[albany-pm] Typeglobs help!

[Patrick Cronin]

I manage a CentOS 5.10 server running perl 5.8.8. For <REASONS>, I can't upgrade it.

For some reason, I can't install the XS version of Scalar::Util, and so I'm stuck using the PP version. Net::OpenSSH relies on Scalar::Util's dualvar function (which is only available in the XS version of Scalar::Util) to create a single scalar holding both an integer and string value. When the scalar is used in a numeric context, the integer value comes out, and when the scalar is used in a string context, the string value comes out. I'm trying to write a quick and dirty PP version of dualvar so I can move on with my life.

I seem to remember seeing this being done, but no amount of googling is getting me there. I've looked up typeglobs and the *foo{THING} construct, but while THING can be SCALAR, it can't be NUMBER or STRING. Does anyone know the magic to make this happen?

I'm trying variations of the following:

my $int = 2;
my $string = "test";

my $typeglob = $int;
*typeglob{SCALAR} = ${ *string };

print ($typeglob + 2) . "\n";
print $typeglob . " YES!\n";

It just feels gross, and it's not working.

Does anyone have the magic?

	Patrick Cronin 
Computer Lover
Mobile: +1 518 336 5133
Email: oshihuna at gmail.com
Skype: patrickcronin12061 

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