NAME Marlin::X::Clone - Marlin extension to add a `clone` method to your class. SYNOPSIS package Local::Date { use Marlin qw( year month day :Clone ); } my $xmas = Local::Date->new( day => 25, month => 12, year => 2025 ); my $xmas_eve = $xmas->clone( day => 24 ); IMPORTING THIS MODULE The standard way to import Marlin extensions is to include them in the list passed to `use Marlin`: package Local::Date { use Marlin qw( year month day :Clone ); } It is possible to additionally load it with `use Marlin::X::Clone`, which won't *do* anything, but might be useful to automatic dependency analysis. package Local::Date { use Marlin qw( year month day :Clone ); use Marlin::X::Clone 0.020000; # does nothing } DESCRIPTION This package creates a method in your class that does roughly: sub clone { my ( $self, %args ) = @_; my %clone = ( %$self, %args ); return bless \%clone, ref($self); } Except it also: * Skips over "PRIVATE" storage attributes by default. * Respects the `init_arg` for each attribute. * Calls trigger methods, uses defaults, checks type constraints, and does type coercions. * Allows per-attribute tweaks to its behaviour. * Calls `BUILD` methods. * Complains if you give it arguments which it doesn't recognize. You can tweak an attribute's behaviour using: use Marlin foo => { on_clone => ... }; Valid values for `on_clone`: `:simple` A simple shallow copy. If the value is a reference, the cloned value will refer to the same data. ## on_clone => ':simple' $clone->{foo} = $self->{foo}; This is the default and will be used if `on_clone` is omitted, or for `on_clone => true`. `:deep` Uses the Clone module to make a deep clone of the original value. ## on_clone => ':deep' $clone->{foo} = Clone::clone( $self->{foo} ); `:none` Does not clone the attribute value. You can also specify this as `on_clone => false`. `:method` or :method(NAME) Calls a method on the original value, assuming it's a blessed object. If the original value is not a blessed object, it will silently be skipped. If no `NAME` is provided, the name is assumed to be "clone". ## on_clone => ':method' if ( blessed $self->{foo} ) { $clone->{foo} = $self->{foo}->clone; } ## on_clone => ':method(make_copy)' if ( blessed $self->{foo} ) { $clone->{foo} = $self->{foo}->make_copy; } :selfmethod(NAME) Calls a method on the original object. ## on_clone => ':selfmethod(make_copy)' $clone->{foo} = $self->make_copy( foo => $self->{foo} ); You can also specify this as `on_clone => "NAME"` as a shortcut. CODE Setting `on_clone => sub {...}` will call the coderef in a similar style to `:selfmethod`. ## on_clone => $coderef $clone->{foo} = $self->$coderef( foo => $self->{foo} ); Because `:method` only works when the value is a blessed object, you can indicate a fallback that will be used in other cases. ## on_clone => ':method(make_copy) :deep' if ( blessed $self->{foo} ) { $clone->{foo} = $self->{foo}->make_copy; } else { $clone->{foo} = Clone::clone( $self->{foo} ); } ## on_clone => ':method(make_copy) :copy' if ( blessed $self->{foo} ) { $clone->{foo} = $self->{foo}->make_copy; } else { $clone->{foo} = $self->{foo}; } ## on_clone => ':method(make_copy) :none' if ( blessed $self->{foo} ) { $clone->{foo} = $self->{foo}->make_copy; } You can also set a few options for how the plugin behaves: use Marlin qw( foo bar ), ':Clone' => { method_name => 'clone', # Name for the clone method call_build => true, # Call BUILD after cloning? strict_args => true, # Complain about unrecognized params? }; This module also acts as a demonstration of Marlin's extension API. See comments in the source code for more details. BUGS Please report any bugs to . SEE ALSO Marlin. AUTHOR Toby Inkster . COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE This software is copyright (c) 2025-2026 by Toby Inkster. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 🐟🐟