5 # (feature name) => (internal name, used in %^H)
7 switch => 'feature_switch',
9 state => "feature_state",
12 # NB. the latest bundle must be loaded by the -E switch (see toke.c)
14 my %feature_bundle = (
15 "5.10" => [qw(switch say state)],
16 "5.11" => [qw(switch say state)],
20 $feature_bundle{"5.9.5"} = $feature_bundle{"5.10"};
23 # - think about versioned features (use feature switch => 2)
27 feature - Perl pragma to enable new syntactic features
31 use feature qw(switch say);
33 when (1) { say "\$foo == 1" }
34 when ([2,3]) { say "\$foo == 2 || \$foo == 3" }
35 when (/^a[bc]d$/) { say "\$foo eq 'abd' || \$foo eq 'acd'" }
36 when ($_ > 100) { say "\$foo > 100" }
37 default { say "None of the above" }
40 use feature ':5.10'; # loads all features available in perl 5.10
44 It is usually impossible to add new syntax to Perl without breaking
45 some existing programs. This pragma provides a way to minimize that
46 risk. New syntactic constructs can be enabled by C<use feature 'foo'>,
47 and will be parsed only when the appropriate feature pragma is in
52 Like other pragmas (C<use strict>, for example), features have a lexical
53 effect. C<use feature qw(foo)> will only make the feature "foo" available
54 from that point to the end of the enclosing block.
58 say "say is available here";
60 print "But not here.\n";
64 Features can also be turned off by using C<no feature "foo">. This too
68 say "say is available here";
71 print "But not here.\n";
73 say "Yet it is here.";
75 C<no feature> with no features specified will turn off all features.
77 =head2 The 'switch' feature
79 C<use feature 'switch'> tells the compiler to enable the Perl 6
82 See L<perlsyn/"Switch statements"> for details.
84 =head2 The 'say' feature
86 C<use feature 'say'> tells the compiler to enable the Perl 6
89 See L<perlfunc/say> for details.
91 =head2 the 'state' feature
93 C<use feature 'state'> tells the compiler to enable C<state>
96 See L<perlsub/"Persistent Private Variables"> for details.
98 =head1 FEATURE BUNDLES
100 It's possible to load a whole slew of features in one go, using
101 a I<feature bundle>. The name of a feature bundle is prefixed with
102 a colon, to distinguish it from an actual feature. At present, the
103 only feature bundle is C<use feature ":5.10"> which is equivalent
104 to C<use feature qw(switch say state)>.
106 Specifying sub-versions such as the C<0> in C<5.10.0> in feature bundles has
107 no effect: feature bundles are guaranteed to be the same for all sub-versions.
109 =head1 IMPLICIT LOADING
111 There are two ways to load the C<feature> pragma implicitly :
117 By using the C<-E> switch on the command-line instead of C<-e>. It enables
118 all available features in the main compilation unit (that is, the one-liner.)
122 By requiring explicitly a minimal Perl version number for your program, with
123 the C<use VERSION> construct, and when the version is higher than or equal to
132 and so on. Note how the trailing sub-version is automatically stripped from the
135 But to avoid portability warnings (see L<perlfunc/use>), you may prefer:
139 with the same effect.
148 croak("No features specified");
151 my $name = shift(@_);
152 if (substr($name, 0, 1) eq ":") {
153 my $v = substr($name, 1);
154 if (!exists $feature_bundle{$v}) {
155 $v =~ s/^([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+).[0-9]+$/$1.$2/;
156 if (!exists $feature_bundle{$v}) {
157 unknown_feature_bundle(substr($name, 1));
160 unshift @_, @{$feature_bundle{$v}};
163 if (!exists $feature{$name}) {
164 unknown_feature($name);
166 $^H{$feature{$name}} = 1;
173 # A bare C<no feature> should disable *all* features
175 delete @^H{ values(%feature) };
181 if (substr($name, 0, 1) eq ":") {
182 my $v = substr($name, 1);
183 if (!exists $feature_bundle{$v}) {
184 $v =~ s/^([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+).[0-9]+$/$1.$2/;
185 if (!exists $feature_bundle{$v}) {
186 unknown_feature_bundle(substr($name, 1));
189 unshift @_, @{$feature_bundle{$v}};
192 if (!exists($feature{$name})) {
193 unknown_feature($name);
196 delete $^H{$feature{$name}};
201 sub unknown_feature {
203 croak(sprintf('Feature "%s" is not supported by Perl %vd',
207 sub unknown_feature_bundle {
209 croak(sprintf('Feature bundle "%s" is not supported by Perl %vd',