NAME

       Variable::Disposition - helper functions for disposing of variables

SYNOPSIS

        use feature qw(say);
        use Variable::Disposition;
        my $x = [];
        dispose $x;
        say '$x is no longer defined';

DESCRIPTION

       Provides some basic helper functions for making sure variables go away when you want them
       to.

       Currently provides "dispose" as a default import. To avoid this:

        use Variable::Disposition ();

       In addition, "retain" and "retain_future" are available as optional imports.

        use Variable::Disposition qw(dispose retain retain_future);

       The " :all " tag can be used to import every available function:

        use Variable::Disposition qw(:all);

       but it would be safer to use a version instead:

        use Variable::Disposition qw(:v1);

       since these are guaranteed not to change in future.

       Other functions for use with Future and IO::Async are likely to be added later.

FUNCTIONS

   dispose
       Undefines the given variable, then checks that the original ref was destroyed.

        my $x = [1,2,3];
        dispose $x;
        # $x is no longer defined.

       This is primarily intended for cases where you no longer need a variable, and want to
       ensure that you haven't accidentally captured a strong reference to it elsewhere.

       Note that this clears the caller's variable.

       This function is defined with a prototype of ($), since it is only intended for use on
       scalar variables. To clear multiple variables, use a foreach loop:

        my ($x, $y, $z) = ...;
        dispose $_ for $x, $y, $z;
        is($x, undef);
        is($y, undef);
        is($z, undef);

   retain
       Keeps a copy of this variable until program exit or "dispose".

       Returns the original variable.

   retain_future
       Holds a copy of the given Future until it's marked ready, then releases our copy.  Does
       not use "dispose", since that could interfere with other callbacks attached to the Future.

       Since Future 0.36, this behaviour is directly available via the "retain" in Future method,
       so it is recommended to use that instead of this function.

       Returns the original Future.

SEE ALSO

       •   Devel::Refcount - assert_oneref is almost identical to this, although it doesn't clear
           the variable it's called on

       •   Closure::Explicit - provides a sub{} wrapper that will complain if you capture a
           lexical without explicitly declaring that you're going to do that.

AUTHOR

       Tom Molesworth <cpan@perlsite.co.uk>

LICENSE

       Copyright Tom Molesworth 2014-2015. Licensed under the same terms as Perl itself.