Provided by: libsub-recursive-perl_0.05-1_all 
NAME
Sub::Recursive - Anonymous memory leak free recursive subroutines
SYNOPSIS
use Sub::Recursive;
# LEAK FREE recursive subroutine.
my $fac = recursive {
my ($n) = @_;
return 1 if $n < 1;
return $n * $REC->($n - 1);
};
# Recursive anonymous definition in one line, plus invocation.
print recursive { $_[0] <= 1 ? 1 : $_[0] * $REC->($_[0] - 1) } -> (5);
# Experimental interface
use Sub::Recursive qw/ mutually_recursive %REC /;
my ($odd, $even) = mutually_recursive(
odd => sub { $_[0] == 0 ? 0 : $REC{even}->($_[0] - 1) },
even => sub { $_[0] == 0 ? 1 : $REC{odd }->($_[0] - 1) },
);
DESCRIPTION
Recursive closures suffer from a severe memory leak. "Sub::Recursive" makes the problem go away cleanly
and at the same time allows you to write recursive subroutines as expressions and can make them truly
anonymous. There's no significant speed difference between using "recursive" and writing the simpler
leaking solution.
The problem
The following won't work:
my $fac = sub {
my ($n) = @_;
return 1 if $n < 1;
return $n * $fac->($n - 1);
};
because of the recursive use of $fac which isn't available until after the statement. The common fix is
to do
my $fac;
$fac = sub {
my ($n) = @_;
return 1 if $n < 1;
return $n * $fac->($n - 1);
};
Unfortunately, this introduces another problem.
Because of perl's reference count system, the code above is a memory leak. $fac references the anonymous
sub which references $fac, thus creating a circular reference. This module does not suffer from that
memory leak.
There are two more reasons why I don't like to write recursive closures like that: (a) you have to first
declare it, then assign it thus requiring more than a simple expression (b) you have to name it one way
or another.
The solution
This module fixes all those issues. Just change "sub" for "recursive" and use "$REC->(...)" for the
recursive call:
use Sub::Recursive;
my $fac = recursive {
my ($n) = @_;
return 1 if $n < 1;
return $n * $REC->($n - 1);
};
It also makes it easy to pass it directly to a subroutine,
foo(recursive { ... });
just as any other anonymous subroutine.
EXPORTS
If no arguments are given to the "use" statement $REC and "recursive" are exported. If any arguments are
given only those given are exported. ":ALL" exports everything exportable.
$REC - exported by default
$REC holds a reference to the current subroutine inside subroutines created with "recursive". Don't ever
touch $REC inside or outside the subroutine except for the recursive call.
"recursive" - exported by default
"recursive" takes one argument and that's an anonymous sub defined in the same package as the call to
"recursive" is in. It's prototyped with "&" so bare-block calling style is encouraged.
recursive { ... }
The return value is an anonymous closure that has "$REC->(...)" working in it.
%REC
This is an experimental part of the API.
%REC holds the subroutine references given to &mutually_recursive, with the same keys.
Don't ever touch %REC inside or outside the subroutines except for the recursive calls.
"mutually_recursive"
This is an experimental part of the API.
"mutually_recursive" works like "recursive" except it takes a list of key/value pairs where the key names
are the names used for the keys in %REC and the values are the subroutine references. The return values
in list context are the subroutine references, ordered as given to "mutually_recursive".
my ($odd, $even) = mutually_recursive(
odd => sub { $_[0] == 0 ? 0 : $REC{even}->($_[0] - 1) },
even => sub { $_[0] == 0 ? 1 : $REC{odd }->($_[0] - 1) },
);
BUGS
If you follow the rest of the manual you don't have to read this section. I include this section anyway
to make debugging simpler.
$REC is a package global and as such there are some gotchas. You won't encounter any of these bugs below
if you just use
recursive { ... }
and don't mention $REC outside of such an expression. In short: it's quite unlikely you'll get bitten by
any of these bugs.
"my" and "our"
Don't declare $REC with "my". That'll make $REC mean your lexical variable rather than the global
that "Sub::Recursive" uses.
Don't declare $REC with "our". In particular, problem arise the "our" scopes over several packages.
If you do
package Foo;
use Sub::Recursive;
our $REC;
# Below, in the same file:
package Bar;
my $fatal = recursive { $REC->() };
$REC in $fatal will be using the value of $Foo::REC but "Sub::Recursive" has no way of knowing that
and will think you use $Bar::REC.
If you for some reason need to have $REC declared you can as a last resort get around both these
issues by fully qualifying $REC to the package in which the subroutine is created.
package Foo;
use Sub::Recursive;
my $REC; # Bad.
my $fatal = recursive { $Foo::REC->() }; # Still works.
Subroutine reference defined in another package
This is a really far out edge case.
If the subroutine reference given to "recursive" is defined in another package than the call to
"recursive" in it then it won't work.
package Foo;
my $foo = sub { $REC->() };
package Bar;
use Sub::Recursive;
my $bar = &recursive($foo); # Won't work.
The subroutine referenced by $foo is using $Foo::REC but "recursive" thinks it's using $Bar::REC.
Note that you have to circumvent prototyping in order to encounter this bug.
Why you'd want to do this escapes me. Please contact me if you find a reason for doing this.
EXAMPLE
Some algorithms are perhaps best written recursively. For simplicity, let's say I have a tree consisting
of arrays of array with arbitrary depth. I want to map over this data structure, translating every value
to another. For this I might use
my $translator = recursive {
[ map { ref() ? $REC->($_) : $translate{$_} } @{$_[0]} ]
};
my $bar = $translator->($foo);
Now, a tree mapper isn't perhaps the best example as it's a pretty general problem to solve, and should
perhaps be abstracted but it still serves as an example of how this module can be handy.
A similar but more specialized task would be to find all men who share their Y chromosome.
# A person data structure looks like this.
my $person = {
name => ...,
sons => [ ... ], # objects like $person
daughters => [ ... ], # objects like $person
};
my @names = recursive {
my ($person) = @_;
return
$person->{name},
map $REC->($_), @{$person->{sons}}
} -> ($forefather);
This particular example isn't a closure as it doesn't reference any lexicals outside itself (and thus
could've been written as a named subroutine). It's easy enough to think of a case when it would be a
closure though. For instance if some branches should be excluded. A simple flag would solve that.
my %exclude = ...;
my @names = recursive {
my ($person) = @_;
return if $exclude{$person};
return
$person->{name},
map $REC->($_), @{$person->{sons}}
} -> ($forefather);
Hopefully this illustrates how this module allows you to write recursive algorithms inline like any other
algorithm.
AUTHOR
Johan Lodin <lodin@cpan.org>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2004-2015 Johan Lodin. All rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl
itself.
SEE ALSO
perlref
perl v5.20.2 2015-07-18 Sub::Recursive(3pm)