How do I include functions from another file in my Perl script?

Question

This seems like a really simple question but somehow my Google-Fu failed me.

What\'s the syntax for including functions from other files in Perl? I\'m looking for s

Answer 1

Perl require will do the job. You will need to ensure that any 'require'd files return truth by adding

1;

at the end of the file.

Here's a tiny sample:

$ cat m1.pl 
use strict;
sub x { warn "aard"; }
1;

$ cat m2.pl 
use strict;
require "m1.pl";
x();

$ perl m2.pl 
aard at m1.pl line 2.

But migrate to modules as soon as you can.

EDIT

A few benefits of migrating code from scripts to modules:

• Without packages, everything occupies a single namespace, so you may hit a situation where two functions from separate files want the same name.
• A package allows you to expose some functions, but hide others. With no packages, all functions are visible.
• Files included with require are only loaded at run time, whereas packages loaded with use are subject to earlier compile-time checks.