How can a perl constructor return a value not just a hashref - perl

Question

I want to create a Perl OO module to return a value like DateTime does, but don't know how to it right now. Anyone's help on this will be appreciated.
Below looks like what I wanted:
use DateTime;
use Data::Printer;
my $time = DateTime->now();
print $time . "\n";
print ref $time;
# p $time;
Output:
2022-11-23T13:22:39
DateTime
What I got:
package Com::Mfg::Address;
use strict;
use warnings;
#constructor
sub new {
my ($class) = #_;
my $self = {
_street => shift || "undefined",
_city => shift || "undefined",
_las_state => shift || "undefined",
_zip => shift || "undefined",
};
bless $self, $class;
return $self;
}
#accessor method for street
sub street {
my ( $self, $street ) = #_;
$self->{_street} = $street if defined($street);
return ( $self->{_street} );
}
#accessor method for city
sub city {
my ( $self, $city ) = #_;
$self->{_city} = $city if defined($city);
return ( $self->{_city} );
}
#accessor method for state
sub state {
my ( $self, $state ) = #_;
$self->{_state} = $state if defined($state);
return ( $self->{_state} );
}
#accessor method for zip
sub zip {
my ( $self, $zip ) = #_;
$self->{_zip} = $zip if defined($zip);
return ( $self->{_zip} );
}
sub print {
my ($self) = #_;
printf( "Address:%s\n%s, %s %s\n\n",
$self->street, $self->city, $self->state, $self->zip );
}
1;
# test.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use Data::Printer;
BEGIN {
use FindBin qw($Bin);
use lib "$Bin/../lib";
}
use Com::Mfg::Address;
my $homeAddr = Com::Mfg::Address->new('#101 Road', 'LA', 'CA', '111111');
print $homeAddr;
# $homeAddr->print();
# p $homeAddr;
But this only gives me:
Com::Mfg::Address=HASH(0xb89ad0)
I am curious if print $homeAddr can give me:
something like #101Road-LA-CA-111111 and it really is object like above print $time . "\n";.
I tried to review DateTime source but still have no clue right now.

Answer 1

You're asking how to provide a custom stringification for the object. Use the following in your module:
use overload '""' => \&to_string;
sub to_string {
my $self = shift;
return
join ", ",
$self->street,
$self->city,
$self->state,
$self->zip;
}
This makes
print $homeAddr;
equivalent to
print $homeAddr->to_string();