Remove prototypes._RE_DBREF and add new dbref() to protfuncs

evennia/prototypes/protfuncs.py

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ prototype key (this value must be possible to serialize in an Attribute).
 
 from ast import literal_eval
 from random import randint as base_randint, random as base_random, choice as base_choice
+import re
 
 from evennia.utils import search
 from evennia.utils.utils import justify as base_justify, is_iter, to_str
@@ -325,3 +326,15 @@ def objlist(*args, **kwargs):
 
     """
     return ["#{}".format(obj.id) for obj in _obj_search(return_list=True, *args, **kwargs)]
+
+
+def dbref(*args, **kwargs):
+    """
+    Usage $dbref(<#dbref>)
+    Returns one Object searched globally by #dbref. Error if #dbref is invalid.
+    """
+    _RE_DBREF = re.compile(r"\#[0-9]+")
+    if not args or len(args) < 1 or _RE_DBREF.match(args[0]) is None:
+        raise ValueError('$dbref requires a valid #dbref argument.')
+
+    return obj(args[0])