How can I interface with the Perl debugger API?

Question

Is there a way to interface the Perl debugger API which perl is using to control its debugging programmatically?

Answer 1

It's all in the perldebug, perldebguts, and DB documentation.

In addition, I've written a Creating a Perl Debugger which should get you started. I have a section on custom Perl debuggers in Mastering Perl too.

Answer 2

The default Perl debugger was not designed with a clean API to interact with, so the easiest way is probably not to use it, but to use Devel::ebug, which offers an API to an alternative debugger. You can also trigger the debugger from inside your code, calling an interactive debugger session, with Enbugger.