NAME

Types::Standard - bundled set of built-in types for Type::Tiny

SYNOPSIS

use v5.36;

package Horse {
  use Moo;
  use Types::Standard qw( Str Int Enum ArrayRef Object );
  use Type::Params qw( signature_for );
  use namespace::autoclean;
  
  has name => (
    is       => 'ro',
    isa      => Str,
    required => 1,
  );
  
  has gender => (
    is       => 'ro',
    isa      => Enum[qw( f m )],
  );
  
  has age => (
    is       => 'rw',
    isa      => Int->where( '$_ >= 0' ),
  );
  
  has children => (
    is       => 'ro',
    isa      => ArrayRef[Object],
    default  => sub { return [] },
  );
  
  # method signature
  signature_for add_child => (
    method     => Object,
    positional => [ Object ],
  );
  
  sub add_child ( $self, $child ) {
    push $self->children->@*, $child;
    return $self;
  }
}

package main;

my $boldruler = Horse->new(
  name    => "Bold Ruler",
  gender  => 'm',
  age     => 16,
);

my $secretariat = Horse->new(
  name    => "Secretariat",
  gender  => 'm',
  age     => 0,
);

$boldruler->add_child( $secretariat );

use Types::Standard qw( is_Object assert_Object );

# is_Object($thing) returns a boolean
my $is_it_an_object = is_Object $boldruler;

# assert_Object($thing) returns $thing or dies
say assert_Object($boldruler)->name;  # says "Bold Ruler"

STATUS

This module is covered by the Type-Tiny stability policy.

DESCRIPTION

This documents the details of the Types::Standard type library. Type::Tiny::Manual is a better starting place if you're new.

Type::Tiny bundles a few types which seem to be useful.

Moose-like

The following types are similar to those described in Moose::Util::TypeConstraints.

  • Any

    Absolutely any value passes this type constraint (even undef).

  • Item

    Essentially the same as Any. All other type constraints in this library inherit directly or indirectly from Item.

  • Bool

    Values that are reasonable booleans. Accepts 1, 0, the empty string and undef.

    Other customers also bought: BoolLike from Types::TypeTiny.

  • Maybe[`a]

    Given another type constraint, also accepts undef. For example, Maybe[Int] accepts all integers plus undef.

  • Undef

    Only undef passes this type constraint.

  • Defined

    Only undef fails this type constraint.

  • Value

    Any defined, non-reference value.

  • Str

    Any string.

    (The only difference between Value and Str is that the former accepts typeglobs and vstrings.)

    Other customers also bought: StringLike from Types::TypeTiny.

  • Num

    See LaxNum and StrictNum below.

  • Int

    An integer; that is a string of digits 0 to 9, optionally prefixed with a hyphen-minus character.

    Expect inconsistent results for dualvars, and numbers too high (or negative numbers too low) for Perl to safely represent as an integer.

  • ClassName

    The name of a loaded package. The package must have @ISA or $VERSION defined, or must define at least one sub to be considered a loaded package.

  • RoleName

    Like ClassName, but the package must not define a method called new. This is subtly different from Moose's type constraint of the same name; let me know if this causes you any problems. (I can't promise I'll change anything though.)

  • Ref[`a]

    Any defined reference value, including blessed objects.

    Unlike Moose, Ref is a parameterized type, allowing Scalar::Util::reftype checks, a la

    Ref["HASH"]  # hashrefs, including blessed hashrefs
  • ScalarRef[`a]

    A value where ref($value) eq "SCALAR" or ref($value) eq "REF".

    If parameterized, the referred value must pass the additional constraint. For example, ScalarRef[Int] must be a reference to a scalar which holds an integer value.

  • ArrayRef[`a]

    A value where ref($value) eq "ARRAY".

    If parameterized, the elements of the array must pass the additional constraint. For example, ArrayRef[Num] must be a reference to an array of numbers.

    As an extension to Moose's ArrayRef type, a minimum and maximum array length can be given:

    ArrayRef[CodeRef, 1]        # ArrayRef of at least one CodeRef
    ArrayRef[FileHandle, 0, 2]  # ArrayRef of up to two FileHandles
    ArrayRef[Any, 0, 100]       # ArrayRef of up to 100 elements

    Other customers also bought: ArrayLike from Types::TypeTiny.

  • HashRef[`a]

    A value where ref($value) eq "HASH".

    If parameterized, the values of the hash must pass the additional constraint. For example, HashRef[Num] must be a reference to an hash where the values are numbers. The hash keys are not constrained, but Perl limits them to strings; see Map below if you need to further constrain the hash values.

    Other customers also bought: HashLike from Types::TypeTiny.

  • CodeRef

    A value where ref($value) eq "CODE".

    Other customers also bought: CodeLike from Types::TypeTiny.

  • RegexpRef

    A reference where re::is_regexp($value) is true, or a blessed reference where $value->isa("Regexp") is true.

  • GlobRef

    A value where ref($value) eq "GLOB".

  • FileHandle

    A file handle.

  • Object

    A blessed object.

    (This also accepts regexp refs.)

Structured

Okay, so I stole some ideas from MooseX::Types::Structured.

  • Map[`k, `v]

    Similar to HashRef but parameterized with type constraints for both the key and value. The constraint for keys would typically be a subtype of Str.

  • Tuple[...]

    Subtype of ArrayRef, accepting a list of type constraints for each slot in the array.

    Tuple[Int, HashRef] would match [1, {}] but not [{}, 1].

  • Dict[...]

    Subtype of HashRef, accepting a list of type constraints for each slot in the hash.

    For example Dict[name => Str, id => Int] allows { name => "Bob", id => 42 }.

  • Optional[`a]

    Used in conjunction with Dict and Tuple to specify slots that are optional and may be omitted (but not necessarily set to an explicit undef).

    Dict[name => Str, id => Optional[Int]] allows { name => "Bob" } but not { name => "Bob", id => "BOB" }.

    Note that any use of Optional[`a] outside the context of parameterized Dict and Tuple type constraints makes little sense, and its behaviour is undefined. (An exception: it is used by Type::Params for a similar purpose to how it's used in Tuple.)

This module also exports a Slurpy parameterized type, which can be used as follows.

It can cause additional trailing values in a Tuple to be slurped into a structure and validated. For example, slurping into an arrayref:

my $type = Tuple[ Str, Slurpy[ ArrayRef[Int] ] ];

$type->( ["Hello"] );                # ok
$type->( ["Hello", 1, 2, 3] );       # ok
$type->( ["Hello", [1, 2, 3]] );     # not ok

Or into a hashref:

my $type2 = Tuple[ Str, Slurpy[ Map[Int, RegexpRef] ] ];

$type2->( ["Hello"] );                               # ok
$type2->( ["Hello", 1, qr/one/i, 2, qr/two/] );      # ok

It can cause additional values in a Dict to be slurped into a hashref and validated:

my $type3 = Dict[ values => ArrayRef, Slurpy[ HashRef[Str] ] ];

$type3->( { values => [] } );                        # ok
$type3->( { values => [], name => "Foo" } );         # ok
$type3->( { values => [], name => [] } );            # not ok

In either Tuple or Dict, Slurpy[Any] can be used to indicate that additional values are acceptable, but should not be constrained in any way.

Slurpy[Any] is an optimized code path. Although the following are essentially equivalent checks, the former should run a lot faster:

Tuple[ Int, Slurpy[Any] ]
Tuple[ Int, Slurpy[ArrayRef] ]

A function slurpy($type) is also exported which was historically how slurpy types were created.

Outside of Dict and Tuple, Slurpy[Foo] should just act the same as Foo. But don't do that.

Objects

Okay, so I stole some ideas from MooX::Types::MooseLike::Base.

  • InstanceOf[`a]

    Shortcut for a union of Type::Tiny::Class constraints.

    InstanceOf["Foo", "Bar"] allows objects blessed into the Foo or Bar classes, or subclasses of those.

    Given no parameters, just equivalent to Object.

  • ConsumerOf[`a]

    Shortcut for an intersection of Type::Tiny::Role constraints.

    ConsumerOf["Foo", "Bar"] allows objects where $o->DOES("Foo") and $o->DOES("Bar") both return true.

    Given no parameters, just equivalent to Object.

  • HasMethods[`a]

    Shortcut for a Type::Tiny::Duck constraint.

    HasMethods["foo", "bar"] allows objects where $o->can("foo") and $o->can("bar") both return true.

    Given no parameters, just equivalent to Object.

More

There are a few other types exported by this module:

  • Overload[`a]

    With no parameters, checks that the value is an overloaded object. Can be given one or more string parameters, which are specific operations to check are overloaded. For example, the following checks for objects which overload addition and subtraction.

    Overload["+", "-"]
  • Tied[`a]

    A reference to a tied scalar, array or hash.

    Can be parameterized with a type constraint which will be applied to the object returned by the tied() function. As a convenience, can also be parameterized with a string, which will be inflated to a Type::Tiny::Class.

    use Types::Standard qw(Tied);
    use Type::Utils qw(class_type);
    
    my $My_Package = class_type { class => "My::Package" };
    
    tie my %h, "My::Package";
    \%h ~~ Tied;                   # true
    \%h ~~ Tied[ $My_Package ];    # true
    \%h ~~ Tied["My::Package"];    # true
    
    tie my $s, "Other::Package";
    \$s ~~ Tied;                   # true
    $s  ~~ Tied;                   # false !!

    If you need to check that something is specifically a reference to a tied hash, use an intersection:

    use Types::Standard qw( Tied HashRef );
    
    my $TiedHash = (Tied) & (HashRef);
    
    tie my %h, "My::Package";
    tie my $s, "Other::Package";
    
    \%h ~~ $TiedHash;     # true
    \$s ~~ $TiedHash;     # false
  • StrMatch[`a]

    A string that matches a regular expression:

    declare "Distance",
       as StrMatch[ qr{^([0-9]+)\s*(mm|cm|m|km)$} ];

    You can optionally provide a type constraint for the array of subexpressions:

    declare "Distance",
       as StrMatch[
          qr{^([0-9]+)\s*(.+)$},
          Tuple[
             Int,
             enum(DistanceUnit => [qw/ mm cm m km /]),
          ],
       ];

    Here's an example using Regexp::Common:

    package Local::Host {
       use Moose;
       use Regexp::Common;
       has ip_address => (
          is         => 'ro',
          required   => 1,
          isa        => StrMatch[qr/^$RE{net}{IPv4}$/],
          default    => '127.0.0.1',
       );
    }

    On certain versions of Perl, type constraints of the forms StrMatch[qr/../ and StrMatch[qr/\A..\z/ with any number of intervening dots can be optimized to simple length checks.

  • Enum[`a]

    As per MooX::Types::MooseLike::Base:

    has size => (
       is     => "ro",
       isa    => Enum[qw( S M L XL XXL )],
    );

    You can enable coercion by passing \1 before the list of values.

    has size => (
       is     => "ro",
       isa    => Enum[ \1, qw( S M L XL XXL ) ],
       coerce => 1,
    );

    This will use the closest_match method in Type::Tiny::Enum to coerce closely matching strings.

  • OptList

    An arrayref of arrayrefs in the style of Data::OptList output.

  • LaxNum, StrictNum

    In Moose 2.09, the Num type constraint implementation was changed from being a wrapper around Scalar::Util's looks_like_number function to a stricter regexp (which disallows things like "-Inf" and "Nan").

    Types::Standard provides both implementations. LaxNum is measurably faster.

    The Num type constraint is currently an alias for LaxNum unless you set the PERL_TYPES_STANDARD_STRICTNUM environment variable to true before loading Types::Standard, in which case it becomes an alias for StrictNum. The constant Types::Standard::STRICTNUM can be used to check if Num is being strict.

    Most people should probably use Num or StrictNum. Don't explicitly use LaxNum unless you specifically need an attribute which will accept things like "Inf".

  • CycleTuple[`a]

    Similar to Tuple, but cyclical.

    CycleTuple[Int, HashRef]

    will allow [1,{}] and [1,{},2,{}] but disallow [1,{},2] and [1,{},2,[]].

    I think you understand CycleTuple already.

    Currently Optional and Slurpy parameters are forbidden. There are fairly limited use cases for them, and it's not exactly clear what they should mean.

    The following is an efficient way of checking for an even-sized arrayref:

    CycleTuple[Any, Any]

    The following is an arrayref which would be suitable for coercing to a hashref:

    CycleTuple[Str, Any]

    All the examples so far have used two parameters, but the following is also a possible CycleTuple:

    CycleTuple[Str, Int, HashRef]

    This will be an arrayref where the 0th, 3rd, 6th, etc values are strings, the 1st, 4th, 7th, etc values are integers, and the 2nd, 5th, 8th, etc values are hashrefs.

Coercions

Most of the types in this type library have no coercions. The exception is Bool as of Types::Standard 1.003_003, which coerces from Any via !!$_.

Some standalone coercions may be exported. These can be combined with type constraints using the plus_coercions method.

  • MkOpt

    A coercion from ArrayRef, HashRef or Undef to OptList. Example usage in a Moose attribute:

    use Types::Standard qw( OptList MkOpt );
    
    has options => (
       is     => "ro",
       isa    => OptList->plus_coercions( MkOpt ),
       coerce => 1,
    );
  • Split[`a]

    Split a string on a regexp.

    use Types::Standard qw( ArrayRef Str Split );
    
    has name => (
       is     => "ro",
       isa    => ArrayRef->of(Str)->plus_coercions(Split[qr/\s/]),
       coerce => 1,
    );
  • Join[`a]

    Join an array of strings with a delimiter.

    use Types::Standard qw( Str Join );
    
    my $FileLines = Str->plus_coercions(Join["\n"]);
    
    has file_contents => (
       is     => "ro",
       isa    => $FileLines,
       coerce => 1,
    );

Constants

Types::Standard::STRICTNUM

Indicates whether Num is an alias for StrictNum. (It is usually an alias for LaxNum.)

Environment

PERL_TYPES_STANDARD_STRICTNUM

Switches to more strict regexp-based number checking instead of using looks_like_number.

PERL_TYPE_TINY_XS

If set to false, can be used to suppress the loading of XS implementations of some type constraints.

PERL_ONLY

If PERL_TYPE_TINY_XS does not exist, can be set to true to suppress XS usage similarly. (Several other CPAN distributions also pay attention to this environment variable.)

BUGS

Please report any bugs to https://github.com/tobyink/p5-type-tiny/issues.

SEE ALSO

The Type::Tiny homepage.

Type::Tiny::Manual.

Type::Tiny, Type::Library, Type::Utils, Type::Coercion.

Moose::Util::TypeConstraints, Mouse::Util::TypeConstraints, MooseX::Types::Structured.

Types::XSD provides some type constraints based on XML Schema's data types; this includes constraints for ISO8601-formatted datetimes, integer ranges (e.g. PositiveInteger[maxInclusive=>10] and so on.

Types::Encodings provides Bytes and Chars type constraints that were formerly found in Types::Standard.

Types::Common::Numeric and Types::Common::String provide replacements for MooseX::Types::Common.

AUTHOR

Toby Inkster <tobyink@cpan.org>.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

This software is copyright (c) 2013-2014, 2017-2024 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.