How can I have variable assertions in Perl?

Question

How can I check that a variable has a specific value in Perl? Is there a command to stop a script's execution to look up some of it's variables?

I wonder if I can use the Pythonic practice of inserting:

    assert 0, (foo, bar)

to debug scripts in a debuger-less way?

Answer 1

A quick CPAN search suggests Carp::Assert.

Answer 2

See Carp::Assert:

use Carp::Assert;

$next_sunrise_time = sunrise();

# Assert that the sun must rise in the next 24 hours.
assert(($next_sunrise_time - time) < 24*60*60) if DEBUG;

# Assert that your customer's primary credit card is active
affirm {
    my @cards = @{$customer->credit_cards};
    $cards[0]->is_active;
};