PerlIO::scalar(3perl) Perl Programmers Reference Guide PerlIO::scalar(3perl)
NAME
PerlIO::scalar - in-memory IO, scalar IO
SYNOPSIS
my $scalar = '';
...
open my $fh, "<", \$scalar or die;
open my $fh, ">", \$scalar or die;
open my $fh, ">>", \$scalar or die;
or
my $scalar = '';
...
open my $fh, "<:scalar", \$scalar or die;
open my $fh, ">:scalar", \$scalar or die;
open my $fh, ">>:scalar", \$scalar or die;
DESCRIPTION
A filehandle is opened but the file operations are performed "in-
memory" on a scalar variable. All the normal file operations can be
performed on the handle. The scalar is considered a stream of bytes.
Currently fileno($fh) returns -1.
Attempting to open a read-only scalar for writing will fail, and if
warnings are enabled, produce a warning.
IMPLEMENTATION NOTE
"PerlIO::scalar" only exists to use XSLoader to load C code that
provides support for treating a scalar as an "in memory" file. One
does not need to explicitly "use PerlIO::scalar".
perl v5.34.0 2025-07-25 PerlIO::scalar(3perl)
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