PPI::Token::Prototype - A subroutine prototype descriptor

       Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>

       Copyright 2001 - 2011 Adam Kennedy.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl
       itself.

       The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.

perl v5.40.0                                       2025-01-12                         PPI::Token::Prototype(3pm)

       Although it sort of looks like a list or condition, a subroutine prototype is a lot more like a string.
       Its job is to provide hints to the perl compiler on what type of arguments a particular subroutine
       expects, which the compiler uses to validate parameters at compile-time, and allows programmers to use
       the functions without explicit parameter parens.

       Due to the rise of OO Perl coding, which ignores these prototypes, they are most often used to allow for
       constant-like things, and to "extend" the language and create things that act like keywords and core
       functions.

         # Create something that acts like a constant
         sub MYCONSTANT () { 10 }

         # Create the "any" core-looking function
         sub any (&@) { ... }

         if ( any { $_->cute } @babies ) {
               ...
         }

         PPI::Token::Prototype
         isa PPI::Token::Quote::Literal
             isa PPI::Token::Quote
                 isa PPI::Token
                     isa PPI::Element

       This class provides one additional method beyond those defined by the PPI::Token and PPI::Element parent
       classes.

   prototype
       The "prototype" accessor returns the actual prototype pattern, stripped of flanking parens and of all
       whitespace. This mirrors the behavior of the Perl "prototype" builtin function.

       Note that stripping parens and whitespace means that the return of "prototype" can be an empty string.

       PPI::Token::Prototype - A subroutine prototype descriptor

       See the support section in the main module.

         sub ($@) prototype;