How has support for deep copying changed across recent Perl versions?

Support for deep copying in Perl has evolved over recent versions, providing more efficient and reliable means to duplicate complex data structures. Deep copying is vital when working with references, arrays, and hashes to ensure that nested data is duplicated rather than merely referenced.

In earlier versions of Perl, deep copying required manual implementation, often using recursive functions or external modules like Storable. However, starting from Perl 5.8 and especially with advancements in Perl 5.26 and newer releases, built-in functions and modules have improved handling for this operation.

For instance, the Clone module has gained usage, allowing developers to create deep copies of complex data structures easily. Performance improvements and reduced complexity in the implementation of cloning functionalities can be observed in modern Perl code.

Example of Deep Copying in Perl

use Clone qw(clone); my $original = { key1 => 'value1', key2 => [1, 2, 3], key3 => { nested_key => 'nested_value' } }; my $copy = clone($original); # Modifying the copy $copy->{key2}[0] = 100; print "Original: ", $original->{key2}[0], "\n"; # Outputs: 1 print "Copy: ", $copy->{key2}[0], "\n"; # Outputs: 100

deep copying Perl Perl 5 Clone module data structures references arrays hashes

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