NAME
    Acme::Lexical::Thief - steal lexical variables from your caller

SYNOPSIS
       use 5.012;
       use strict;
       use warnings;
       use Acme::Lexical::Thief;
   
       sub greet {
          my $name = shift;
          greet_verbally();
       }
   
       sub greet_verbally {
          steal $name;  # caller variable
          say "Hello $name";
       }

DESCRIPTION
    This package allows you access to your caller's lexical variables, without
    them knowing! Full read/write access. This is generally a pretty bad idea,
    hence the Acme namespace.

    You can steal scalars, arrays and hashes:

       steal $car, @treasures, %stash;

    Parentheses can surround the list of variables to steal:

       steal ($car, @treasures, %stash);

    Generally everything should "just work" as you expect it to. Except when
    it does not.

    Technically speaking, your stolen $car is a package-scoped (`our`)
    variable which is lexically aliased (`local *car`) to the caller's
    variable of the same name. Because `steal` is parsed at compile-time, you
    don't need to (and indeed should not!) pre-declare your stolen variables.

       sub greet_verbally {
          my $name;   # don't do this!
          steal $name;
          say "Hello $name";
       }

    By default, this module steals from your *immediate* caller. You can
    thieve higher up the call stack using:

       steal 0 ($car);  # caller's $car
       steal 1 @boats;  # caller's caller's @boats
       steal 2 %stash;  # caller's caller's caller's @stash

    You cannot indicate the level you wish to steal from using a variable; it
    must be a literal integer in your source code. (It can be in decimal,
    octal, hexadecimal or binary notation.) The integer must immediately
    follow the `steal` keyword, and not be followed by a comma.

    The `steal` keyword cannot be used in an expression; it must be a
    standalone statement.

       steal $foo;
       if (defined $foo) { ... } # ok
   
       if (steal $foo) { ... }   # not this!
   
       # this works...
       if (do { steal $foo; defined $foo })
       {
          # ... but $foo won't exist in this block!
          ...
       }

    If you attempt to steal a variable which does not exist, then a run-time
    exception will be thrown.

WHY YOU SHOULD NOT USE THIS MODULE
    When people declare lexical (`my`) variables within a sub, they (quite
    reasonably) expect these to stay local to the sub. If they rename those
    variables, change them (say replacing a hashref with a hash), drop them or
    whatever, then they don't expect code outside the sub to pay much
    attention.

    Peeking at your caller's lexicals breaks those expectations.

    Peeking at your caller's lexicals leaks an abstraction.

    Peeking at your caller's lexicals can cause spooky action at a distance.

    Every time you peek at your caller's lexicals, a fairy dies.

    Just think about that for a minute, won't you?

BUGS
    Please report any bugs to
    <http://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Queue=Acme-Lexical-Thief>.

SEE ALSO
    PadWalker - a slightly more sane alternative to peeking at your caller's
    lexicals.

    Data::Alias - a slightly more sane way of creating lexical aliases.

    This package was initially published on PerlMonks as `Acme::Asplode`
    <http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=1008814>, but I prefer the current
    name.

AUTHOR
    Toby Inkster <tobyink@cpan.org>.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE
    This software is copyright (c) 2012 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.

