S<[ B<-i>[I<extension>] ]> S<[ B<-e> I<'command'> ]
[ B<--> ] [ I<programfile> ] [ I<argument> ]...>
-For ease of access, the Perl manual has been split up into several
-sections:
+For ease of access, the Perl manual has been split up into several sections:
perl Perl overview (this section)
- perldelta Perl changes since previous version
- perl5005delta Perl changes in version 5.005
- perl5004delta Perl changes in version 5.004
perlfaq Perl frequently asked questions
perltoc Perl documentation table of contents
+ perlbook Perl book information
- perldata Perl data structures
perlsyn Perl syntax
+ perldata Perl data structures
perlop Perl operators and precedence
- perlre Perl regular expressions
- perlrun Perl execution and options
- perlfunc Perl builtin functions
- perlopentut Perl open() tutorial
- perlvar Perl predefined variables
perlsub Perl subroutines
- perlmod Perl modules: how they work
- perlmodlib Perl modules: how to write and use
- perlmodinstall Perl modules: how to install from CPAN
- perlform Perl formats
- perllocale Perl locale support
-
+ perlfunc Perl builtin functions
perlreftut Perl references short introduction
- perlref Perl references, the rest of the story
perldsc Perl data structures intro
+ perlrequick Perl regular expressions quick start
+ perlpod Perl plain old documentation
+ perlstyle Perl style guide
+ perltrap Perl traps for the unwary
+
+ perlrun Perl execution and options
+ perldiag Perl diagnostic messages
+ perllexwarn Perl warnings and their control
+ perldebtut Perl debugging tutorial
+ perldebug Perl debugging
+
+ perlvar Perl predefined variables
perllol Perl data structures: arrays of arrays
+ perlopentut Perl open() tutorial
+ perlretut Perl regular expressions tutorial
+
+ perlre Perl regular expressions, the rest of the story
+ perlref Perl references, the rest of the story
+
+ perlform Perl formats
+
perlboot Perl OO tutorial for beginners
perltoot Perl OO tutorial, part 1
perltootc Perl OO tutorial, part 2
perlobj Perl objects
- perltie Perl objects hidden behind simple variables
perlbot Perl OO tricks and examples
+ perltie Perl objects hidden behind simple variables
+
perlipc Perl interprocess communication
perlfork Perl fork() information
+ perlnumber Perl number semantics
perlthrtut Perl threads tutorial
- perldbmfilter Perl DBM Filters
- perlcompile Perl compiler suite intro
- perldebug Perl debugging
- perldiag Perl diagnostic messages
- perlsec Perl security
- perltrap Perl traps for the unwary
perlport Perl portability guide
- perlstyle Perl style guide
+ perllocale Perl locale support
+ perlunicode Perl unicode support
+ perlebcdic Considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC platforms
- perlpod Perl plain old documentation
- perlbook Perl book information
+ perlsec Perl security
+
+ perlmod Perl modules: how they work
+ perlmodlib Perl modules: how to write and use
+ perlmodinstall Perl modules: how to install from CPAN
+ perlnewmod Perl modules: preparing a new module for distribution
+
+ perlfaq1 General Questions About Perl
+ perlfaq2 Obtaining and Learning about Perl
+ perlfaq3 Programming Tools
+ perlfaq4 Data Manipulation
+ perlfaq5 Files and Formats
+ perlfaq6 Regexes
+ perlfaq7 Perl Language Issues
+ perlfaq8 System Interaction
+ perlfaq9 Networking
+
+ perlcompile Perl compiler suite intro
perlembed Perl ways to embed perl in your C or C++ application
- perlapio Perl internal IO abstraction interface
- perlxs Perl XS application programming interface
+ perldebguts Perl debugging guts and tips
perlxstut Perl XS tutorial
+ perlxs Perl XS application programming interface
+ perlclib Internal replacements for standard C library functions
perlguts Perl internal functions for those doing extensions
perlcall Perl calling conventions from C
+ perlutil utilities packaged with the Perl distribution
+ perlfilter Perl source filters
+ perldbmfilter Perl DBM filters
perlapi Perl API listing (autogenerated)
perlintern Perl internal functions (autogenerated)
-
+ perliol C API for Perl's implementation of IO in Layers
+ perlapio Perl internal IO abstraction interface
perltodo Perl things to do
perlhack Perl hackers guide
+
perlhist Perl history records
+ perldelta Perl changes since previous version
+ perl572delta Perl changes in version 5.7.2
+ perl571delta Perl changes in version 5.7.1
+ perl570delta Perl changes in version 5.7.0
+ perl56delta Perl changes in version 5.6
+ perl5005delta Perl changes in version 5.005
+ perl5004delta Perl changes in version 5.004
+
+ perlaix Perl notes for AIX
+ perlamiga Perl notes for Amiga
+ perlbs2000 Perl notes for POSIX-BC BS2000
+ perlcygwin Perl notes for Cygwin
+ perldgux Perl notes for DG/UX
+ perldos Perl notes for DOS
+ perlepoc Perl notes for EPOC
+ perlhpux Perl notes for HP-UX
+ perlmachten Perl notes for Power MachTen
+ perlmacos Perl notes for Mac OS (Classic)
+ perlmpeix Perl notes for MPE/iX
+ perlos2 Perl notes for OS/2
+ perlos390 Perl notes for OS/390
+ perlsolaris Perl notes for Solaris
+ perltru64 Perl notes for Tru64
+ perlvmesa Perl notes for VM/ESA
+ perlvms Perl notes for VMS
+ perlvos Perl notes for Stratus VOS
+ perlwin32 Perl notes for Windows
(If you're intending to read these straight through for the first time,
the suggested order will tend to reduce the number of forward references.)
Begun in 1993 (see L<perlhist>), Perl version 5 is nearly a complete
rewrite that provides the following additional benefits:
-=over
+=over 4
-=item * modularity and reusability using innumerable modules
+=item *
+
+modularity and reusability using innumerable modules
Described in L<perlmod>, L<perlmodlib>, and L<perlmodinstall>.
-=item * embeddable and extensible
+=item *
+
+embeddable and extensible
Described in L<perlembed>, L<perlxstut>, L<perlxs>, L<perlcall>,
L<perlguts>, and L<xsubpp>.
-=item * roll-your-own magic variables (including multiple simultaneous DBM implementations)
+=item *
+
+roll-your-own magic variables (including multiple simultaneous DBM implementations)
Described in L<perltie> and L<AnyDBM_File>.
-=item * subroutines can now be overridden, autoloaded, and prototyped
+=item *
+
+subroutines can now be overridden, autoloaded, and prototyped
Described in L<perlsub>.
-=item * arbitrarily nested data structures and anonymous functions
+=item *
+
+arbitrarily nested data structures and anonymous functions
Described in L<perlreftut>, L<perlref>, L<perldsc>, and L<perllol>.
-=item * object-oriented programming
+=item *
+
+object-oriented programming
Described in L<perlobj>, L<perltoot>, and L<perlbot>.
-=item * compilability into C code or Perl bytecode
+=item *
+
+compilability into C code or Perl bytecode
Described in L<B> and L<B::Bytecode>.
-=item * support for light-weight processes (threads)
+=item *
+
+support for light-weight processes (threads)
Described in L<perlthrtut> and L<Thread>.
-=item * support for internationalization, localization, and Unicode
+=item *
+
+support for internationalization, localization, and Unicode
Described in L<perllocale> and L<utf8>.
-=item * lexical scoping
+=item *
+
+lexical scoping
Described in L<perlsub>.
-=item * regular expression enhancements
+=item *
+
+regular expression enhancements
Described in L<perlre>, with additional examples in L<perlop>.
-=item * enhanced debugger and interactive Perl environment, with integrated editor support
+=item *
+
+enhanced debugger and interactive Perl environment,
+with integrated editor support
Described in L<perldebug>.
-=item * POSIX 1003.1 compliant library
+=item *
+
+POSIX 1003.1 compliant library
Described in L<POSIX>.
=head1 AVAILABILITY
Perl is available for most operating systems, including virtually
-all Unix-like platforms.
-
-As of May 1999, the following platforms are able to build Perl
-from the standard source code distribution available at
-http://www.perl.com/CPAN/src/index.html
-
- AIX Linux SCO ODT/OSR
- A/UX MachTen Solaris
- BeOS MPE/iX SunOS
- BSD/OS NetBSD SVR4
- DG/UX NextSTEP Tru64 UNIX 3)
- DomainOS OpenBSD Ultrix
- DOS DJGPP 1) OpenSTEP UNICOS
- DYNIX/ptx OS/2 VMS
- FreeBSD OS390 2) VOS
- HP-UX PowerMAX Windows 3.1 1)
- Hurd QNX Windows 95 1) 4)
- IRIX Windows 98 1) 4)
- Windows NT 1) 4)
-
- 1) in DOS mode either the DOS or OS/2 ports can be used
- 2) formerly known as MVS
- 3) formerly known as Digital UNIX and before that DEC OSF/1
- 4) compilers: Borland, Cygwin, Mingw32 EGCS/GCC, VC++
-
-The following platforms have been known to build Perl from source,
-but we haven't been able to verify their status for the current release,
-either because the hardware/software platforms are rare or
-because we don't have an active champion on these platforms--or both.
-
- 3b1 FPS Plan 9
- AmigaOS GENIX PowerUX
- ConvexOS Greenhills RISC/os
- CX/UX ISC Stellar
- DC/OSx MachTen 68k SVR2
- DDE SMES MiNT TI1500
- DOS EMX MPC TitanOS
- Dynix NEWS-OS UNICOS/mk
- EP/IX Opus Unisys Dynix
- ESIX Unixware
-
-Support for the following platforms is planned for the next major
-Perl release.
-
- BS2000
- Netware
- Rhapsody
- VM/ESA
-
-The following platforms have their own source code distributions and
-binaries available via http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports/index.html.
-
- Perl release
-
- AS/400 5.003
- MacOS 5.004
- Netware 5.003_07
- Tandem Guardian 5.004
-
-The following platforms have only binaries available via
-http://www.perl.com/CPAN/ports/index.html.
-
- Perl release
-
- Acorn RISCOS 5.005_02
- AOS 5.002
- LynxOS 5.004_02
+all Unix-like platforms. See L<perlport/"Supported Platforms">
+for a listing.
=head1 ENVIRONMENT
=head1 DIAGNOSTICS
-The B<-w> switch produces some lovely diagnostics.
+The C<use warnings> pragma (and the B<-w> switch) produces some
+lovely diagnostics.
See L<perldiag> for explanations of all Perl's diagnostics. The C<use
diagnostics> pragma automatically turns Perl's normally terse warnings
You may mail your bug reports (be sure to include full configuration
information as output by the myconfig program in the perl source
-tree, or by C<perl -V>) to perlbug@perl.com . If you've succeeded
-in compiling perl, the perlbug script in the utils/ subdirectory
+tree, or by C<perl -V>) to perlbug@perl.org . If you've succeeded
+in compiling perl, the B<perlbug> script in the F<utils/> subdirectory
can be used to help mail in a bug report.
Perl actually stands for Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister, but