Checking if a function exists 1

[xaze]

Hello,

I have a database table set up (somewhat like this):

title, value, description, function, function_args

where function would be a function name and args would be constants or variable names

What I need to be able to do is be able to tell if the 'function' exists and then if it does get a reference to it so that I can call it. I would think this is a common problem but I have searched everywhere for the answer and cannot seem to find it. If you could shed light on how to do this it would be greatly appreciated.

-xaze

 

[xaze]

Do not bother answering, I figured it out. In case anyone else also needs this functionality then look over this small peice of code:

if (defined(*{${main::}{'my_func'}}{CODE})==1) {
&{*{${main::}{'my_func'}}{CODE}}
}

'my_func' is the name of the function. It first checks to make sure there is a symbol table entree with that name defined (and also that it is function and not another type of data) and then it calls the function.

 

[justice41]

You could have also done

sub AUTOLOAD { return undef }

my $myfunc = 'my_func';
if ( $myfunc->() ) {

    # print "Function exists!\n";

} else {

    # print "Function does not exist\n";
}

which is a little less notation-heavy.

jaa