be |
326 | =item o option=value ... |
055fd3a9 |
327 | |
328 | Set the value of one or more options. If the value has internal |
492652be |
329 | whitespace, it should be quoted. For example, you could set C<o |
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330 | pager="less -MQeicsNfr"> to call B<less> with those specific options. |
331 | You may use either single or double quotes, but if you do, you must |
332 | escape any embedded instances of same sort of quote you began with, |
333 | as well as any escaping any escapes that immediately precede that |
334 | quote but which are not meant to escape the quote itself. In other |
335 | words, you follow single-quoting rules irrespective of the quote; |
492652be |
336 | eg: C<o option='this isn\'t bad'> or C<o option="She said, \"Isn't |
055fd3a9 |
337 | it?\"">. |
338 | |
339 | For historical reasons, the C<=value> is optional, but defaults to |
340 | 1 only where it is safe to do so--that is, mostly for Boolean |
341 | options. It is always better to assign a specific value using C<=>. |
342 | The C<option> can be abbreviated, but for clarity probably should |
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343 | not be. Several options can be set together. See L<"Configurable Options"> |
344 | for a list of these. |
055fd3a9 |
345 | |
346 | =item < ? |
347 | |
348 | List out all pre-prompt Perl command actions. |
349 | |
350 | =item < [ command ] |
351 | |
352 | Set an action (Perl command) to happen before every debugger prompt. |
353 | A multi-line command may be entered by backslashing the newlines. |
354 | B<WARNING> If C<command> is missing, all actions are wiped out! |
355 | |
356 | =item << command |
357 | |
358 | Add an action (Perl command) to happen before every debugger prompt. |
359 | A multi-line command may be entered by backwhacking the newlines. |
360 | |
361 | =item > ? |
362 | |
363 | List out post-prompt Perl command actions. |
364 | |
365 | =item > command |
366 | |
367 | Set an action (Perl command) to happen after the prompt when you've |
368 | just given a command to return to executing the script. A multi-line |
369 | command may be entered by backslashing the newlines (we bet you |
370 | couldn't've guessed this by now). B<WARNING> If C<command> is |
371 | missing, all actions are wiped out! |
372 | |
373 | =item >> command |
374 | |
375 | Adds an action (Perl command) to happen after the prompt when you've |
376 | just given a command to return to executing the script. A multi-line |
b1866b2d |
377 | command may be entered by backslashing the newlines. |
055fd3a9 |
378 | |
379 | =item { ? |
380 | |
381 | List out pre-prompt debugger commands. |
382 | |
383 | =item { [ command ] |
384 | |
385 | Set an action (debugger command) to happen before every debugger prompt. |
386 | A multi-line command may be entered in the customary fashion. |
387 | B<WARNING> If C<command> is missing, all actions are wiped out! |
388 | |
389 | Because this command is in some senses new, a warning is issued if |
390 | you appear to have accidentally entered a block instead. If that's |
391 | what you mean to do, write it as with C<;{ ... }> or even |
392 | C<do { ... }>. |
393 | |
394 | =item {{ command |
395 | |
396 | Add an action (debugger command) to happen before every debugger prompt. |
397 | A multi-line command may be entered, if you can guess how: see above. |
398 | |
399 | =item ! number |
400 | |
401 | Redo a previous command (defaults to the previous command). |
402 | |
403 | =item ! -number |
404 | |
405 | Redo number'th previous command. |
406 | |
407 | =item ! pattern |
408 | |
409 | Redo last command that started with pattern. |
492652be |
410 | See C<o recallCommand>, too. |
055fd3a9 |
411 | |
412 | =item !! cmd |
413 | |
414 | Run cmd in a subprocess (reads from DB::IN, writes to DB::OUT) See |
492652be |
415 | C<o shellBang>, also. Note that the user's current shell (well, |
055fd3a9 |
416 | their C<$ENV{SHELL}> variable) will be used, which can interfere |
417 | with proper interpretation of exit status or signal and coredump |
418 | information. |
419 | |
947cb114 |
420 | =item source file |
5bad0d9e |
421 | |
947cb114 |
422 | Read and execute debugger commands from I<file>. |
423 | I<file> may itself contain C<source> commands. |
5bad0d9e |
424 | |
055fd3a9 |
425 | =item H -number |
426 | |
427 | Display last n commands. Only commands longer than one character are |
428 | listed. If I<number> is omitted, list them all. |
429 | |
430 | =item q or ^D |
431 | |
432 | Quit. ("quit" doesn't work for this, unless you've made an alias) |
433 | This is the only supported way to exit the debugger, though typing |
434 | C<exit> twice might work. |
435 | |
436 | Set the C<inhibit_exit> option to 0 if you want to be able to step |
437 | off the end the script. You may also need to set $finished to 0 |
438 | if you want to step through global destruction. |
439 | |
440 | =item R |
441 | |
442 | Restart the debugger by C<exec()>ing a new session. We try to maintain |
443 | your history across this, but internal settings and command-line options |
444 | may be lost. |
445 | |
446 | The following setting are currently preserved: history, breakpoints, |
447 | actions, debugger options, and the Perl command-line |
448 | options B<-w>, B<-I>, and B<-e>. |
449 | |
450 | =item |dbcmd |
451 | |
452 | Run the debugger command, piping DB::OUT into your current pager. |
453 | |
454 | =item ||dbcmd |
455 | |
c997b287 |
456 | Same as C<|dbcmd> but DB::OUT is temporarily C<select>ed as well. |
055fd3a9 |
457 | |
458 | =item = [alias value] |
459 | |
460 | Define a command alias, like |
461 | |
462 | = quit q |
463 | |
464 | or list current aliases. |
465 | |
466 | =item command |
467 | |
468 | Execute command as a Perl statement. A trailing semicolon will be |
469 | supplied. If the Perl statement would otherwise be confused for a |
470 | Perl debugger, use a leading semicolon, too. |
471 | |
472 | =item m expr |
473 | |
474 | List which methods may be called on the result of the evaluated |
475 | expression. The expression may evaluated to a reference to a |
476 | blessed object, or to a package name. |
477 | |
492652be |
478 | =item M |
479 | |
480 | Displays all loaded modules and their versions |
481 | |
482 | |
055fd3a9 |
483 | =item man [manpage] |
484 | |
485 | Despite its name, this calls your system's default documentation |
486 | viewer on the given page, or on the viewer itself if I<manpage> is |
487 | omitted. If that viewer is B<man>, the current C<Config> information |
488 | is used to invoke B<man> using the proper MANPATH or S<B<-M> |
489 | I<manpath>> option. Failed lookups of the form C<XXX> that match |
490 | known manpages of the form I<perlXXX> will be retried. This lets |
491 | you type C<man debug> or C<man op> from the debugger. |
492 | |
493 | On systems traditionally bereft of a usable B<man> command, the |
494 | debugger invokes B<perldoc>. Occasionally this determination is |
495 | incorrect due to recalcitrant vendors or rather more felicitously, |
496 | to enterprising users. If you fall into either category, just |
497 | manually set the $DB::doccmd variable to whatever viewer to view |
498 | the Perl documentation on your system. This may be set in an rc |
499 | file, or through direct assignment. We're still waiting for a |
500 | working example of something along the lines of: |
4e1d3b43 |
501 | |
055fd3a9 |
502 | $DB::doccmd = 'netscape -remote http://something.here/'; |
503 | |
504 | =back |
505 | |
506 | =head2 Configurable Options |
507 | |
492652be |
508 | The debugger has numerous options settable using the C<o> command, |
055fd3a9 |
509 | either interactively or from the environment or an rc file. |
e00d725b |
510 | (./.perldb or ~/.perldb under Unix.) |
511 | |
4e1d3b43 |
512 | |
513 | =over 12 |
514 | |
e7ea3e70 |
515 | =item C<recallCommand>, C<ShellBang> |
4e1d3b43 |
516 | |
517 | The characters used to recall command or spawn shell. By |
055fd3a9 |
518 | default, both are set to C<!>, which is unfortunate. |
4e1d3b43 |
519 | |
e7ea3e70 |
520 | =item C<pager> |
4e1d3b43 |
521 | |
055fd3a9 |
522 | Program to use for output of pager-piped commands (those beginning |
523 | with a C<|> character.) By default, C<$ENV{PAGER}> will be used. |
524 | Because the debugger uses your current terminal characteristics |
525 | for bold and underlining, if the chosen pager does not pass escape |
526 | sequences through unchanged, the output of some debugger commands |
527 | will not be readable when sent through the pager. |
4e1d3b43 |
528 | |
e7ea3e70 |
529 | =item C<tkRunning> |
36477c24 |
530 | |
531 | Run Tk while prompting (with ReadLine). |
532 | |
e7ea3e70 |
533 | =item C<signalLevel>, C<warnLevel>, C<dieLevel> |
534 | |
4c82ae22 |
535 | Level of verbosity. By default, the debugger leaves your exceptions |
536 | and warnings alone, because altering them can break correctly running |
537 | programs. It will attempt to print a message when uncaught INT, BUS, or |
538 | SEGV signals arrive. (But see the mention of signals in L<BUGS> below.) |
539 | |
540 | To disable this default safe mode, set these values to something higher |
541 | than 0. At a level of 1, you get backtraces upon receiving any kind |
542 | of warning (this is often annoying) or exception (this is |
543 | often valuable). Unfortunately, the debugger cannot discern fatal |
544 | exceptions from non-fatal ones. If C<dieLevel> is even 1, then your |
545 | non-fatal exceptions are also traced and unceremoniously altered if they |
546 | came from C<eval'd> strings or from any kind of C<eval> within modules |
547 | you're attempting to load. If C<dieLevel> is 2, the debugger doesn't |
548 | care where they came from: It usurps your exception handler and prints |
549 | out a trace, then modifies all exceptions with its own embellishments. |
550 | This may perhaps be useful for some tracing purposes, but tends to hopelessly |
551 | destroy any program that takes its exception handling seriously. |
36477c24 |
552 | |
e7ea3e70 |
553 | =item C<AutoTrace> |
36477c24 |
554 | |
e7ea3e70 |
555 | Trace mode (similar to C<t> command, but can be put into |
556 | C<PERLDB_OPTS>). |
36477c24 |
557 | |
e7ea3e70 |
558 | =item C<LineInfo> |
36477c24 |
559 | |
e7ea3e70 |
560 | File or pipe to print line number info to. If it is a pipe (say, |
055fd3a9 |
561 | C<|visual_perl_db>), then a short message is used. This is the |
562 | mechanism used to interact with a slave editor or visual debugger, |
563 | such as the special C<vi> or C<emacs> hooks, or the C<ddd> graphical |
564 | debugger. |
36477c24 |
565 | |
566 | =item C<inhibit_exit> |
567 | |
568 | If 0, allows I<stepping off> the end of the script. |
569 | |
54310121 |
570 | =item C<PrintRet> |
36477c24 |
571 | |
04cf9722 |
572 | Print return value after C<r> command if set (default). |
36477c24 |
573 | |
28d1fb14 |
574 | =item C<ornaments> |
575 | |
055fd3a9 |
576 | Affects screen appearance of the command line (see L<Term::ReadLine>). |
577 | There is currently no way to disable these, which can render |
578 | some output illegible on some displays, or with some pagers. |
579 | This is considered a bug. |
28d1fb14 |
580 | |
54310121 |
581 | =item C<frame> |
36477c24 |
582 | |
055fd3a9 |
583 | Affects the printing of messages upon entry and exit from subroutines. If |
36477c24 |
584 | C<frame & 2> is false, messages are printed on entry only. (Printing |
055fd3a9 |
585 | on exit might be useful if interspersed with other messages.) |
36477c24 |
586 | |
055fd3a9 |
587 | If C<frame & 4>, arguments to functions are printed, plus context |
588 | and caller info. If C<frame & 8>, overloaded C<stringify> and |
589 | C<tie>d C<FETCH> is enabled on the printed arguments. If C<frame |
590 | & 16>, the return value from the subroutine is printed. |
28d1fb14 |
591 | |
592 | The length at which the argument list is truncated is governed by the |
593 | next option: |
e7ea3e70 |
594 | |
595 | =item C<maxTraceLen> |
596 | |
055fd3a9 |
597 | Length to truncate the argument list when the C<frame> option's |
e7ea3e70 |
598 | bit 4 is set. |
36477c24 |
599 | |
6f891d7d |
600 | =item C<windowSize> |
601 | |
602 | Change the size of code list window (default is 10 lines). |
603 | |
4e1d3b43 |
604 | =back |
605 | |
606 | The following options affect what happens with C<V>, C<X>, and C<x> |
607 | commands: |
608 | |
609 | =over 12 |
610 | |
e7ea3e70 |
611 | =item C<arrayDepth>, C<hashDepth> |
4e1d3b43 |
612 | |
613 | Print only first N elements ('' for all). |
614 | |
d03c2a1b |
615 | =item C<dumpDepth> |
616 | |
617 | Limit recursion depth to N levels when dumping structures. |
618 | Negative values are interpreted as infinity. Default: infinity. |
619 | |
e7ea3e70 |
620 | =item C<compactDump>, C<veryCompact> |
4e1d3b43 |
621 | |
055fd3a9 |
622 | Change the style of array and hash output. If C<compactDump>, short array |
e7ea3e70 |
623 | may be printed on one line. |
4e1d3b43 |
624 | |
e7ea3e70 |
625 | =item C<globPrint> |
4e1d3b43 |
626 | |
627 | Whether to print contents of globs. |
628 | |
e7ea3e70 |
629 | =item C<DumpDBFiles> |
4e1d3b43 |
630 | |
631 | Dump arrays holding debugged files. |
632 | |
e7ea3e70 |
633 | =item C<DumpPackages> |
4e1d3b43 |
634 | |
635 | Dump symbol tables of packages. |
636 | |
6ee623d5 |
637 | =item C<DumpReused> |
638 | |
639 | Dump contents of "reused" addresses. |
640 | |
e7ea3e70 |
641 | =item C<quote>, C<HighBit>, C<undefPrint> |
642 | |
055fd3a9 |
643 | Change the style of string dump. The default value for C<quote> |
644 | is C<auto>; one can enable double-quotish or single-quotish format |
645 | by setting it to C<"> or C<'>, respectively. By default, characters |
646 | with their high bit set are printed verbatim. |
e7ea3e70 |
647 | |
54310121 |
648 | =item C<UsageOnly> |
4e1d3b43 |
649 | |
055fd3a9 |
650 | Rudimentary per-package memory usage dump. Calculates total |
651 | size of strings found in variables in the package. This does not |
652 | include lexicals in a module's file scope, or lost in closures. |
4e1d3b43 |
653 | |
36477c24 |
654 | =back |
4e1d3b43 |
655 | |
e00d725b |
656 | After the rc file is read, the debugger reads the C<$ENV{PERLDB_OPTS}> |
657 | environment variable and parses this as the remainder of a `O ...' |
658 | line as one might enter at the debugger prompt. You may place the |
659 | initialization options C<TTY>, C<noTTY>, C<ReadLine>, and C<NonStop> |
660 | there. |
36477c24 |
661 | |
055fd3a9 |
662 | If your rc file contains: |
4e1d3b43 |
663 | |
055fd3a9 |
664 | parse_options("NonStop=1 LineInfo=db.out AutoTrace"); |
4e1d3b43 |
665 | |
055fd3a9 |
666 | then your script will run without human intervention, putting trace |
667 | information into the file I<db.out>. (If you interrupt it, you'd |
668 | better reset C<LineInfo> to F</dev/tty> if you expect to see anything.) |
4e1d3b43 |
669 | |
36477c24 |
670 | =over 12 |
4e1d3b43 |
671 | |
36477c24 |
672 | =item C<TTY> |
4e1d3b43 |
673 | |
36477c24 |
674 | The TTY to use for debugging I/O. |
675 | |
36477c24 |
676 | =item C<noTTY> |
677 | |
055fd3a9 |
678 | If set, the debugger goes into C<NonStop> mode and will not connect to a TTY. If |
679 | interrupted (or if control goes to the debugger via explicit setting of |
680 | $DB::signal or $DB::single from the Perl script), it connects to a TTY |
681 | specified in the C<TTY> option at startup, or to a tty found at |
682 | runtime using the C<Term::Rendezvous> module of your choice. |
36477c24 |
683 | |
055fd3a9 |
684 | This module should implement a method named C<new> that returns an object |
200f06d0 |
685 | with two methods: C<IN> and C<OUT>. These should return filehandles to use |
055fd3a9 |
686 | for debugging input and output correspondingly. The C<new> method should |
687 | inspect an argument containing the value of C<$ENV{PERLDB_NOTTY}> at |
688 | startup, or C<"/tmp/perldbtty$$"> otherwise. This file is not |
689 | inspected for proper ownership, so security hazards are theoretically |
690 | possible. |
36477c24 |
691 | |
692 | =item C<ReadLine> |
693 | |
055fd3a9 |
694 | If false, readline support in the debugger is disabled in order |
695 | to debug applications that themselves use ReadLine. |
36477c24 |
696 | |
697 | =item C<NonStop> |
698 | |
055fd3a9 |
699 | If set, the debugger goes into non-interactive mode until interrupted, or |
36477c24 |
700 | programmatically by setting $DB::signal or $DB::single. |
701 | |
702 | =back |
703 | |
704 | Here's an example of using the C<$ENV{PERLDB_OPTS}> variable: |
4e1d3b43 |
705 | |
055fd3a9 |
706 | $ PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop frame=2" perl -d myprogram |
4e1d3b43 |
707 | |
055fd3a9 |
708 | That will run the script B<myprogram> without human intervention, |
709 | printing out the call tree with entry and exit points. Note that |
710 | C<NonStop=1 frame=2> is equivalent to C<N f=2>, and that originally, |
711 | options could be uniquely abbreviated by the first letter (modulo |
712 | the C<Dump*> options). It is nevertheless recommended that you |
713 | always spell them out in full for legibility and future compatibility. |
4e1d3b43 |
714 | |
055fd3a9 |
715 | Other examples include |
a0d0e21e |
716 | |
1472e7de |
717 | $ PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop LineInfo=listing frame=2" perl -d myprogram |
a0d0e21e |
718 | |
055fd3a9 |
719 | which runs script non-interactively, printing info on each entry |
720 | into a subroutine and each executed line into the file named F<listing>. |
721 | (If you interrupt it, you would better reset C<LineInfo> to something |
36477c24 |
722 | "interactive"!) |
723 | |
055fd3a9 |
724 | Other examples include (using standard shell syntax to show environment |
725 | variable settings): |
36477c24 |
726 | |
055fd3a9 |
727 | $ ( PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop frame=1 AutoTrace LineInfo=tperl.out" |
728 | perl -d myprogram ) |
36477c24 |
729 | |
055fd3a9 |
730 | which may be useful for debugging a program that uses C<Term::ReadLine> |
731 | itself. Do not forget to detach your shell from the TTY in the window that |
732 | corresponds to F</dev/ttyXX>, say, by issuing a command like |
36477c24 |
733 | |
e7ea3e70 |
734 | $ sleep 1000000 |
36477c24 |
735 | |
055fd3a9 |
736 | See L<perldebguts/"Debugger Internals"> for details. |
a0d0e21e |
737 | |
e7ea3e70 |
738 | =head2 Debugger input/output |
739 | |
740 | =over 8 |
741 | |
742 | =item Prompt |
743 | |
4e1d3b43 |
744 | The debugger prompt is something like |
745 | |
746 | DB<8> |
747 | |
748 | or even |
749 | |
750 | DB<<17>> |
751 | |
055fd3a9 |
752 | where that number is the command number, and which you'd use to |
753 | access with the built-in B<csh>-like history mechanism. For example, |
754 | C<!17> would repeat command number 17. The depth of the angle |
755 | brackets indicates the nesting depth of the debugger. You could |
756 | get more than one set of brackets, for example, if you'd already |
757 | at a breakpoint and then printed the result of a function call that |
758 | itself has a breakpoint, or you step into an expression via C<s/n/t |
759 | expression> command. |
4e1d3b43 |
760 | |
54310121 |
761 | =item Multiline commands |
e7ea3e70 |
762 | |
4a6725af |
763 | If you want to enter a multi-line command, such as a subroutine |
055fd3a9 |
764 | definition with several statements or a format, escape the newline |
765 | that would normally end the debugger command with a backslash. |
e7ea3e70 |
766 | Here's an example: |
a0d0e21e |
767 | |
4e1d3b43 |
768 | DB<1> for (1..4) { \ |
769 | cont: print "ok\n"; \ |
770 | cont: } |
771 | ok |
772 | ok |
773 | ok |
774 | ok |
775 | |
776 | Note that this business of escaping a newline is specific to interactive |
777 | commands typed into the debugger. |
778 | |
e7ea3e70 |
779 | =item Stack backtrace |
780 | |
68dc0745 |
781 | Here's an example of what a stack backtrace via C<T> command might |
e7ea3e70 |
782 | look like: |
4e1d3b43 |
783 | |
784 | $ = main::infested called from file `Ambulation.pm' line 10 |
785 | @ = Ambulation::legs(1, 2, 3, 4) called from file `camel_flea' line 7 |
786 | $ = main::pests('bactrian', 4) called from file `camel_flea' line 4 |
787 | |
055fd3a9 |
788 | The left-hand character up there indicates the context in which the |
789 | function was called, with C<$> and C<@> meaning scalar or list |
790 | contexts respectively, and C<.> meaning void context (which is |
791 | actually a sort of scalar context). The display above says |
792 | that you were in the function C<main::infested> when you ran the |
793 | stack dump, and that it was called in scalar context from line |
794 | 10 of the file I<Ambulation.pm>, but without any arguments at all, |
795 | meaning it was called as C<&infested>. The next stack frame shows |
796 | that the function C<Ambulation::legs> was called in list context |
797 | from the I<camel_flea> file with four arguments. The last stack |
798 | frame shows that C<main::pests> was called in scalar context, |
799 | also from I<camel_flea>, but from line 4. |
4e1d3b43 |
800 | |
055fd3a9 |
801 | If you execute the C<T> command from inside an active C<use> |
802 | statement, the backtrace will contain both a C<require> frame and |
803 | an C<eval>) frame. |
e7ea3e70 |
804 | |
055fd3a9 |
805 | =item Line Listing Format |
e7ea3e70 |
806 | |
055fd3a9 |
807 | This shows the sorts of output the C<l> command can produce: |
e7ea3e70 |
808 | |
809 | DB<<13>> l |
810 | 101: @i{@i} = (); |
811 | 102:b @isa{@i,$pack} = () |
812 | 103 if(exists $i{$prevpack} || exists $isa{$pack}); |
813 | 104 } |
814 | 105 |
815 | 106 next |
816 | 107==> if(exists $isa{$pack}); |
817 | 108 |
818 | 109:a if ($extra-- > 0) { |
819 | 110: %isa = ($pack,1); |
820 | |
055fd3a9 |
821 | Breakable lines are marked with C<:>. Lines with breakpoints are |
822 | marked by C<b> and those with actions by C<a>. The line that's |
823 | about to be executed is marked by C<< ==> >>. |
e7ea3e70 |
824 | |
003183f2 |
825 | Please be aware that code in debugger listings may not look the same |
826 | as your original source code. Line directives and external source |
827 | filters can alter the code before Perl sees it, causing code to move |
828 | from its original positions or take on entirely different forms. |
829 | |
e7ea3e70 |
830 | =item Frame listing |
831 | |
055fd3a9 |
832 | When the C<frame> option is set, the debugger would print entered (and |
833 | optionally exited) subroutines in different styles. See L<perldebguts> |
834 | for incredibly long examples of these. |
e7ea3e70 |
835 | |
836 | =back |
837 | |
838 | =head2 Debugging compile-time statements |
839 | |
055fd3a9 |
840 | If you have compile-time executable statements (such as code within |
841 | BEGIN and CHECK blocks or C<use> statements), these will I<not> be |
842 | stopped by debugger, although C<require>s and INIT blocks will, and |
843 | compile-time statements can be traced with C<AutoTrace> option set |
844 | in C<PERLDB_OPTS>). From your own Perl code, however, you can |
4e1d3b43 |
845 | transfer control back to the debugger using the following statement, |
846 | which is harmless if the debugger is not running: |
a0d0e21e |
847 | |
848 | $DB::single = 1; |
849 | |
055fd3a9 |
850 | If you set C<$DB::single> to 2, it's equivalent to having |
4e1d3b43 |
851 | just typed the C<n> command, whereas a value of 1 means the C<s> |
852 | command. The C<$DB::trace> variable should be set to 1 to simulate |
853 | having typed the C<t> command. |
854 | |
055fd3a9 |
855 | Another way to debug compile-time code is to start the debugger, set a |
856 | breakpoint on the I<load> of some module: |
e7ea3e70 |
857 | |
858 | DB<7> b load f:/perllib/lib/Carp.pm |
859 | Will stop on load of `f:/perllib/lib/Carp.pm'. |
860 | |
055fd3a9 |
861 | and then restart the debugger using the C<R> command (if possible). One can use C<b |
e7ea3e70 |
862 | compile subname> for the same purpose. |
863 | |
4e1d3b43 |
864 | =head2 Debugger Customization |
a0d0e21e |
865 | |
055fd3a9 |
866 | The debugger probably contains enough configuration hooks that you |
867 | won't ever have to modify it yourself. You may change the behaviour |
492652be |
868 | of debugger from within the debugger using its C<o> command, from |
055fd3a9 |
869 | the command line via the C<PERLDB_OPTS> environment variable, and |
870 | from customization files. |
a0d0e21e |
871 | |
055fd3a9 |
872 | You can do some customization by setting up a F<.perldb> file, which |
a0d0e21e |
873 | contains initialization code. For instance, you could make aliases |
4e1d3b43 |
874 | like these (the last one is one people expect to be there): |
a0d0e21e |
875 | |
4e1d3b43 |
876 | $DB::alias{'len'} = 's/^len(.*)/p length($1)/'; |
a0d0e21e |
877 | $DB::alias{'stop'} = 's/^stop (at|in)/b/'; |
4e1d3b43 |
878 | $DB::alias{'ps'} = 's/^ps\b/p scalar /'; |
055fd3a9 |
879 | $DB::alias{'quit'} = 's/^quit(\s*)/exit/'; |
4e1d3b43 |
880 | |
055fd3a9 |
881 | You can change options from F<.perldb> by using calls like this one; |
36477c24 |
882 | |
883 | parse_options("NonStop=1 LineInfo=db.out AutoTrace=1 frame=2"); |
884 | |
055fd3a9 |
885 | The code is executed in the package C<DB>. Note that F<.perldb> is |
774d564b |
886 | processed before processing C<PERLDB_OPTS>. If F<.perldb> defines the |
055fd3a9 |
887 | subroutine C<afterinit>, that function is called after debugger |
774d564b |
888 | initialization ends. F<.perldb> may be contained in the current |
055fd3a9 |
889 | directory, or in the home directory. Because this file is sourced |
890 | in by Perl and may contain arbitrary commands, for security reasons, |
891 | it must be owned by the superuser or the current user, and writable |
892 | by no one but its owner. |
36477c24 |
893 | |
055fd3a9 |
894 | If you want to modify the debugger, copy F<perl5db.pl> from the |
895 | Perl library to another name and hack it to your heart's content. |
896 | You'll then want to set your C<PERL5DB> environment variable to say |
897 | something like this: |
36477c24 |
898 | |
899 | BEGIN { require "myperl5db.pl" } |
900 | |
055fd3a9 |
901 | As a last resort, you could also use C<PERL5DB> to customize the debugger |
902 | by directly setting internal variables or calling debugger functions. |
903 | |
904 | Note that any variables and functions that are not documented in |
905 | this document (or in L<perldebguts>) are considered for internal |
906 | use only, and as such are subject to change without notice. |
36477c24 |
907 | |
4e1d3b43 |
908 | =head2 Readline Support |
909 | |
055fd3a9 |
910 | As shipped, the only command-line history supplied is a simplistic one |
4e1d3b43 |
911 | that checks for leading exclamation points. However, if you install |
912 | the Term::ReadKey and Term::ReadLine modules from CPAN, you will |
913 | have full editing capabilities much like GNU I<readline>(3) provides. |
914 | Look for these in the F<modules/by-module/Term> directory on CPAN. |
055fd3a9 |
915 | These do not support normal B<vi> command-line editing, however. |
4e1d3b43 |
916 | |
055fd3a9 |
917 | A rudimentary command-line completion is also available. |
e7ea3e70 |
918 | Unfortunately, the names of lexical variables are not available for |
919 | completion. |
920 | |
4e1d3b43 |
921 | =head2 Editor Support for Debugging |
922 | |
055fd3a9 |
923 | If you have the FSF's version of B<emacs> installed on your system, |
924 | it can interact with the Perl debugger to provide an integrated |
925 | software development environment reminiscent of its interactions |
926 | with C debuggers. |
4e1d3b43 |
927 | |
055fd3a9 |
928 | Perl comes with a start file for making B<emacs> act like a |
929 | syntax-directed editor that understands (some of) Perl's syntax. |
930 | Look in the I<emacs> directory of the Perl source distribution. |
4e1d3b43 |
931 | |
055fd3a9 |
932 | A similar setup by Tom Christiansen for interacting with any |
933 | vendor-shipped B<vi> and the X11 window system is also available. |
934 | This works similarly to the integrated multiwindow support that |
935 | B<emacs> provides, where the debugger drives the editor. At the |
936 | time of this writing, however, that tool's eventual location in the |
937 | Perl distribution was uncertain. |
4e1d3b43 |
938 | |
055fd3a9 |
939 | Users of B<vi> should also look into B<vim> and B<gvim>, the mousey |
940 | and windy version, for coloring of Perl keywords. |
a0d0e21e |
941 | |
055fd3a9 |
942 | Note that only perl can truly parse Perl, so all such CASE tools |
943 | fall somewhat short of the mark, especially if you don't program |
944 | your Perl as a C programmer might. |
e7ea3e70 |
945 | |
055fd3a9 |
946 | =head2 The Perl Profiler |
e7ea3e70 |
947 | |
055fd3a9 |
948 | If you wish to supply an alternative debugger for Perl to run, just |
949 | invoke your script with a colon and a package argument given to the |
950 | B<-d> flag. The most popular alternative debuggers for Perl is the |
951 | Perl profiler. Devel::DProf is now included with the standard Perl |
952 | distribution. To profile your Perl program in the file F<mycode.pl>, |
953 | just type: |
36477c24 |
954 | |
055fd3a9 |
955 | $ perl -d:DProf mycode.pl |
36477c24 |
956 | |
055fd3a9 |
957 | When the script terminates the profiler will dump the profile |
958 | information to a file called F<tmon.out>. A tool like B<dprofpp>, |
959 | also supplied with the standard Perl distribution, can be used to |
960 | interpret the information in that profile. |
36477c24 |
961 | |
055fd3a9 |
962 | =head1 Debugging regular expressions |
36477c24 |
963 | |
3d555cb8 |
964 | C<use re 'debug'> enables you to see the gory details of how the Perl |
965 | regular expression engine works. In order to understand this typically |
966 | voluminous output, one must not only have some idea about how regular |
967 | expression matching works in general, but also know how Perl's regular |
968 | expressions are internally compiled into an automaton. These matters |
969 | are explored in some detail in |
055fd3a9 |
970 | L<perldebguts/"Debugging regular expressions">. |
36477c24 |
971 | |
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972 | =head1 Debugging memory usage |
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973 | |
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974 | Perl contains internal support for reporting its own memory usage, |
975 | but this is a fairly advanced concept that requires some understanding |
976 | of how memory allocation works. |
977 | See L<perldebguts/"Debugging Perl memory usage"> for the details. |
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978 | |
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979 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
a0d0e21e |
980 | |
981 | You did try the B<-w> switch, didn't you? |
982 | |
f6b3c421 |
983 | L<perldebtut>, |
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984 | L<perldebguts>, |
985 | L<re>, |
986 | L<DB>, |
fe854a6f |
987 | L<Devel::DProf>, |
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988 | L<dprofpp>, |
989 | L<Dumpvalue>, |
990 | and |
991 | L<perlrun>. |
a0d0e21e |
992 | |
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993 | =head1 BUGS |
994 | |
995 | You cannot get stack frame information or in any fashion debug functions |
996 | that were not compiled by Perl, such as those from C or C++ extensions. |
a0d0e21e |
997 | |
c997b287 |
998 | If you alter your @_ arguments in a subroutine (such as with C<shift> |
6edf2346 |
999 | or C<pop>), the stack backtrace will not show the original values. |
c997b287 |
1000 | |
1001 | The debugger does not currently work in conjunction with the B<-W> |
1002 | command-line switch, because it itself is not free of warnings. |
4c82ae22 |
1003 | |
1004 | If you're in a slow syscall (like C<wait>ing, C<accept>ing, or C<read>ing |
1005 | from your keyboard or a socket) and haven't set up your own C<$SIG{INT}> |
1006 | handler, then you won't be able to CTRL-C your way back to the debugger, |
1007 | because the debugger's own C<$SIG{INT}> handler doesn't understand that |
1008 | it needs to raise an exception to longjmp(3) out of slow syscalls. |