NAME

WriteOnceHash - be a Hash in which each key can only be set once

SYNOPSIS

use WriteOnceHash;

# bind to predefined class
my %woh is WriteOnceHash;
%woh<a> = 5; # ok
%woh<a> = 1; # throws

CATCH {
    when X::Hash::WriteOnce {
        say "Sorry, already set {.key} before";
        .resume
    }
}

# mix in role on anything that does Associative
my %owoh{Any} does WriteOnce;

DESCRIPTION

This module makes an WriteOnceHash class available that can be used instead of the normal Hash. The only difference with a normal Hash is, is that if an attempt is made to set the value of a key that has already been set before, an exception is thrown rather than just overwriting the key in the Hash.

Also binding to non-existing keys in the hash, and then assigning to the obtained container, will only work once. Iterating over values of the hash will only yield values, not containers (as a normal Hash would).

Also exports a X::Hash::WriteOnce error class that will be thrown if an attempt is made to set a key again.

The underlying WriteOnce role is also exported that can be used on objects that perform the Associative role that are not Hash (such as object hashes).

AUTHOR

Elizabeth Mattijsen liz@raku.rocks

Source can be located at: https://github.com/lizmat/WriteOnceHash . Comments and Pull Requests are welcome.

If you like this module, or what I’m doing more generally, committing to a small sponsorship would mean a great deal to me!

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the Artistic License 2.0.