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# prototype

Perl 5 version 16.0 documentation
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# prototype

Perl functions A-Z | Perl functions by category | The 'perlfunc' manpage

- prototype FUNCTION

  Returns the prototype of a function as a string (or `undef` if the function has no prototype). FUNCTION is a reference to, or the name of, the function whose prototype you want to retrieve.

  If FUNCTION is a string starting with `CORE::` , the rest is taken as a name for a Perl builtin. If the builtin is not overridable (such as `qw//`) or if its arguments cannot be adequately expressed by a prototype (such as `system`), prototype() returns `undef`, because the builtin does not really behave like a Perl function. Otherwise, the string describing the equivalent prototype is returned.