The documentation of Exporter is missing an explicit statement about what can go into the @EXPORT and @EXPORT_OK arrays. Because of the optional &-prefix for functions the rule is not obvilous and since many modules export only (prefix-less) functions, the examples users are likely to find may be misleading. This was discussed on clpm under the subject "<== importing hash symbols from one package". See patch below. Anno *** Exporter.pm Tue Aug 17 12:43:08 1999 --- Exporter.pm.mod Wed Aug 18 12:26:52 1999 *************** *** 285,290 **** --- 285,302 ---- modules and how the C<use> statement operates is important to understanding the Exporter. + =head2 How to Export + + The arrays C<@EXPORT> and C<@EXPORT_OK> in a module hold lists of + symbols that are going to be exported into the users name space by + default, or which they can request to be exported, respectively. The + symbols can represent functions, scalars, arrays, hashes, or typeglobs. + The symbols must be given by full name with the exception that the + ampersand in front of a function is optional, e.g. + + @EXPORT = qw(sub $scalar @array); # sub is a function + @EXPORT_OK = qw(&func %hash *typeglob); # explicit prefix on &func + =head2 Selecting What To Export Do B<not> export method names! --- Site configuration information for perl 5.00503: Configured by anno4000 at Tue Jun 22 10:49:57 MEST 1999. Summary of my perl5 (5.0 patchlevel 5 subversion 3) configuration: Platform: osname=linux, osvers=2.0.36, archname=i586-linux uname='linux lublin.zrz.tu-berlin.de 2.0.36 #5 fre apr 23 14:43:16 cest 1999 i586 unknown ' hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define usethreads=undef useperlio=undef d_sfio=undef Compiler: cc='cc', optimize='-O2', gccversion=2.7.2.3 cppflags='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include' ccflags ='-Dbool=char -DHAS_BOOL -I/usr/local/include' stdchar='char', d_stdstdio=define, usevfork=false intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8 d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=12 alignbytes=4, usemymalloc=n, prototype=define Linker and Libraries: ld='cc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib' libpth=/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib libs=-lnsl -lndbm -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lc -lposix -lcrypt libc=, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a Dynamic Linking: dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags='-rdynamic' cccdlflags='-fpic', lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib' Locally applied patches: --- @INC for perl 5.00503: /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503/i586-linux /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503 /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005/i586-linux /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.005 . --- Environment for perl 5.00503: HOME=/opt/home/anno4000 LANG=de LANGUAGE (unset) LC_ALL=de_DE LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/X11R6/lib:/usr/local/LessTif/Motif1.2/lib LOGDIR (unset) PATH=/opt/home/anno4000/bin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/openwin/bin:/usr/games PERL_BADLANG (unset) SHELL=/bin/tcsh