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8d063cd8 1.rn '' }`
2''' $Header: perl.man.1,v 1.0 87/12/18 16:18:16 root Exp $
3'''
4''' $Log: perl.man.1,v $
5''' Revision 1.0 87/12/18 16:18:16 root
6''' Initial revision
7'''
8'''
9.de Sh
10.br
11.ne 5
12.PP
13\fB\\$1\fR
14.PP
15..
16.de Sp
17.if t .sp .5v
18.if n .sp
19..
20.de Ip
21.br
22.ie \\n.$>=3 .ne \\$3
23.el .ne 3
24.IP "\\$1" \\$2
25..
26'''
27''' Set up \*(-- to give an unbreakable dash;
28''' string Tr holds user defined translation string.
29''' Bell System Logo is used as a dummy character.
30'''
31.tr \(bs-|\(bv\*(Tr
32.ie n \{\
33.ds -- \(bs-
34.if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=24u) .ds -- \(bs\h'-12u'\(bs\h'-12u'-\" diablo 10 pitch
35.if (\n(.H=4u)&(1m=20u) .ds -- \(bs\h'-12u'\(bs\h'-8u'-\" diablo 12 pitch
36.ds L" ""
37.ds R" ""
38.ds L' '
39.ds R' '
40'br\}
41.el\{\
42.ds -- \(em\|
43.tr \*(Tr
44.ds L" ``
45.ds R" ''
46.ds L' `
47.ds R' '
48'br\}
49.TH PERL 1 LOCAL
50.SH NAME
51perl - Practical Extraction and Report Language
52.SH SYNOPSIS
53.B perl [options] filename args
54.SH DESCRIPTION
55.I Perl
56is a interpreted language optimized for scanning arbitrary text files,
57extracting information from those text files, and printing reports based
58on that information.
59It's also a good language for many system management tasks.
60The language is intended to be practical (easy to use, efficient, complete)
61rather than beautiful (tiny, elegant, minimal).
62It combines (in the author's opinion, anyway) some of the best features of C,
63\fIsed\fR, \fIawk\fR, and \fIsh\fR,
64so people familiar with those languages should have little difficulty with it.
65(Language historians will also note some vestiges of \fIcsh\fR, Pascal, and
66even BASIC-PLUS.)
67Expression syntax corresponds quite closely to C expression syntax.
68If you have a problem that would ordinarily use \fIsed\fR
69or \fIawk\fR or \fIsh\fR, but it
70exceeds their capabilities or must run a little faster,
71and you don't want to write the silly thing in C, then
72.I perl
73may be for you.
74There are also translators to turn your sed and awk scripts into perl scripts.
75OK, enough hype.
76.PP
77Upon startup,
78.I perl
79looks for your script in one of the following places:
80.Ip 1. 4 2
81Specified line by line via
82.B \-e
83switches on the command line.
84.Ip 2. 4 2
85Contained in the file specified by the first filename on the command line.
86(Note that systems supporting the #! notation invoke interpreters this way.)
87.Ip 3. 4 2
88Passed in via standard input.
89.PP
90After locating your script,
91.I perl
92compiles it to an internal form.
93If the script is syntactically correct, it is executed.
94.Sh "Options"
95Note: on first reading this section won't make much sense to you. It's here
96at the front for easy reference.
97.PP
98A single-character option may be combined with the following option, if any.
99This is particularly useful when invoking a script using the #! construct which
100only allows one argument. Example:
101.nf
102
103.ne 2
104 #!/bin/perl -spi.bak # same as -s -p -i.bak
105 .\|.\|.
106
107.fi
108Options include:
109.TP 5
110.B \-D<number>
111sets debugging flags.
112To watch how it executes your script, use
113.B \-D14.
114(This only works if debugging is compiled into your
115.IR perl .)
116.TP 5
117.B \-e commandline
118may be used to enter one line of script.
119Multiple
120.B \-e
121commands may be given to build up a multi-line script.
122If
123.B \-e
124is given,
125.I perl
126will not look for a script filename in the argument list.
127.TP 5
128.B \-i<extension>
129specifies that files processed by the <> construct are to be edited
130in-place.
131It does this by renaming the input file, opening the output file by the
132same name, and selecting that output file as the default for print statements.
133The extension, if supplied, is added to the name of the
134old file to make a backup copy.
135If no extension is supplied, no backup is made.
136Saying \*(L"perl -p -i.bak -e "s/foo/bar/;" ... \*(R" is the same as using
137the script:
138.nf
139
140.ne 2
141 #!/bin/perl -pi.bak
142 s/foo/bar/;
143
144which is equivalent to
145
146.ne 14
147 #!/bin/perl
148 while (<>) {
149 if ($ARGV ne $oldargv) {
150 rename($ARGV,$ARGV . '.bak');
151 open(ARGVOUT,">$ARGV");
152 select(ARGVOUT);
153 $oldargv = $ARGV;
154 }
155 s/foo/bar/;
156 }
157 continue {
158 print; # this prints to original filename
159 }
160 select(stdout);
161
162.fi
163except that the \-i form doesn't need to compare $ARGV to $oldargv to know when
164the filename has changed.
165It does, however, use ARGVOUT for the selected filehandle.
166Note that stdout is restored as the default output filehandle after the loop.
167.TP 5
168.B \-I<directory>
169may be used in conjunction with
170.B \-P
171to tell the C preprocessor where to look for include files.
172By default /usr/include and /usr/lib/perl are searched.
173.TP 5
174.B \-n
175causes
176.I perl
177to assume the following loop around your script, which makes it iterate
178over filename arguments somewhat like \*(L"sed -n\*(R" or \fIawk\fR:
179.nf
180
181.ne 3
182 while (<>) {
183 ... # your script goes here
184 }
185
186.fi
187Note that the lines are not printed by default.
188See
189.B \-p
190to have lines printed.
191.TP 5
192.B \-p
193causes
194.I perl
195to assume the following loop around your script, which makes it iterate
196over filename arguments somewhat like \fIsed\fR:
197.nf
198
199.ne 5
200 while (<>) {
201 ... # your script goes here
202 } continue {
203 print;
204 }
205
206.fi
207Note that the lines are printed automatically.
208To suppress printing use the
209.B \-n
210switch.
211.TP 5
212.B \-P
213causes your script to be run through the C preprocessor before
214compilation by
215.I perl.
216(Since both comments and cpp directives begin with the # character,
217you should avoid starting comments with any words recognized
218by the C preprocessor such as \*(L"if\*(R", \*(L"else\*(R" or \*(L"define\*(R".)
219.TP 5
220.B \-s
221enables some rudimentary switch parsing for switches on the command line
222after the script name but before any filename arguments.
223Any switch found there will set the corresponding variable in the
224.I perl
225script.
226The following script prints \*(L"true\*(R" if and only if the script is
227invoked with a -x switch.
228.nf
229
230.ne 2
231 #!/bin/perl -s
232 if ($x) { print "true\en"; }
233
234.fi
235.Sh "Data Types and Objects"
236.PP
237Perl has about two and a half data types: strings, arrays of strings, and
238associative arrays.
239Strings and arrays of strings are first class objects, for the most part,
240in the sense that they can be used as a whole as values in an expression.
241Associative arrays can only be accessed on an association by association basis;
242they don't have a value as a whole (at least not yet).
243.PP
244Strings are interpreted numerically as appropriate.
245A string is interpreted as TRUE in the boolean sense if it is not the null
246string or 0.
247Booleans returned by operators are 1 for true and '0' or '' (the null
248string) for false.
249.PP
250References to string variables always begin with \*(L'$\*(R', even when referring
251to a string that is part of an array.
252Thus:
253.nf
254
255.ne 3
256 $days \h'|2i'# a simple string variable
257 $days[28] \h'|2i'# 29th element of array @days
258 $days{'Feb'}\h'|2i'# one value from an associative array
259
260but entire arrays are denoted by \*(L'@\*(R':
261
262 @days \h'|2i'# ($days[0], $days[1],\|.\|.\|. $days[n])
263
264.fi
265.PP
266Any of these four constructs may be assigned to (in compiler lingo, may serve
267as an lvalue).
268(Additionally, you may find the length of array @days by evaluating
269\*(L"$#days\*(R", as in
270.IR csh .
271[Actually, it's not the length of the array, it's the subscript of the last element, since there is (ordinarily) a 0th element.])
272.PP
273Every data type has its own namespace.
274You can, without fear of conflict, use the same name for a string variable,
275an array, an associative array, a filehandle, a subroutine name, and/or
276a label.
277Since variable and array references always start with \*(L'$\*(R'
278or \*(L'@\*(R', the \*(L"reserved\*(R" words aren't in fact reserved
279with respect to variable names.
280(They ARE reserved with respect to labels and filehandles, however, which
281don't have an initial special character.)
282Case IS significant\*(--\*(L"FOO\*(R", \*(L"Foo\*(R" and \*(L"foo\*(R" are all
283different names.
284Names which start with a letter may also contain digits and underscores.
285Names which do not start with a letter are limited to one character,
286e.g. \*(L"$%\*(R" or \*(L"$$\*(R".
287(Many one character names have a predefined significance to
288.I perl.
289More later.)
290.PP
291String literals are delimited by either single or double quotes.
292They work much like shell quotes:
293double-quoted string literals are subject to backslash and variable
294substitution; single-quoted strings are not.
295The usual backslash rules apply for making characters such as newline, tab, etc.
296You can also embed newlines directly in your strings, i.e. they can end on
297a different line than they begin.
298This is nice, but if you forget your trailing quote, the error will not be
299reported until perl finds another line containing the quote character, which
300may be much further on in the script.
301Variable substitution inside strings is limited (currently) to simple string variables.
302The following code segment prints out \*(L"The price is $100.\*(R"
303.nf
304
305.ne 2
306 $Price = '$100';\h'|3.5i'# not interpreted
307 print "The price is $Price.\e\|n";\h'|3.5i'# interpreted
308
309.fi
310.PP
311Array literals are denoted by separating individual values by commas, and
312enclosing the list in parentheses.
313In a context not requiring an array value, the value of the array literal
314is the value of the final element, as in the C comma operator.
315For example,
316.nf
317
318 @foo = ('cc', '\-E', $bar);
319
320assigns the entire array value to array foo, but
321
322 $foo = ('cc', '\-E', $bar);
323
324.fi
325assigns the value of variable bar to variable foo.
326Array lists may be assigned to if and only if each element of the list
327is an lvalue:
328.nf
329
330 ($a, $b, $c) = (1, 2, 3);
331
332 ($map{'red'}, $map{'blue'}, $map{'green'}) = (0x00f, 0x0f0, 0xf00);
333
334.fi
335.PP
336Numeric literals are specified in any of the usual floating point or
337integer formats.
338.PP
339There are several other pseudo-literals that you should know about.
340If a string is enclosed by backticks (grave accents), it is interpreted as
341a command, and the output of that command is the value of the pseudo-literal,
342just like in any of the standard shells.
343The command is executed each time the pseudo-literal is evaluated.
344Unlike in \f2csh\f1, no interpretation is done on the
345data\*(--newlines remain newlines.
346.PP
347Evaluating a filehandle in angle brackets yields the next line
348from that file (newline included, so it's never false until EOF).
349Ordinarily you must assign that value to a variable,
350but there is one situation where in which an automatic assignment happens.
351If (and only if) the input symbol is the only thing inside the conditional of a
352.I while
353loop, the value is
354automatically assigned to the variable \*(L"$_\*(R".
355(This may seem like an odd thing to you, but you'll use the construct
356in almost every
357.I perl
358script you write.)
359Anyway, the following lines are equivalent to each other:
360.nf
361
362.ne 3
363 while ($_ = <stdin>) {
364 while (<stdin>) {
365 for (\|;\|<stdin>;\|) {
366
367.fi
368The filehandles
369.IR stdin ,
370.I stdout
371and
372.I stderr
373are predefined.
374Additional filehandles may be created with the
375.I open
376function.
377.PP
378The null filehandle <> is special and can be used to emulate the behavior of
379\fIsed\fR and \fIawk\fR.
380Input from <> comes either from standard input, or from each file listed on
381the command line.
382Here's how it works: the first time <> is evaluated, the ARGV array is checked,
383and if it is null, $ARGV[0] is set to '-', which when opened gives you standard
384input.
385The ARGV array is then processed as a list of filenames.
386The loop
387.nf
388
389.ne 3
390 while (<>) {
391 .\|.\|. # code for each line
392 }
393
394.ne 10
395is equivalent to
396
397 unshift(@ARGV, '\-') \|if \|$#ARGV < $[;
398 while ($ARGV = shift) {
399 open(ARGV, $ARGV);
400 while (<ARGV>) {
401 .\|.\|. # code for each line
402 }
403 }
404
405.fi
406except that it isn't as cumbersome to say.
407It really does shift array ARGV and put the current filename into
408variable ARGV.
409It also uses filehandle ARGV internally.
410You can modify @ARGV before the first <> as long as you leave the first
411filename at the beginning of the array.
412.PP
413If you want to set @ARGV to you own list of files, go right ahead.
414If you want to pass switches into your script, you can
415put a loop on the front like this:
416.nf
417
418.ne 10
419 while ($_ = $ARGV[0], /\|^\-/\|) {
420 shift;
421 last if /\|^\-\|\-$\|/\|;
422 /\|^\-D\|(.*\|)/ \|&& \|($debug = $1);
423 /\|^\-v\|/ \|&& \|$verbose++;
424 .\|.\|. # other switches
425 }
426 while (<>) {
427 .\|.\|. # code for each line
428 }
429
430.fi
431The <> symbol will return FALSE only once.
432If you call it again after this it will assume you are processing another
433@ARGV list, and if you haven't set @ARGV, will input from stdin.
434.Sh "Syntax"
435.PP
436A
437.I perl
438script consists of a sequence of declarations and commands.
439The only things that need to be declared in
440.I perl
441are report formats and subroutines.
442See the sections below for more information on those declarations.
443All objects are assumed to start with a null or 0 value.
444The sequence of commands is executed just once, unlike in
445.I sed
446and
447.I awk
448scripts, where the sequence of commands is executed for each input line.
449While this means that you must explicitly loop over the lines of your input file
450(or files), it also means you have much more control over which files and which
451lines you look at.
452(Actually, I'm lying\*(--it is possible to do an implicit loop with either the
453.B \-n
454or
455.B \-p
456switch.)
457.PP
458A declaration can be put anywhere a command can, but has no effect on the
459execution of the primary sequence of commands.
460Typically all the declarations are put at the beginning or the end of the script.
461.PP
462.I Perl
463is, for the most part, a free-form language.
464(The only exception to this is format declarations, for fairly obvious reasons.)
465Comments are indicated by the # character, and extend to the end of the line.
466If you attempt to use /* */ C comments, it will be interpreted either as
467division or pattern matching, depending on the context.
468So don't do that.
469.Sh "Compound statements"
470In
471.IR perl ,
472a sequence of commands may be treated as one command by enclosing it
473in curly brackets.
474We will call this a BLOCK.
475.PP
476The following compound commands may be used to control flow:
477.nf
478
479.ne 4
480 if (EXPR) BLOCK
481 if (EXPR) BLOCK else BLOCK
482 if (EXPR) BLOCK elsif (EXPR) BLOCK ... else BLOCK
483 LABEL while (EXPR) BLOCK
484 LABEL while (EXPR) BLOCK continue BLOCK
485 LABEL for (EXPR; EXPR; EXPR) BLOCK
486 LABEL BLOCK continue BLOCK
487
488.fi
489(Note that, unlike C and Pascal, these are defined in terms of BLOCKs, not
490statements.
491This means that the curly brackets are \fIrequired\fR\*(--no dangling statements allowed.
492If you want to write conditionals without curly brackets there are several
493other ways to do it.
494The following all do the same thing:
495.nf
496
497.ne 5
498 if (!open(foo)) { die "Can't open $foo"; }
499 die "Can't open $foo" unless open(foo);
500 open(foo) || die "Can't open $foo"; # foo or bust!
501 open(foo) ? die "Can't open $foo" : 'hi mom';
502
503.fi
504though the last one is a bit exotic.)
505.PP
506The
507.I if
508statement is straightforward.
509Since BLOCKs are always bounded by curly brackets, there is never any
510ambiguity about which
511.I if
512an
513.I else
514goes with.
515If you use
516.I unless
517in place of
518.IR if ,
519the sense of the test is reversed.
520.PP
521The
522.I while
523statement executes the block as long as the expression is true
524(does not evaluate to the null string or 0).
525The LABEL is optional, and if present, consists of an identifier followed by
526a colon.
527The LABEL identifies the loop for the loop control statements
528.IR next ,
529.I last
530and
531.I redo
532(see below).
533If there is a
534.I continue
535BLOCK, it is always executed just before
536the conditional is about to be evaluated again, similarly to the third part
537of a
538.I for
539loop in C.
540Thus it can be used to increment a loop variable, even when the loop has
541been continued via the
542.I next
543statement (similar to the C \*(L"continue\*(R" statement).
544.PP
545If the word
546.I while
547is replaced by the word
548.IR until ,
549the sense of the test is reversed, but the conditional is still tested before
550the first iteration.
551.PP
552In either the
553.I if
554or the
555.I while
556statement, you may replace \*(L"(EXPR)\*(R" with a BLOCK, and the conditional
557is true if the value of the last command in that block is true.
558.PP
559The
560.I for
561loop works exactly like the corresponding
562.I while
563loop:
564.nf
565
566.ne 12
567 for ($i = 1; $i < 10; $i++) {
568 .\|.\|.
569 }
570
571is the same as
572
573 $i = 1;
574 while ($i < 10) {
575 .\|.\|.
576 } continue {
577 $i++;
578 }
579.fi
580.PP
581The BLOCK by itself (labeled or not) is equivalent to a loop that executes
582once.
583Thus you can use any of the loop control statements in it to leave or
584restart the block.
585The
586.I continue
587block is optional.
588This construct is particularly nice for doing case structures.
589.nf
590
591.ne 6
592 foo: {
593 if (/abc/) { $abc = 1; last foo; }
594 if (/def/) { $def = 1; last foo; }
595 if (/xyz/) { $xyz = 1; last foo; }
596 $nothing = 1;
597 }
598
599.fi
600.Sh "Simple statements"
601The only kind of simple statement is an expression evaluated for its side
602effects.
603Every expression (simple statement) must be terminated with a semicolon.
604Note that this is like C, but unlike Pascal (and
605.IR awk ).
606.PP
607Any simple statement may optionally be followed by a
608single modifier, just before the terminating semicolon.
609The possible modifiers are:
610.nf
611
612.ne 4
613 if EXPR
614 unless EXPR
615 while EXPR
616 until EXPR
617
618.fi
619The
620.I if
621and
622.I unless
623modifiers have the expected semantics.
624The
625.I while
626and
627.I unless
628modifiers also have the expected semantics (conditional evaluated first),
629except when applied to a do-BLOCK command,
630in which case the block executes once before the conditional is evaluated.
631This is so that you can write loops like:
632.nf
633
634.ne 4
635 do {
636 $_ = <stdin>;
637 .\|.\|.
638 } until $_ \|eq \|".\|\e\|n";
639
640.fi
641(See the
642.I do
643operator below. Note also that the loop control commands described later will
644NOT work in this construct, since loop modifiers don't take loop labels.
645Sorry.)
646.Sh "Expressions"
647Since
648.I perl
649expressions work almost exactly like C expressions, only the differences
650will be mentioned here.
651.PP
652Here's what
653.I perl
654has that C doesn't:
655.Ip (\|) 8 3
656The null list, used to initialize an array to null.
657.Ip . 8
658Concatenation of two strings.
659.Ip .= 8
660The corresponding assignment operator.
661.Ip eq 8
662String equality (== is numeric equality).
663For a mnemonic just think of \*(L"eq\*(R" as a string.
664(If you are used to the
665.I awk
666behavior of using == for either string or numeric equality
667based on the current form of the comparands, beware!
668You must be explicit here.)
669.Ip ne 8
670String inequality (!= is numeric inequality).
671.Ip lt 8
672String less than.
673.Ip gt 8
674String greater than.
675.Ip le 8
676String less than or equal.
677.Ip ge 8
678String greater than or equal.
679.Ip =~ 8 2
680Certain operations search or modify the string \*(L"$_\*(R" by default.
681This operator makes that kind of operation work on some other string.
682The right argument is a search pattern, substitution, or translation.
683The left argument is what is supposed to be searched, substituted, or
684translated instead of the default \*(L"$_\*(R".
685The return value indicates the success of the operation.
686(If the right argument is an expression other than a search pattern,
687substitution, or translation, it is interpreted as a search pattern
688at run time.
689This is less efficient than an explicit search, since the pattern must
690be compiled every time the expression is evaluated.)
691The precedence of this operator is lower than unary minus and autoincrement/decrement, but higher than everything else.
692.Ip !~ 8
693Just like =~ except the return value is negated.
694.Ip x 8
695The repetition operator.
696Returns a string consisting of the left operand repeated the
697number of times specified by the right operand.
698.nf
699
700 print '-' x 80; # print row of dashes
701 print '-' x80; # illegal, x80 is identifier
702
703 print "\et" x ($tab/8), ' ' x ($tab%8); # tab over
704
705.fi
706.Ip x= 8
707The corresponding assignment operator.
708.Ip .. 8
709The range operator, which is bistable.
710It is false as long as its left argument is false.
711Once the left argument is true, it stays true until the right argument is true,
712AFTER which it becomes false again.
713(It doesn't become false till the next time it's evaluated.
714It can become false on the same evaluation it became true, but it still returns
715true once.)
716The .. operator is primarily intended for doing line number ranges after
717the fashion of \fIsed\fR or \fIawk\fR.
718The precedence is a little lower than || and &&.
719The value returned is either the null string for false, or a sequence number
720(beginning with 1) for true.
721The sequence number is reset for each range encountered.
722The final sequence number in a range has the string 'E0' appended to it, which
723doesn't affect its numeric value, but gives you something to search for if you
724want to exclude the endpoint.
725You can exclude the beginning point by waiting for the sequence number to be
726greater than 1.
727If either argument to .. is static, that argument is implicitly compared to
728the $. variable, the current line number.
729Examples:
730.nf
731
732.ne 5
733 if (101 .. 200) { print; } # print 2nd hundred lines
734
735 next line if (1 .. /^$/); # skip header lines
736
737 s/^/> / if (/^$/ .. eof()); # quote body
738
739.fi
740.PP
741Here is what C has that
742.I perl
743doesn't:
744.Ip "unary &" 12
745Address-of operator.
746.Ip "unary *" 12
747Dereference-address operator.
748.PP
749Like C,
750.I perl
751does a certain amount of expression evaluation at compile time, whenever
752it determines that all of the arguments to an operator are static and have
753no side effects.
754In particular, string concatenation happens at compile time between literals that don't do variable substitution.
755Backslash interpretation also happens at compile time.
756You can say
757.nf
758
759.ne 2
760 'Now is the time for all' . "\|\e\|n" .
761 'good men to come to.'
762
763.fi
764and this all reduces to one string internally.
765.PP
766Along with the literals and variables mentioned earlier,
767the following operations can serve as terms in an expression:
768.Ip "/PATTERN/" 8 4
769Searches a string for a pattern, and returns true (1) or false ('').
770If no string is specified via the =~ or !~ operator,
771the $_ string is searched.
772(The string specified with =~ need not be an lvalue\*(--it may be the result of an expression evaluation, but remember the =~ binds rather tightly.)
773See also the section on regular expressions.
774.Sp
775If you prepend an `m' you can use any pair of characters as delimiters.
776This is particularly useful for matching Unix path names that contain `/'.
777.Sp
778Examples:
779.nf
780
781.ne 4
782 open(tty, '/dev/tty');
783 <tty> \|=~ \|/\|^[Yy]\|/ \|&& \|do foo(\|); # do foo if desired
784
785 if (/Version: \|*\|([0-9.]*\|)\|/\|) { $version = $1; }
786
787 next if m#^/usr/spool/uucp#;
788
789.fi
790.Ip "?PATTERN?" 8 4
791This is just like the /pattern/ search, except that it matches only once between
792calls to the
793.I reset
794operator.
795This is a useful optimization when you only want to see the first occurence of
796something in each of a set of files, for instance.
797.Ip "chdir EXPR" 8 2
798Changes the working director to EXPR, if possible.
799Returns 1 upon success, 0 otherwise.
800See example under die().
801.Ip "chmod LIST" 8 2
802Changes the permissions of a list of files.
803The first element of the list must be the numerical mode.
804LIST may be an array, in which case you may wish to use the unshift()
805command to put the mode on the front of the array.
806Returns the number of files successfully changed.
807Note: in order to use the value you must put the whole thing in parentheses.
808.nf
809
810 $cnt = (chmod 0755,'foo','bar');
811
812.fi
813.Ip "chop(VARIABLE)" 8 5
814.Ip "chop" 8
815Chops off the last character of a string and returns it.
816It's used primarily to remove the newline from the end of an input record,
817but is much more efficient than s/\en// because it neither scans nor copies
818the string.
819If VARIABLE is omitted, chops $_.
820Example:
821.nf
822
823.ne 5
824 while (<>) {
825 chop; # avoid \en on last field
826 @array = split(/:/);
827 .\|.\|.
828 }
829
830.fi
831.Ip "chown LIST" 8 2
832Changes the owner (and group) of a list of files.
833LIST may be an array.
834The first two elements of the list must be the NUMERICAL uid and gid, in that order.
835Returns the number of files successfully changed.
836Note: in order to use the value you must put the whole thing in parentheses.
837.nf
838
839 $cnt = (chown $uid,$gid,'foo');
840
841.fi
842Here's an example of looking up non-numeric uids:
843.nf
844
845.ne 16
846 print "User: ";
847 $user = <stdin>;
848 open(pass,'/etc/passwd') || die "Can't open passwd";
849 while (<pass>) {
850 ($login,$pass,$uid,$gid) = split(/:/);
851 $uid{$login} = $uid;
852 $gid{$login} = $gid;
853 }
854 @ary = ('foo','bar','bie','doll');
855 if ($uid{$user} eq '') {
856 die "$user not in passwd file";
857 }
858 else {
859 unshift(@ary,$uid{$user},$gid{$user});
860 chown @ary;
861 }
862
863.fi
864.Ip "close(FILEHANDLE)" 8 5
865.Ip "close FILEHANDLE" 8
866Closes the file or pipe associated with the file handle.
867You don't have to close FILEHANDLE if you are immediately going to
868do another open on it, since open will close it for you.
869(See
870.IR open .)
871However, an explicit close on an input file resets the line counter ($.), while
872the implicit close done by
873.I open
874does not.
875Also, closing a pipe will wait for the process executing on the pipe to complete,
876in case you want to look at the output of the pipe afterwards.
877Example:
878.nf
879
880.ne 4
881 open(output,'|sort >foo'); # pipe to sort
882 ... # print stuff to output
883 close(output); # wait for sort to finish
884 open(input,'foo'); # get sort's results
885
886.fi
887.Ip "crypt(PLAINTEXT,SALT)" 8 6
888Encrypts a string exactly like the crypt() function in the C library.
889Useful for checking the password file for lousy passwords.
890Only the guys wearing white hats should do this.
891.Ip "die EXPR" 8 6
892Prints the value of EXPR to stderr and exits with a non-zero status.
893Equivalent examples:
894.nf
895
896.ne 3
897 die "Can't cd to spool." unless chdir '/usr/spool/news';
898
899 (chdir '/usr/spool/news') || die "Can't cd to spool."
900
901.fi
902Note that the parens are necessary above due to precedence.
903See also
904.IR exit .
905.Ip "do BLOCK" 8 4
906Returns the value of the last command in the sequence of commands indicated
907by BLOCK.
908When modified by a loop modifier, executes the BLOCK once before testing the
909loop condition.
910(On other statements the loop modifiers test the conditional first.)
911.Ip "do SUBROUTINE (LIST)" 8 3
912Executes a SUBROUTINE declared by a
913.I sub
914declaration, and returns the value
915of the last expression evaluated in SUBROUTINE.
916(See the section on subroutines later on.)
917.Ip "each(ASSOC_ARRAY)" 8 6
918Returns a 2 element array consisting of the key and value for the next
919value of an associative array, so that you can iterate over it.
920Entries are returned in an apparently random order.
921When the array is entirely read, a null array is returned (which when
922assigned produces a FALSE (0) value).
923The next call to each() after that will start iterating again.
924The iterator can be reset only by reading all the elements from the array.
925The following prints out your environment like the printenv program, only
926in a different order:
927.nf
928
929.ne 3
930 while (($key,$value) = each(ENV)) {
931 print "$key=$value\en";
932 }
933
934.fi
935See also keys() and values().
936.Ip "eof(FILEHANDLE)" 8 8
937.Ip "eof" 8
938Returns 1 if the next read on FILEHANDLE will return end of file, or if
939FILEHANDLE is not open.
940If (FILEHANDLE) is omitted, the eof status is returned for the last file read.
941The null filehandle may be used to indicate the pseudo file formed of the
942files listed on the command line, i.e. eof() is reasonable to use inside
943a while (<>) loop.
944Example:
945.nf
946
947.ne 7
948 # insert dashes just before last line
949 while (<>) {
950 if (eof()) {
951 print "--------------\en";
952 }
953 print;
954 }
955
956.fi
957.Ip "exec LIST" 8 6
958If there is more than one argument in LIST,
959calls execvp() with the arguments in LIST.
960If there is only one argument, the argument is checked for shell metacharacters.
961If there are any, the entire argument is passed to /bin/sh -c for parsing.
962If there are none, the argument is split into words and passed directly to
963execvp(), which is more efficient.
964Note: exec (and system) do not flush your output buffer, so you may need to
965set $| to avoid lost output.
966.Ip "exit EXPR" 8 6
967Evaluates EXPR and exits immediately with that value.
968Example:
969.nf
970
971.ne 2
972 $ans = <stdin>;
973 exit 0 \|if \|$ans \|=~ \|/\|^[Xx]\|/\|;
974
975.fi
976See also
977.IR die .
978.Ip "exp(EXPR)" 8 3
979Returns e to the power of EXPR.
980.Ip "fork" 8 4
981Does a fork() call.
982Returns the child pid to the parent process and 0 to the child process.
983Note: unflushed buffers remain unflushed in both processes, which means
984you may need to set $| to avoid duplicate output.
985.Ip "gmtime(EXPR)" 8 4
986Converts a time as returned by the time function to a 9-element array with
987the time analyzed for the Greenwich timezone.
988Typically used as follows:
989.nf
990
991.ne 3
992 ($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,$yday,$isdst)
993 = gmtime(time);
994
995.fi
996All array elements are numeric.
997''' End of part 1