NAME

       Clone::PP - Recursively copy Perl datatypes

SYNOPSIS

         use Clone::PP qw(clone);

         $item = { 'foo' => 'bar', 'move' => [ 'zig', 'zag' ]  };
         $copy = clone( $item );

         $item = [ 'alpha', 'beta', { 'gamma' => 'vlissides' } ];
         $copy = clone( $item );

         $item = Foo->new();
         $copy = clone( $item );

       Or as an object method:

         require Clone::PP;
         push @Foo::ISA, 'Clone::PP';

         $item = Foo->new();
         $copy = $item->clone();

DESCRIPTION

       This module provides a general-purpose clone function to make deep copies of Perl data
       structures. It calls itself recursively to copy nested hash, array, scalar and reference
       types, including tied variables and objects.

       The clone() function takes a scalar argument to copy. To duplicate arrays or hashes, pass
       them in by reference:

         my $copy = clone(\@array);    my @copy = @{ clone(\@array) };
         my $copy = clone(\%hash);     my %copy = %{ clone(\%hash) };

       The clone() function also accepts an optional second parameter that can be used to limit
       the depth of the copy. If you pass a limit of 0, clone will return the same value you
       supplied; for a limit of 1, a shallow copy is constructed; for a limit of 2, two layers of
       copying are done, and so on.

         my $shallow_copy = clone( $item, 1 );

       To allow objects to intervene in the way they are copied, the clone() function checks for
       a couple of optional methods. If an object provides a method named "clone_self", it is
       called and the result returned without further processing. Alternately, if an object
       provides a method named "clone_init", it is called on the copied object before it is
       returned.

BUGS

       Some data types, such as globs, regexes, and code refs, are always copied shallowly.

       References to hash elements are not properly duplicated. (This is why two tests in
       t/dclone.t that are marked "todo".) For example, the following test should succeed but
       does not:

         my $hash = { foo => 1 };
         $hash->{bar} = \{ $hash->{foo} };
         my $copy = clone( \%hash );
         $hash->{foo} = 2;
         $copy->{foo} = 2;
         ok( $hash->{bar} == $copy->{bar} );

       To report bugs via the CPAN web tracking system, go to
       "http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Clone-PP" or send mail to
       "Dist=Clone-PP#rt.cpan.org", replacing "#" with "@".

SEE ALSO

       Clone - a baseclass which provides a "clone()" method.

       MooseX::Clone - find-grained cloning for Moose objects.

       The "dclone()" function in Storable.

       Data::Clone - polymorphic data cloning (see its documentation for what that means).

       Clone::Any - use whichever of the cloning methods is available.

REPOSITORY

       <https://github.com/neilbowers/Clone-PP>

AUTHOR AND CREDITS

       Developed by Matthew Simon Cavalletto at Evolution Softworks.  More free Perl software is
       available at "www.evoscript.org".

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

       Copyright 2003 Matthew Simon Cavalletto. You may contact the author directly at
       "evo@cpan.org" or "simonm@cavalletto.org".

       Code initially derived from Ref.pm. Portions Copyright 1994 David Muir Sharnoff.

       Interface based by Clone by Ray Finch with contributions from chocolateboy.  Portions
       Copyright 2001 Ray Finch. Portions Copyright 2001 chocolateboy.

       You may use, modify, and distribute this software under the same terms as Perl.