=head1 NAME
-perlfaq - frequently asked questions about Perl ($Date: 1999/05/23 20:38:02 $)
+perlfaq - frequently asked questions about Perl ($Date: 2003/01/31 17:37:17 $)
=head1 DESCRIPTION
-The perlfaq is structured into the following documents:
+The perlfaq is divided into several documents based on topics. A table
+of contents is at the end of this document.
+=head2 Where to get the perlfaq
+
+Extracts of the perlfaq are posted regularly to
+comp.lang.perl.misc. It is available on many web sites:
+http://www.perldoc.com/ and http://faq.perl.org/
+
+=head2 How to contribute to the perlfaq
+
+You may mail corrections, additions, and suggestions to
+perlfaq-workers@perl.org . This alias should not be used to
+I<ask> FAQs. It's for fixing the current FAQ. Send
+questions to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup. You can
+view the source tree at http://cvs.perl.org/cvsweb/perlfaq/
+(which is outside of the main Perl source tree). The CVS
+repository notes all changes to the FAQ.
+
+=head2 What will happen if you mail your Perl programming problems to the authors
+
+Your questions will probably go unread, unless they're
+suggestions of new questions to add to the FAQ, in which
+case they should have gone to the perlfaq-workers@perl.org
+instead.
+
+You should have read section 2 of this faq. There you would
+have learned that comp.lang.perl.misc is the appropriate
+place to go for free advice. If your question is really
+important and you require a prompt and correct answer, you
+should hire a consultant.
+
+=head1 Credits
+
+The original perlfaq was written by Tom Christiansen, then expanded
+by collaboration between Tom and Nathan Torkington. The current
+document is maintained by the perlfaq-workers (perlfaq-workers@perl.org).
+Several people have contributed answers, corrections, and comments.
+
+=head1 Author and Copyright Information
+
+Copyright (c) 1997-2003 Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and
+other contributors noted in the answers.
+
+All rights reserved.
+
+=head2 Bundled Distributions
+
+This documentation is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+under the same terms as Perl itself.
+
+Irrespective of its distribution, all code examples in these files
+are hereby placed into the public domain. You are permitted and
+encouraged to use this code in your own programs for fun
+or for profit as you see fit. A simple comment in the code giving
+credit would be courteous but is not required.
+
+=head2 Disclaimer
+
+This information is offered in good faith and in the hope that it may
+be of use, but is not guaranteed to be correct, up to date, or suitable
+for any particular purpose whatsoever. The authors accept no liability
+in respect of this information or its use.
+
+=head1 Table of Contents
+
+=over 4
+
+=item perlfaq - this document
+
+=item perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl
+
+=item perlfaq2 - Obtaining and Learning about Perl
+
+=item perlfaq3 - Programming Tools
+
+=item perlfaq4 - Data Manipulation
-=head2 perlfaq: Structural overview of the FAQ.
+=item perlfaq5 - Files and Formats
-This document.
+=item perlfaq6 - Regular Expressions
+
+=item perlfaq7 - General Perl Language Issues
+
+=item perlfaq8 - System Interaction
+
+=item perlfaq9 - Networking
+
+
+=back
+
+
+=head1 The Questions
=head2 L<perlfaq1>: General Questions About Perl
-Very general, high-level information about Perl.
+Very general, high-level questions about Perl.
=over 4
=item *
-How can I convince my sysadmin/supervisor/employees to use version 5/5.005/Perl instead of some other language?
+How can I convince my sysadmin/supervisor/employees to use version 5/5.6.1/Perl instead of some other language?
=back
=head2 L<perlfaq2>: Obtaining and Learning about Perl
-Where to find source and documentation to Perl, support,
+Where to find source and documentation for Perl, support,
and related matters.
=over 4
=item *
-What is perl.com? Perl Mongers? pm.org? perl.org?
+What is perl.com? Perl Mongers? pm.org? perl.org? cpan.org?
=back
=item *
+How do I find which modules are installed on my system?
+
+=item *
+
How do I debug my Perl programs?
=item *
=item *
-What is undump?
-
-=item *
-
How can I make my Perl program run faster?
=item *
=item *
-Is it unsafe to return a pointer to local data?
+Is it safe to return a reference to local or lexical data?
=item *
=item *
-When I tried to run my script, I got this message. What does it
-mean?
+When I tried to run my script, I got this message. What does it mean?
=item *
=item *
-How do I convert bits into ints?
+How do I convert between numeric representations?
=item *
=item *
-How do I find the week-of-the-year/day-of-the-year?
+How do I get a random number between X and Y?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find the day or week of the year?
=item *
=item *
-How can I access/change the first N letters of a string?
+How can I access or change N characters of a string?
=item *
=item *
-How can I split a [character] delimited string except when inside
-[character]? (Comma-separated files)
+How can I split a [character] delimited string except when inside [character]?
=item *
=item *
-Why don't my <<HERE documents work?
+Why don't my E<lt>E<lt>HERE documents work?
=item *
=item *
-How can I tell whether a list or array contains a certain element?
+How can I tell whether a certain element is contained in a list or array?
=item *
=head2 L<perlfaq5>: Files and Formats
-I/O and the "f" issues: filehandles, flushing, formats and footers.
+I/O and the "f" issues: filehandles, flushing, formats, and footers.
=over 4
=item *
+How can I use Perl's C<-i> option from within a program?
+
+=item *
+
How do I make a temporary file name?
=item *
=item *
-Why do I sometimes get an "Argument list too long" when I use <*>?
+Why do I sometimes get an "Argument list too long" when I use E<lt>*E<gt>?
=item *
=item *
-Why can't I just open(FH, ">file.lock")?
+Why can't I just open(FH, "E<gt>file.lock")?
=item *
=back
-=head2 L<perlfaq6>: Regexps
+=head2 L<perlfaq6>: Regular Expressions
Pattern matching and regular expressions.
=item *
-Why doesn't "my($foo) = <FILE>;" work right?
+Why doesn't "my($foo) = E<lt>FILEE<gt>;" work right?
=item *
=item *
-How can I catch accesses to undefined variables/functions/methods?
+How can I catch accesses to undefined variables, functions, or methods?
=item *
How can I use a variable as a variable name?
+=item *
+
+What does "bad interpreter" mean?
+
=back
=head2 L<perlfaq9>: Networking
-Networking, the Internet, and a few on the web.
+Networking, the internet, and a few on the web.
=over 4
=item *
+What is the correct form of response from a CGI script?
+
+=item *
+
My CGI script runs from the command line but not the browser. (500 Server Error)
=item *
=item *
+How do I use MIME to make an attachment to a mail message?
+
+=item *
+
How do I read mail?
=item *
=back
-=head1 About the perlfaq documents
-
-=head2 Where to get the perlfaq
-
-This document is posted regularly to comp.lang.perl.announce and
-several other related newsgroups. It is available in a variety of
-formats from CPAN in the /CPAN/doc/FAQs/FAQ/ directory or on the web
-at http://www.perl.com/perl/faq/ .
-
-=head2 How to contribute to the perlfaq
-
-You may mail corrections, additions, and suggestions to
-perlfaq-suggestions@perl.com . This alias should not be
-used to I<ask> FAQs. It's for fixing the current FAQ.
-Send questions to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup.
-
-=head2 What will happen if you mail your Perl programming problems to the authors
-
-Your questions will probably go unread, unless they're suggestions of
-new questions to add to the FAQ, in which case they should have gone
-to the perlfaq-suggestions@perl.com instead.
-
-You should have read section 2 of this faq. There you would have
-learned that comp.lang.perl.misc is the appropriate place to go for
-free advice. If your question is really important and you require a
-prompt and correct answer, you should hire a consultant.
-
-=head1 Credits
-
-When I first began the Perl FAQ in the late 80s, I never realized it
-would have grown to over a hundred pages, nor that Perl would ever become
-so popular and widespread. This document could not have been written
-without the tremendous help provided by Larry Wall and the rest of the
-Perl Porters.
-
-=head1 Author and Copyright Information
-
-Copyright (c) 1997-1999 Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington.
-All rights reserved.
-
-=head2 Bundled Distributions
-
-This documentation is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
-under the same terms as Perl itself.
-
-Irrespective of its distribution, all code examples in these files
-are hereby placed into the public domain. You are permitted and
-encouraged to use this code in your own programs for fun
-or for profit as you see fit. A simple comment in the code giving
-credit would be courteous but is not required.
-
-=head2 Disclaimer
-
-This information is offered in good faith and in the hope that it may
-be of use, but is not guaranteed to be correct, up to date, or suitable
-for any particular purpose whatsoever. The authors accept no liability
-in respect of this information or its use.
-
-=head1 Changes
-
-=over 4
-
-=item 1/November/2000
-
-A few grammatical fixes and updates implemented by John Borwick.
-
-=item 23/May/99
-
-Extensive updates from the net in preparation for 5.6 release.
-
-=item 13/April/99
-
-More minor touch-ups. Added new question at the end
-of perlfaq7 on variable names within variables.
-
-=item 7/January/99
-
-Small touchups here and there. Added all questions in this
-document as a sort of table of contents.
-
-=item 22/June/98
-
-Significant changes throughout in preparation for the 5.005
-release.
-
-=item 24/April/97
-
-Style and whitespace changes from Chip, new question on reading one
-character at a time from a terminal using POSIX from Tom.
-
-=item 23/April/97
-
-Added http://www.oasis.leo.org/perl/ to L<perlfaq2>. Style fix to
-L<perlfaq3>. Added floating point precision, fixed complex number
-arithmetic, cross-references, caveat for Text::Wrap, alternative
-answer for initial capitalizing, fixed incorrect regexp, added example
-of Tie::IxHash to L<perlfaq4>. Added example of passing and storing
-filehandles, added commify to L<perlfaq5>. Restored variable suicide,
-and added mass commenting to L<perlfaq7>. Added Net::Telnet, fixed
-backticks, added reader/writer pair to telnet question, added FindBin,
-grouped module questions together in L<perlfaq8>. Expanded caveats
-for the simple URL extractor, gave LWP example, added CGI security
-question, expanded on the mail address answer in L<perlfaq9>.
-
-=item 25/March/97
-
-Added more info to the binary distribution section of L<perlfaq2>.
-Added Net::Telnet to L<perlfaq6>. Fixed typos in L<perlfaq8>. Added
-mail sending example to L<perlfaq9>. Added Merlyn's columns to
-L<perlfaq2>.
-
-=item 18/March/97
-
-Added the DATE to the NAME section, indicating which sections have
-changed.
-
-Mentioned SIGPIPE and L<perlipc> in the forking open answer in
-L<perlfaq8>.
-
-Fixed description of a regular expression in L<perlfaq4>.
-
-=item 17/March/97 Version
-
-Various typos fixed throughout.
-
-Added new question on Perl BNF on L<perlfaq7>.
-
-=item Initial Release: 11/March/97
-
-This is the initial release of version 3 of the FAQ; consequently there
-have been no changes since its initial release.
-
-=back
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