NAME Data::Dumper::Sorted - Dumper with repeatable signature SYNOPSIS - similar to Data::Dumper Data::Dumper::Sorted generates a unique signature for hashs by sorting the keys into alphabetic order. Data::Dumper actually does much more than this, however, it does not stringify hash's in a consistent manner. i.e. no SORT The routines below, while not covering recursion loops, non ascii characters, etc.... does produce text that can be eval'd and is consistent with each rendering, version of Perl, and platform. The module routines may be called as functions or methods. use Data::Dumper::Sorted qw( hexDumper hexDumperC hexDumperA Dumper DumperC DumperA }; OR as methods require Data::Dumper::Sorted; my $dd = new Data::Dumper::Sorted; A blessed reference is not really needed. my $dd = 'Data::Dumper::Sorted'; $countText = $dd->hexDumperC($ref); $evalText = $dd->hexDumper($ref); ($text,$count) = $dd->hexDumperA($ref); $countText = $dd->DumperC($ref); $evalText = $dd->Dumper($ref); ($text,$count) = $dd->DumperA($ref); * $dd = new Data::Dumper::Sorted; This method returns a blessed reference that can be used to access the functions in this modules as methods. * $countText = hexDumperC($ref); same as: scalar DumperA($ref); It prefixes the dumped text with a COUNT of the nodes in the text instead of a symbol name. This is useful in developing perl test routines. i.e 5 { text.... instead of: $Var = { text.... * $evalText = hexDumper($ref); Same form as Data::Dumper. This method returns a string which can be eval'd to reconstitute the reference. * ($text,$count) = hexDumperA($ref); Returns the text of fully numeric data items converted to hex. input: reference return: array context text_for_reference_contents, count_of_data_items scalar context count text_for_reference_contents * $countText = DumperC($ref); same as: scalar DumperA($ref); It prefixes the dumped text with a COUNT of the nodes in the text instead of a symbol name.. This is useful in developing perl test routines. i.e 5 { text.... instead of: $Var = { text.... * $evalText = Dumper($ref); Same form as Data::Dumper. This method returns a string which can be eval'd to reconstitute the reference. * ($text,$count) = DumperA($ref); input: reference return: array context text_for_reference_contents, count_of_data_items scalar context count text_for_reference_contents AUTHOR Michael Robinton, COPYRIGHT Copyright 2013-2014, Michael Robinton This program is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.