This is an excerpt from the latest version perlfaq8.pod, which
comes with the standard Perl distribution. These postings aim to
reduce the number of repeated questions as well as allow the community
to review and update the answers. The latest version of the complete
perlfaq is at
http://faq.perl.org .
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8.46: What's the difference between require and use?
Perl offers several different ways to include code from one file into
another. Here are the deltas between the various inclusion constructs:
1) do $file is like eval `cat $file`, except the former
1.1: searches @INC and updates %%INC.
1.2: bequeaths an *unrelated* lexical scope on the eval'ed code.
2) require $file is like do $file, except the former
2.1: checks for redundant loading, skipping already loaded files.
2.2: raises an exception on failure to find, compile, or execute $file.
3) require Module is like require "Module.pm", except the former
3.1: translates each "::" into your system's directory separator.
3.2: primes the parser to disambiguate class Module as an indirect object.