NAME

       Paranoid::Data - Misc. Data Manipulation Functions

VERSION

       $Id: lib/Paranoid/Data.pm, 2.09 2021/12/28 15:46:49 acorliss Exp $

SYNOPSIS

           $rv = deepCopy($source, $target);
           $rv = deepCopy(@source, @target);
           $rv = deepCopy(%source, %target);

           $rv = deepCmp($source, $target);
           $rv = deepCmp(@source, @target);
           $rv = deepCmp(%source, %target);

DESCRIPTION

       This module provides data manipulation functions, which at this time only consists of
       deepCopy and deepCmp.

IMPORT LISTS

       This module exports the following symbols by default:

           deepCopy deepCmp

       The following specialized import lists also exist:

           List        Members
           --------------------------------------------------------
           all         @defaults

SUBROUTINES/METHODS

   deepCopy
           $rv = deepCopy($source, $target);
           $rv = deepCopy(@source, @target);
           $rv = deepCopy(%source, %target);

       This function performs a deep and safe copy of arbitrary data structures, checking for
       circular references along the way.  Hashes and lists are safely duplicated while all other
       data types are just copied.  This means that any embedded object references, etc., are
       identical in both the source and the target, which is probably not what you want.

       In short, this should only be used on pure hash/list/scalar value data structures.  Both
       the source and the target data types must be of an identical type.

       This function returns the number of elements copied unless it runs into a problem (such as
       a circular reference), in which case it returns a zero.

   deepCmp
           $rv = deepCmp($source, $target);
           $rv = deepCmp(@source, @target);
           $rv = deepCmp(%source, %target);

       This function performs a deep comparison of arbitrarily complex data structures (i.e.,
       hashes of lists of lists of scalars, etc.).  It returns true if the values of the
       structures are identical, false otherwise.  Like the deepCopy function there are no
       provisions for evaluating objects beyond what their values are when coerced as scalar
       types.

       End sum, the same caveats that applied to deepCopy apply here.

DEPENDENCIES

       o   Carp

       o   Paranoid

       o   Paranoid::Debug

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

AUTHOR

       Arthur Corliss (corliss@digitalmages.com)

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

       This software is free software.  Similar to Perl, you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of either:

         a)     the GNU General Public License
                <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-1.0.html> as published by the
                Free Software Foundation <http://www.fsf.org/>; either version 1
                <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-1.0.html>, or any later version
                <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#GNUGPL>, or
         b)     the Artistic License 2.0
                <https://opensource.org/licenses/Artistic-2.0>,

       subject to the following additional term:  No trademark rights to "Paranoid" have been or
       are conveyed under any of the above licenses.  However, "Paranoid" may be used fairly to
       describe this unmodified software, in good faith, but not as a trademark.

       (c) 2005 - 2020, Arthur Corliss (corliss@digitalmages.com) (tm) 2008 - 2020, Paranoid Inc.
       (www.paranoid.com)