=head1 SYNOPSIS
-B<perl> S<[ B<-sTuU> ]>
+B<perl> S<[ B<-sTtuUWX> ]>
S<[ B<-hv> ] [ B<-V>[:I<configvar>] ]>
- S<[ B<-cw> ] [ B<-d>[:I<debugger>] ] [ B<-D>[I<number/list>] ]>
- S<[ B<-pna> ] [ B<-F>I<pattern> ] [ B<-l>[I<octal>] ] [ B<-0>[I<octal>] ]>
- S<[ B<-I>I<dir> ] [ B<-m>[B<->]I<module> ] [ B<-M>[B<->]I<'module...'> ]>
+ S<[ B<-cw> ] [ B<-d>[B<t>][:I<debugger>] ] [ B<-D>[I<number/list>] ]>
+ S<[ B<-pna> ] [ B<-F>I<pattern> ] [ B<-l>[I<octal>] ] [ B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>] ]>
+ S<[ B<-I>I<dir> ] [ B<-m>[B<->]I<module> ] [ B<-M>[B<->]I<'module...'> ] [ B<-f> ]>
+ S<[ B<-C [I<number/list>] >]>
S<[ B<-P> ]>
S<[ B<-S> ]>
S<[ B<-x>[I<dir>] ]>
S<[ B<-i>[I<extension>] ]>
- S<[ B<-e> I<'command'> ] [ B<--> ] [ I<programfile> ] [ I<argument> ]...>
+ S<[ B<-eE> I<'command'> ] [ B<--> ] [ I<programfile> ] [ I<argument> ]...>
=head1 DESCRIPTION
-Upon startup, Perl looks for your script in one of the following
+The normal way to run a Perl program is by making it directly
+executable, or else by passing the name of the source file as an
+argument on the command line. (An interactive Perl environment
+is also possible--see L<perldebug> for details on how to do that.)
+Upon startup, Perl looks for your program in one of the following
places:
=over 4
=item 1.
-Specified line by line via B<-e> switches on the command line.
+Specified line by line via B<-e> or B<-E> switches on the command line.
=item 2.
=item 3.
Passed in implicitly via standard input. This works only if there are
-no filename arguments--to pass arguments to a STDIN script you
-must explicitly specify a "-" for the script name.
+no filename arguments--to pass arguments to a STDIN-read program you
+must explicitly specify a "-" for the program name.
=back
With methods 2 and 3, Perl starts parsing the input file from the
beginning, unless you've specified a B<-x> switch, in which case it
scans for the first line starting with #! and containing the word
-"perl", and starts there instead. This is useful for running a script
+"perl", and starts there instead. This is useful for running a program
embedded in a larger message. (In this case you would indicate the end
-of the script using the C<__END__> token.)
+of the program using the C<__END__> token.)
The #! line is always examined for switches as the line is being
parsed. Thus, if you're on a machine that allows only one argument
with the #! line, or worse, doesn't even recognize the #! line, you
still can get consistent switch behavior regardless of how Perl was
-invoked, even if B<-x> was used to find the beginning of the script.
-
-Because many operating systems silently chop off kernel interpretation of
-the #! line after 32 characters, some switches may be passed in on the
-command line, and some may not; you could even get a "-" without its
-letter, if you're not careful. You probably want to make sure that all
-your switches fall either before or after that 32 character boundary.
-Most switches don't actually care if they're processed redundantly, but
-getting a - instead of a complete switch could cause Perl to try to
-execute standard input instead of your script. And a partial B<-I> switch
+invoked, even if B<-x> was used to find the beginning of the program.
+
+Because historically some operating systems silently chopped off
+kernel interpretation of the #! line after 32 characters, some
+switches may be passed in on the command line, and some may not;
+you could even get a "-" without its letter, if you're not careful.
+You probably want to make sure that all your switches fall either
+before or after that 32-character boundary. Most switches don't
+actually care if they're processed redundantly, but getting a "-"
+instead of a complete switch could cause Perl to try to execute
+standard input instead of your program. And a partial B<-I> switch
could also cause odd results.
-Some switches do care if they are processed twice, for instance combinations
-of B<-l> and B<-0>. Either put all the switches after the 32 character
-boundary (if applicable), or replace the use of B<-0>I<digits> by
-C<BEGIN{ $/ = "\0digits"; }>.
+Some switches do care if they are processed twice, for instance
+combinations of B<-l> and B<-0>. Either put all the switches after
+the 32-character boundary (if applicable), or replace the use of
+B<-0>I<digits> by C<BEGIN{ $/ = "\0digits"; }>.
Parsing of the #! switches starts wherever "perl" is mentioned in the line.
The sequences "-*" and "- " are specifically ignored so that you could,
if you were so inclined, say
#!/bin/sh -- # -*- perl -*- -p
- eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
+ eval 'exec perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
if $running_under_some_shell;
to let Perl see the B<-p> switch.
+A similar trick involves the B<env> program, if you have it.
+
+ #!/usr/bin/env perl
+
+The examples above use a relative path to the perl interpreter,
+getting whatever version is first in the user's path. If you want
+a specific version of Perl, say, perl5.005_57, you should place
+that directly in the #! line's path.
+
If the #! line does not contain the word "perl", the program named after
the #! is executed instead of the Perl interpreter. This is slightly
bizarre, but it helps people on machines that don't do #!, because they
-can tell a program that their SHELL is /usr/bin/perl, and Perl will then
+can tell a program that their SHELL is F</usr/bin/perl>, and Perl will then
dispatch the program to the correct interpreter for them.
-After locating your script, Perl compiles the entire script to an
+After locating your program, Perl compiles the entire program to an
internal form. If there are any compilation errors, execution of the
-script is not attempted. (This is unlike the typical shell script,
+program is not attempted. (This is unlike the typical shell script,
which might run part-way through before finding a syntax error.)
-If the script is syntactically correct, it is executed. If the script
+If the program is syntactically correct, it is executed. If the program
runs off the end without hitting an exit() or die() operator, an implicit
C<exit(0)> is provided to indicate successful completion.
=head2 #! and quoting on non-Unix systems
+X<hashbang> X<#!>
Unix's #! technique can be simulated on other systems:
extproc perl -S -your_switches
-as the first line in C<*.cmd> file (C<-S> due to a bug in cmd.exe's
+as the first line in C<*.cmd> file (B<-S> due to a bug in cmd.exe's
`extproc' handling).
=item MS-DOS
-Create a batch file to run your script, and codify it in
-C<ALTERNATIVE_SHEBANG> (see the F<dosish.h> file in the source
+Create a batch file to run your program, and codify it in
+C<ALTERNATE_SHEBANG> (see the F<dosish.h> file in the source
distribution for more information).
=item Win95/NT
-The Win95/NT installation, when using the Activeware port of Perl,
-will modify the Registry to associate the .pl extension with the perl
-interpreter. If you install another port of Perl, including the one
-in the Win32 directory of the Perl distribution, then you'll have to
-modify the Registry yourself.
+The Win95/NT installation, when using the ActiveState installer for Perl,
+will modify the Registry to associate the F<.pl> extension with the perl
+interpreter. If you install Perl by other means (including building from
+the sources), you may have to modify the Registry yourself. Note that
+this means you can no longer tell the difference between an executable
+Perl program and a Perl library file.
=item Macintosh
-Macintosh perl scripts will have the appropriate Creator and
-Type, so that double-clicking them will invoke the perl application.
+Under "Classic" MacOS, a perl program will have the appropriate Creator and
+Type, so that double-clicking them will invoke the MacPerl application.
+Under Mac OS X, clickable apps can be made from any C<#!> script using Wil
+Sanchez' DropScript utility: http://www.wsanchez.net/software/ .
+
+=item VMS
+
+Put
+
+ $ perl -mysw 'f$env("procedure")' 'p1' 'p2' 'p3' 'p4' 'p5' 'p6' 'p7' 'p8' !
+ $ exit++ + ++$status != 0 and $exit = $status = undef;
+
+at the top of your program, where B<-mysw> are any command line switches you
+want to pass to Perl. You can now invoke the program directly, by saying
+C<perl program>, or as a DCL procedure, by saying C<@program> (or implicitly
+via F<DCL$PATH> by just using the name of the program).
+
+This incantation is a bit much to remember, but Perl will display it for
+you if you say C<perl "-V:startperl">.
=back
on quoting than Unix shells. You'll need to learn the special
characters in your command-interpreter (C<*>, C<\> and C<"> are
common) and how to protect whitespace and these characters to run
-one-liners (see C<-e> below).
+one-liners (see B<-e> below).
On some systems, you may have to change single-quotes to double ones,
-which you must I<NOT> do on Unix or Plan9 systems. You might also
+which you must I<not> do on Unix or Plan 9 systems. You might also
have to change a single % to a %%.
For example:
# VMS
perl -e "print ""Hello world\n"""
-The problem is that none of this is reliable: it depends on the command
-and it is entirely possible neither works. If 4DOS was the command shell, this would
-probably work better:
+The problem is that none of this is reliable: it depends on the
+command and it is entirely possible neither works. If B<4DOS> were
+the command shell, this would probably work better:
perl -e "print <Ctrl-x>"Hello world\n<Ctrl-x>""
-CMD.EXE in Windows NT slipped a lot of standard Unix functionality in
+B<CMD.EXE> in Windows NT slipped a lot of standard Unix functionality in
when nobody was looking, but just try to find documentation for its
quoting rules.
There is no general solution to all of this. It's just a mess.
=head2 Location of Perl
+X<perl, location of interpreter>
It may seem obvious to say, but Perl is useful only when users can
-easily find it. When possible, it's good for both B</usr/bin/perl> and
-B</usr/local/bin/perl> to be symlinks to the actual binary. If that
-can't be done, system administrators are strongly encouraged to put
-(symlinks to) perl and its accompanying utilities, such as perldoc, into
-a directory typically found along a user's PATH, or in another obvious
-and convenient place.
+easily find it. When possible, it's good for both F</usr/bin/perl>
+and F</usr/local/bin/perl> to be symlinks to the actual binary. If
+that can't be done, system administrators are strongly encouraged
+to put (symlinks to) perl and its accompanying utilities into a
+directory typically found along a user's PATH, or in some other
+obvious and convenient place.
+
+In this documentation, C<#!/usr/bin/perl> on the first line of the program
+will stand in for whatever method works on your system. You are
+advised to use a specific path if you care about a specific version.
-In this documentation, C<#!/usr/bin/perl> on the first line of the script
-will stand in for whatever method works on your system.
+ #!/usr/local/bin/perl5.00554
-=head2 Switches
+or if you just want to be running at least version, place a statement
+like this at the top of your program:
-A single-character switch may be combined with the following switch, if
-any.
+ use 5.005_54;
- #!/usr/bin/perl -spi.bak # same as -s -p -i.bak
+=head2 Command Switches
+X<perl, command switches> X<command switches>
+
+As with all standard commands, a single-character switch may be
+clustered with the following switch, if any.
+
+ #!/usr/bin/perl -spi.orig # same as -s -p -i.orig
Switches include:
=over 5
-=item B<-0>[I<digits>]
+=item B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>]
+X<-0> X<$/>
-specifies the input record separator (C<$/>) as an octal number. If there are
-no digits, the null character is the separator. Other switches may
-precede or follow the digits. For example, if you have a version of
-B<find> which can print filenames terminated by the null character, you
-can say this:
+specifies the input record separator (C<$/>) as an octal or
+hexadecimal number. If there are no digits, the null character is the
+separator. Other switches may precede or follow the digits. For
+example, if you have a version of B<find> which can print filenames
+terminated by the null character, you can say this:
- find . -name '*.bak' -print0 | perl -n0e unlink
+ find . -name '*.orig' -print0 | perl -n0e unlink
The special value 00 will cause Perl to slurp files in paragraph mode.
The value 0777 will cause Perl to slurp files whole because there is no
-legal character with that value.
+legal byte with that value.
+
+If you want to specify any Unicode character, use the hexadecimal
+format: C<-0xHHH...>, where the C<H> are valid hexadecimal digits.
+(This means that you cannot use the C<-x> with a directory name that
+consists of hexadecimal digits.)
=item B<-a>
+X<-a> X<autosplit>
turns on autosplit mode when used with a B<-n> or B<-p>. An implicit
split command to the @F array is done as the first thing inside the
An alternate delimiter may be specified using B<-F>.
+=item B<-C [I<number/list>]>
+X<-C>
+
+The C<-C> flag controls some Unicode of the Perl Unicode features.
+
+As of 5.8.1, the C<-C> can be followed either by a number or a list
+of option letters. The letters, their numeric values, and effects
+are as follows; listing the letters is equal to summing the numbers.
+
+ I 1 STDIN is assumed to be in UTF-8
+ O 2 STDOUT will be in UTF-8
+ E 4 STDERR will be in UTF-8
+ S 7 I + O + E
+ i 8 UTF-8 is the default PerlIO layer for input streams
+ o 16 UTF-8 is the default PerlIO layer for output streams
+ D 24 i + o
+ A 32 the @ARGV elements are expected to be strings encoded
+ in UTF-8
+ L 64 normally the "IOEioA" are unconditional,
+ the L makes them conditional on the locale environment
+ variables (the LC_ALL, LC_TYPE, and LANG, in the order
+ of decreasing precedence) -- if the variables indicate
+ UTF-8, then the selected "IOEioA" are in effect
+ a 256 Set ${^UTF8CACHE} to -1, to run the UTF-8 caching code in
+ debugging mode.
+
+=for documenting_the_underdocumented
+perl.h gives W/128 as PERL_UNICODE_WIDESYSCALLS "/* for Sarathy */"
+
+=for todo
+perltodo mentions Unicode in %ENV and filenames. I guess that these will be
+options e and f (or F).
+
+For example, C<-COE> and C<-C6> will both turn on UTF-8-ness on both
+STDOUT and STDERR. Repeating letters is just redundant, not cumulative
+nor toggling.
+
+The C<io> options mean that any subsequent open() (or similar I/O
+operations) will have the C<:utf8> PerlIO layer implicitly applied
+to them, in other words, UTF-8 is expected from any input stream,
+and UTF-8 is produced to any output stream. This is just the default,
+with explicit layers in open() and with binmode() one can manipulate
+streams as usual.
+
+C<-C> on its own (not followed by any number or option list), or the
+empty string C<""> for the C<PERL_UNICODE> environment variable, has the
+same effect as C<-CSDL>. In other words, the standard I/O handles and
+the default C<open()> layer are UTF-8-fied B<but> only if the locale
+environment variables indicate a UTF-8 locale. This behaviour follows
+the I<implicit> (and problematic) UTF-8 behaviour of Perl 5.8.0.
+
+You can use C<-C0> (or C<"0"> for C<PERL_UNICODE>) to explicitly
+disable all the above Unicode features.
+
+The read-only magic variable C<${^UNICODE}> reflects the numeric value
+of this setting. This is variable is set during Perl startup and is
+thereafter read-only. If you want runtime effects, use the three-arg
+open() (see L<perlfunc/open>), the two-arg binmode() (see L<perlfunc/binmode>),
+and the C<open> pragma (see L<open>).
+
+(In Perls earlier than 5.8.1 the C<-C> switch was a Win32-only switch
+that enabled the use of Unicode-aware "wide system call" Win32 APIs.
+This feature was practically unused, however, and the command line
+switch was therefore "recycled".)
+
=item B<-c>
+X<-c>
-causes Perl to check the syntax of the script and then exit without
-executing it. Actually, it I<will> execute C<BEGIN>, C<END>, and C<use> blocks,
-because these are considered as occurring outside the execution of
-your program.
+causes Perl to check the syntax of the program and then exit without
+executing it. Actually, it I<will> execute C<BEGIN>, C<UNITCHECK>,
+C<CHECK>, and C<use> blocks, because these are considered as occurring
+outside the execution of your program. C<INIT> and C<END> blocks,
+however, will be skipped.
=item B<-d>
+X<-d> X<-dt>
+
+=item B<-dt>
+
+runs the program under the Perl debugger. See L<perldebug>.
+If B<t> is specified, it indicates to the debugger that threads
+will be used in the code being debugged.
-runs the script under the Perl debugger. See L<perldebug>.
+=item B<-d:>I<foo[=bar,baz]>
+X<-d> X<-dt>
-=item B<-d:>I<foo>
+=item B<-dt:>I<foo[=bar,baz]>
-runs the script under the control of a debugging or tracing module
-installed as Devel::foo. E.g., B<-d:DProf> executes the script using the
-Devel::DProf profiler. See L<perldebug>.
+runs the program under the control of a debugging, profiling, or
+tracing module installed as Devel::foo. E.g., B<-d:DProf> executes
+the program using the Devel::DProf profiler. As with the B<-M>
+flag, options may be passed to the Devel::foo package where they
+will be received and interpreted by the Devel::foo::import routine.
+The comma-separated list of options must follow a C<=> character.
+If B<t> is specified, it indicates to the debugger that threads
+will be used in the code being debugged.
+See L<perldebug>.
=item B<-D>I<letters>
+X<-D> X<DEBUGGING> X<-DDEBUGGING>
=item B<-D>I<number>
-sets debugging flags. To watch how it executes your script, use
+sets debugging flags. To watch how it executes your program, use
B<-Dtls>. (This works only if debugging is compiled into your
Perl.) Another nice value is B<-Dx>, which lists your compiled
-syntax tree. And B<-Dr> displays compiled regular expressions. As an
-alternative, specify a number instead of list of letters (e.g., B<-D14> is
-equivalent to B<-Dtls>):
+syntax tree. And B<-Dr> displays compiled regular expressions;
+the format of the output is explained in L<perldebguts>.
- 1 p Tokenizing and parsing
- 2 s Stack snapshots
+As an alternative, specify a number instead of list of letters (e.g.,
+B<-D14> is equivalent to B<-Dtls>):
+
+ 1 p Tokenizing and parsing (with v, displays parse stack)
+ 2 s Stack snapshots (with v, displays all stacks)
4 l Context (loop) stack processing
8 t Trace execution
16 o Method and overloading resolution
32 c String/numeric conversions
- 64 P Print preprocessor command for -P
+ 64 P Print profiling info, preprocessor command for -P, source file input state
128 m Memory allocation
256 f Format processing
512 r Regular expression parsing and execution
1024 x Syntax tree dump
2048 u Tainting checks
- 4096 L Memory leaks (needs C<-DLEAKTEST> when compiling Perl)
+ 4096 U Unofficial, User hacking (reserved for private, unreleased use)
8192 H Hash dump -- usurps values()
16384 X Scratchpad allocation
32768 D Cleaning up
-
-All these flags require C<-DDEBUGGING> when you compile the Perl
-executable. This flag is automatically set if you include C<-g>
+ 65536 S Thread synchronization
+ 131072 T Tokenising
+ 262144 R Include reference counts of dumped variables (eg when using -Ds)
+ 524288 J Do not s,t,P-debug (Jump over) opcodes within package DB
+ 1048576 v Verbose: use in conjunction with other flags
+ 2097152 C Copy On Write
+ 4194304 A Consistency checks on internal structures
+ 8388608 q quiet - currently only suppresses the "EXECUTING" message
+
+All these flags require B<-DDEBUGGING> when you compile the Perl
+executable (but see L<Devel::Peek>, L<re> which may change this).
+See the F<INSTALL> file in the Perl source distribution
+for how to do this. This flag is automatically set if you include B<-g>
option when C<Configure> asks you about optimizer/debugger flags.
+If you're just trying to get a print out of each line of Perl code
+as it executes, the way that C<sh -x> provides for shell scripts,
+you can't use Perl's B<-D> switch. Instead do this
+
+ # If you have "env" utility
+ env PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop=1 AutoTrace=1 frame=2" perl -dS program
+
+ # Bourne shell syntax
+ $ PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop=1 AutoTrace=1 frame=2" perl -dS program
+
+ # csh syntax
+ % (setenv PERLDB_OPTS "NonStop=1 AutoTrace=1 frame=2"; perl -dS program)
+
+See L<perldebug> for details and variations.
+
=item B<-e> I<commandline>
+X<-e>
+
+may be used to enter one line of program. If B<-e> is given, Perl
+will not look for a filename in the argument list. Multiple B<-e>
+commands may be given to build up a multi-line script. Make sure
+to use semicolons where you would in a normal program.
+
+=item B<-E> I<commandline>
+X<-E>
+
+behaves just like B<-e>, except that it implicitly enables all
+optional features (in the main compilation unit). See L<feature>.
+
+=item B<-f>
+X<-f>
-may be used to enter one line of script.
-If B<-e> is given, Perl
-will not look for a script filename in the argument list.
-Multiple B<-e> commands may
-be given to build up a multi-line script.
-Make sure to use semicolons where you would in a normal program.
+Disable executing F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup.
+
+Perl can be built so that it by default will try to execute
+F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup. This is a hook that
+allows the sysadmin to customize how perl behaves. It can for
+instance be used to add entries to the @INC array to make perl find
+modules in non-standard locations.
=item B<-F>I<pattern>
+X<-F>
specifies the pattern to split on if B<-a> is also in effect. The
pattern may be surrounded by C<//>, C<"">, or C<''>, otherwise it will be
-put in single quotes.
+put in single quotes. You can't use literal whitespace in the pattern.
=item B<-h>
+X<-h>
prints a summary of the options.
=item B<-i>[I<extension>]
+X<-i> X<in-place>
+
+specifies that files processed by the C<E<lt>E<gt>> construct are to be
+edited in-place. It does this by renaming the input file, opening the
+output file by the original name, and selecting that output file as the
+default for print() statements. The extension, if supplied, is used to
+modify the name of the old file to make a backup copy, following these
+rules:
+
+If no extension is supplied, no backup is made and the current file is
+overwritten.
+
+If the extension doesn't contain a C<*>, then it is appended to the
+end of the current filename as a suffix. If the extension does
+contain one or more C<*> characters, then each C<*> is replaced
+with the current filename. In Perl terms, you could think of this
+as:
+
+ ($backup = $extension) =~ s/\*/$file_name/g;
-specifies that files processed by the C<E<lt>E<gt>> construct are to be edited
-in-place. It does this by renaming the input file, opening the output
-file by the original name, and selecting that output file as the default
-for print() statements. The extension, if supplied, is added to the name
-of the old file to make a backup copy. If no extension is supplied, no
-backup is made. From the shell, saying
+This allows you to add a prefix to the backup file, instead of (or in
+addition to) a suffix:
- $ perl -p -i.bak -e "s/foo/bar/; ... "
+ $ perl -pi'orig_*' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'orig_fileA'
-is the same as using the script:
+Or even to place backup copies of the original files into another
+directory (provided the directory already exists):
- #!/usr/bin/perl -pi.bak
+ $ perl -pi'old/*.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'old/fileA.orig'
+
+These sets of one-liners are equivalent:
+
+ $ perl -pi -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # overwrite current file
+ $ perl -pi'*' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # overwrite current file
+
+ $ perl -pi'.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'fileA.orig'
+ $ perl -pi'*.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'fileA.orig'
+
+From the shell, saying
+
+ $ perl -p -i.orig -e "s/foo/bar/; ... "
+
+is the same as using the program:
+
+ #!/usr/bin/perl -pi.orig
s/foo/bar/;
which is equivalent to
#!/usr/bin/perl
- while (<>) {
+ $extension = '.orig';
+ LINE: while (<>) {
if ($ARGV ne $oldargv) {
- rename($ARGV, $ARGV . '.bak');
+ if ($extension !~ /\*/) {
+ $backup = $ARGV . $extension;
+ }
+ else {
+ ($backup = $extension) =~ s/\*/$ARGV/g;
+ }
+ rename($ARGV, $backup);
open(ARGVOUT, ">$ARGV");
select(ARGVOUT);
$oldargv = $ARGV;
except that the B<-i> form doesn't need to compare $ARGV to $oldargv to
know when the filename has changed. It does, however, use ARGVOUT for
-the selected filehandle. Note that STDOUT is restored as the
-default output filehandle after the loop.
+the selected filehandle. Note that STDOUT is restored as the default
+output filehandle after the loop.
+
+As shown above, Perl creates the backup file whether or not any output
+is actually changed. So this is just a fancy way to copy files:
+
+ $ perl -p -i'/some/file/path/*' -e 1 file1 file2 file3...
+or
+ $ perl -p -i'.orig' -e 1 file1 file2 file3...
+
+You can use C<eof> without parentheses to locate the end of each input
+file, in case you want to append to each file, or reset line numbering
+(see example in L<perlfunc/eof>).
-You can use C<eof> without parentheses to locate the end of each input file,
-in case you want to append to each file, or reset line numbering (see
-example in L<perlfunc/eof>).
+If, for a given file, Perl is unable to create the backup file as
+specified in the extension then it will skip that file and continue on
+with the next one (if it exists).
-Finally, note that the B<-i> switch does not impede execution when no
+For a discussion of issues surrounding file permissions and B<-i>,
+see L<perlfaq5/Why does Perl let me delete read-only files? Why does -i clobber protected files? Isn't this a bug in Perl?>.
+
+You cannot use B<-i> to create directories or to strip extensions from
+files.
+
+Perl does not expand C<~> in filenames, which is good, since some
+folks use it for their backup files:
+
+ $ perl -pi~ -e 's/foo/bar/' file1 file2 file3...
+
+Note that because B<-i> renames or deletes the original file before
+creating a new file of the same name, UNIX-style soft and hard links will
+not be preserved.
+
+Finally, the B<-i> switch does not impede execution when no
files are given on the command line. In this case, no backup is made
(the original file cannot, of course, be determined) and processing
proceeds from STDIN to STDOUT as might be expected.
=item B<-I>I<directory>
+X<-I> X<@INC>
Directories specified by B<-I> are prepended to the search path for
modules (C<@INC>), and also tells the C preprocessor where to search for
searches /usr/include and /usr/lib/perl.
=item B<-l>[I<octnum>]
+X<-l> X<$/> X<$\>
-enables automatic line-ending processing. It has two effects: first,
-it automatically chomps "C<$/>" (the input record separator) when used
-with B<-n> or B<-p>, and second, it assigns "C<$\>"
-(the output record separator) to have the value of I<octnum> so that
-any print statements will have that separator added back on. If
-I<octnum> is omitted, sets "C<$\>" to the current value of "C<$/>". For
-instance, to trim lines to 80 columns:
+enables automatic line-ending processing. It has two separate
+effects. First, it automatically chomps C<$/> (the input record
+separator) when used with B<-n> or B<-p>. Second, it assigns C<$\>
+(the output record separator) to have the value of I<octnum> so
+that any print statements will have that separator added back on.
+If I<octnum> is omitted, sets C<$\> to the current value of
+C<$/>. For instance, to trim lines to 80 columns:
perl -lpe 'substr($_, 80) = ""'
This sets C<$\> to newline and then sets C<$/> to the null character.
=item B<-m>[B<->]I<module>
+X<-m> X<-M>
=item B<-M>[B<->]I<module>
=item B<-[mM]>[B<->]I<module=arg[,arg]...>
-C<-m>I<module> executes C<use> I<module> C<();> before executing your
-script.
+B<-m>I<module> executes C<use> I<module> C<();> before executing your
+program.
-C<-M>I<module> executes C<use> I<module> C<;> before executing your
-script. You can use quotes to add extra code after the module name,
-e.g., C<-M'module qw(foo bar)'>.
+B<-M>I<module> executes C<use> I<module> C<;> before executing your
+program. You can use quotes to add extra code after the module name,
+e.g., C<'-Mmodule qw(foo bar)'>.
-If the first character after the C<-M> or C<-m> is a dash (C<->)
+If the first character after the B<-M> or B<-m> is a dash (C<->)
then the 'use' is replaced with 'no'.
A little builtin syntactic sugar means you can also say
-C<-mmodule=foo,bar> or C<-Mmodule=foo,bar> as a shortcut for
-C<-M'module qw(foo bar)'>. This avoids the need to use quotes when
-importing symbols. The actual code generated by C<-Mmodule=foo,bar> is
+B<-mmodule=foo,bar> or B<-Mmodule=foo,bar> as a shortcut for
+C<'-Mmodule qw(foo bar)'>. This avoids the need to use quotes when
+importing symbols. The actual code generated by B<-Mmodule=foo,bar> is
C<use module split(/,/,q{foo,bar})>. Note that the C<=> form
-removes the distinction between C<-m> and C<-M>.
+removes the distinction between B<-m> and B<-M>.
+
+A consequence of this is that B<-MFoo=number> never does a version check
+(unless C<Foo::import()> itself is set up to do a version check, which
+could happen for example if Foo inherits from Exporter.)
=item B<-n>
+X<-n>
-causes Perl to assume the following loop around your script, which
+causes Perl to assume the following loop around your program, which
makes it iterate over filename arguments somewhat like B<sed -n> or
B<awk>:
+ LINE:
while (<>) {
- ... # your script goes here
+ ... # your program goes here
}
Note that the lines are not printed by default. See B<-p> to have
lines printed. If a file named by an argument cannot be opened for
-some reason, Perl warns you about it, and moves on to the next file.
+some reason, Perl warns you about it and moves on to the next file.
-Here is an efficient way to delete all files older than a week:
+Here is an efficient way to delete all files that haven't been modified for
+at least a week:
- find . -mtime +7 -print | perl -nle 'unlink;'
+ find . -mtime +7 -print | perl -nle unlink
-This is faster than using the C<-exec> switch of B<find> because you don't
-have to start a process on every filename found.
+This is faster than using the B<-exec> switch of B<find> because you don't
+have to start a process on every filename found. It does suffer from
+the bug of mishandling newlines in pathnames, which you can fix if
+you follow the example under B<-0>.
C<BEGIN> and C<END> blocks may be used to capture control before or after
-the implicit loop, just as in B<awk>.
+the implicit program loop, just as in B<awk>.
=item B<-p>
+X<-p>
-causes Perl to assume the following loop around your script, which
+causes Perl to assume the following loop around your program, which
makes it iterate over filename arguments somewhat like B<sed>:
+ LINE:
while (<>) {
- ... # your script goes here
+ ... # your program goes here
} continue {
print or die "-p destination: $!\n";
}
If a file named by an argument cannot be opened for some reason, Perl
warns you about it, and moves on to the next file. Note that the
-lines are printed automatically. An error occuring during printing is
+lines are printed automatically. An error occurring during printing is
treated as fatal. To suppress printing use the B<-n> switch. A B<-p>
overrides a B<-n> switch.
C<BEGIN> and C<END> blocks may be used to capture control before or after
-the implicit loop, just as in awk.
+the implicit loop, just as in B<awk>.
=item B<-P>
+X<-P>
+
+B<NOTE: Use of -P is strongly discouraged because of its inherent
+problems, including poor portability.>
-causes your script to be run through the C preprocessor before
-compilation by Perl. (Because both comments and cpp directives begin
+This option causes your program to be run through the C preprocessor before
+compilation by Perl. Because both comments and B<cpp> directives begin
with the # character, you should avoid starting comments with any words
-recognized by the C preprocessor such as "if", "else", or "define".)
+recognized by the C preprocessor such as C<"if">, C<"else">, or C<"define">.
+
+If you're considering using C<-P>, you might also want to look at the
+Filter::cpp module from CPAN.
+
+The problems of -P include, but are not limited to:
+
+=over 10
+
+=item *
+
+The C<#!> line is stripped, so any switches there don't apply.
+
+=item *
+
+A C<-P> on a C<#!> line doesn't work.
+
+=item *
+
+B<All> lines that begin with (whitespace and) a C<#> but
+do not look like cpp commands, are stripped, including anything
+inside Perl strings, regular expressions, and here-docs .
+
+=item *
+
+In some platforms the C preprocessor knows too much: it knows about
+the C++ -style until-end-of-line comments starting with C<"//">.
+This will cause problems with common Perl constructs like
+
+ s/foo//;
+
+because after -P this will became illegal code
+
+ s/foo
+
+The workaround is to use some other quoting separator than C<"/">,
+like for example C<"!">:
+
+ s!foo!!;
+
+
+
+=item *
+
+It requires not only a working C preprocessor but also a working
+F<sed>. If not on UNIX, you are probably out of luck on this.
+
+=item *
+
+Script line numbers are not preserved.
+
+=item *
+
+The C<-x> does not work with C<-P>.
+
+=back
=item B<-s>
+X<-s>
-enables some rudimentary switch parsing for switches on the command
-line after the script name but before any filename arguments (or before
-a B<-->). Any switch found there is removed from @ARGV and sets the
-corresponding variable in the Perl script. The following script
-prints "true" if and only if the script is invoked with a B<-xyz> switch.
+enables rudimentary switch parsing for switches on the command
+line after the program name but before any filename arguments (or before
+an argument of B<-->). Any switch found there is removed from @ARGV and sets the
+corresponding variable in the Perl program. The following program
+prints "1" if the program is invoked with a B<-xyz> switch, and "abc"
+if it is invoked with B<-xyz=abc>.
#!/usr/bin/perl -s
- if ($xyz) { print "true\n"; }
+ if ($xyz) { print "$xyz\n" }
+
+Do note that a switch like B<--help> creates the variable ${-help}, which is not compliant
+with C<strict refs>. Also, when using this option on a script with
+warnings enabled you may get a lot of spurious "used only once" warnings.
=item B<-S>
+X<-S>
makes Perl use the PATH environment variable to search for the
-script (unless the name of the script contains directory separators).
+program (unless the name of the program contains directory separators).
+
On some platforms, this also makes Perl append suffixes to the
filename while searching for it. For example, on Win32 platforms,
the ".bat" and ".cmd" suffixes are appended if a lookup for the
of those suffixes. If your Perl was compiled with DEBUGGING turned
on, using the -Dp switch to Perl shows how the search progresses.
-If the filename supplied contains directory separators (i.e. it is an
-absolute or relative pathname), and if the file is not found,
-platforms that append file extensions will do so and try to look
-for the file with those extensions added, one by one.
+Typically this is used to emulate #! startup on platforms that don't
+support #!. Its also convenient when debugging a script that uses #!,
+and is thus normally found by the shell's $PATH search mechanism.
-On DOS-like platforms, if the script does not contain directory
-separators, it will first be searched for in the current directory
-before being searched for on the PATH. On Unix platforms, the
-script will be searched for strictly on the PATH.
-
-Typically this is used to emulate #! startup on platforms that
-don't support #!. This example works on many platforms that
-have a shell compatible with Bourne shell:
+This example works on many platforms that have a shell compatible with
+Bourne shell:
#!/usr/bin/perl
eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
if $running_under_some_shell;
-The system ignores the first line and feeds the script to /bin/sh,
-which proceeds to try to execute the Perl script as a shell script.
+The system ignores the first line and feeds the program to F</bin/sh>,
+which proceeds to try to execute the Perl program as a shell script.
The shell executes the second line as a normal shell command, and thus
starts up the Perl interpreter. On some systems $0 doesn't always
contain the full pathname, so the B<-S> tells Perl to search for the
-script if necessary. After Perl locates the script, it parses the
+program if necessary. After Perl locates the program, it parses the
lines and ignores them because the variable $running_under_some_shell
-is never true. If the script will be interpreted by csh, you will need
+is never true. If the program will be interpreted by csh, you will need
to replace C<${1+"$@"}> with C<$*>, even though that doesn't understand
embedded spaces (and such) in the argument list. To start up sh rather
than csh, some systems may have to replace the #! line with a line
containing just a colon, which will be politely ignored by Perl. Other
systems can't control that, and need a totally devious construct that
-will work under any of csh, sh, or Perl, such as the following:
+will work under any of B<csh>, B<sh>, or Perl, such as the following:
- eval '(exit $?0)' && eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
+ eval '(exit $?0)' && eval 'exec perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
& eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -wS $0 $argv:q'
if $running_under_some_shell;
+If the filename supplied contains directory separators (i.e., is an
+absolute or relative pathname), and if that file is not found,
+platforms that append file extensions will do so and try to look
+for the file with those extensions added, one by one.
+
+On DOS-like platforms, if the program does not contain directory
+separators, it will first be searched for in the current directory
+before being searched for on the PATH. On Unix platforms, the
+program will be searched for strictly on the PATH.
+
+=item B<-t>
+X<-t>
+
+Like B<-T>, but taint checks will issue warnings rather than fatal
+errors. These warnings can be controlled normally with C<no warnings
+qw(taint)>.
+
+B<NOTE: this is not a substitute for -T.> This is meant only to be
+used as a temporary development aid while securing legacy code:
+for real production code and for new secure code written from scratch
+always use the real B<-T>.
+
=item B<-T>
+X<-T>
forces "taint" checks to be turned on so you can test them. Ordinarily
-these checks are done only when running setuid or setgid. It's a good
-idea to turn them on explicitly for programs run on another's behalf,
-such as CGI programs. See L<perlsec>. Note that (for security reasons)
-this option must be seen by Perl quite early; usually this means it must
-appear early on the command line or in the #! line (for systems which
-support that).
+these checks are done only when running setuid or setgid. It's a
+good idea to turn them on explicitly for programs that run on behalf
+of someone else whom you might not necessarily trust, such as CGI
+programs or any internet servers you might write in Perl. See
+L<perlsec> for details. For security reasons, this option must be
+seen by Perl quite early; usually this means it must appear early
+on the command line or in the #! line for systems which support
+that construct.
=item B<-u>
-
-causes Perl to dump core after compiling your script. You can then
-in theory take this core dump and turn it into an executable file by using the
-B<undump> program (not supplied). This speeds startup at the expense of
-some disk space (which you can minimize by stripping the executable).
-(Still, a "hello world" executable comes out to about 200K on my
-machine.) If you want to execute a portion of your script before dumping,
-use the dump() operator instead. Note: availability of B<undump> is
-platform specific and may not be available for a specific port of
-Perl. It has been superseded by the new perl-to-C compiler, which is more
-portable, even though it's still only considered beta.
+X<-u>
+
+This obsolete switch causes Perl to dump core after compiling your
+program. You can then in theory take this core dump and turn it
+into an executable file by using the B<undump> program (not supplied).
+This speeds startup at the expense of some disk space (which you
+can minimize by stripping the executable). (Still, a "hello world"
+executable comes out to about 200K on my machine.) If you want to
+execute a portion of your program before dumping, use the dump()
+operator instead. Note: availability of B<undump> is platform
+specific and may not be available for a specific port of Perl.
+
+This switch has been superseded in favor of the new Perl code
+generator backends to the compiler. See L<B> and L<B::Bytecode>
+for details.
=item B<-U>
+X<-U>
allows Perl to do unsafe operations. Currently the only "unsafe"
-operations are the unlinking of directories while running as superuser,
-and running setuid programs with fatal taint checks turned into
-warnings. Note that the B<-w> switch (or the C<$^W> variable) must
-be used along with this option to actually B<generate> the
-taint-check warnings.
+operations are attempting to unlink directories while running as
+superuser, and running setuid programs with fatal taint checks turned
+into warnings. Note that the B<-w> switch (or the C<$^W> variable)
+must be used along with this option to actually I<generate> the
+taint-check warnings.
=item B<-v>
+X<-v>
-prints the version and patchlevel of your Perl executable.
+prints the version and patchlevel of your perl executable.
=item B<-V>
+X<-V>
prints summary of the major perl configuration values and the current
-value of @INC.
+values of @INC.
+
+=item B<-V:>I<configvar>
+
+Prints to STDOUT the value of the named configuration variable(s),
+with multiples when your configvar argument looks like a regex (has
+non-letters). For example:
+
+ $ perl -V:libc
+ libc='/lib/libc-2.2.4.so';
+ $ perl -V:lib.
+ libs='-lnsl -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lcrypt -lutil -lc';
+ libc='/lib/libc-2.2.4.so';
+ $ perl -V:lib.*
+ libpth='/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib';
+ libs='-lnsl -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lcrypt -lutil -lc';
+ lib_ext='.a';
+ libc='/lib/libc-2.2.4.so';
+ libperl='libperl.a';
+ ....
-=item B<-V:>I<name>
+Additionally, extra colons can be used to control formatting. A
+trailing colon suppresses the linefeed and terminator ';', allowing
+you to embed queries into shell commands. (mnemonic: PATH separator
+':'.)
-Prints to STDOUT the value of the named configuration variable.
+ $ echo "compression-vars: " `perl -V:z.*: ` " are here !"
+ compression-vars: zcat='' zip='zip' are here !
+
+A leading colon removes the 'name=' part of the response, this allows
+you to map to the name you need. (mnemonic: empty label)
+
+ $ echo "goodvfork="`./perl -Ilib -V::usevfork`
+ goodvfork=false;
+
+Leading and trailing colons can be used together if you need
+positional parameter values without the names. Note that in the case
+below, the PERL_API params are returned in alphabetical order.
+
+ $ echo building_on `perl -V::osname: -V::PERL_API_.*:` now
+ building_on 'linux' '5' '1' '9' now
=item B<-w>
+X<-w>
+
+prints warnings about dubious constructs, such as variable names
+that are mentioned only once and scalar variables that are used
+before being set, redefined subroutines, references to undefined
+filehandles or filehandles opened read-only that you are attempting
+to write on, values used as a number that don't look like numbers,
+using an array as though it were a scalar, if your subroutines
+recurse more than 100 deep, and innumerable other things.
+
+This switch really just enables the internal C<$^W> variable. You
+can disable or promote into fatal errors specific warnings using
+C<__WARN__> hooks, as described in L<perlvar> and L<perlfunc/warn>.
+See also L<perldiag> and L<perltrap>. A new, fine-grained warning
+facility is also available if you want to manipulate entire classes
+of warnings; see L<warnings> or L<perllexwarn>.
-prints warnings about variable names that are mentioned only once, and
-scalar variables that are used before being set. Also warns about
-redefined subroutines, and references to undefined filehandles or
-filehandles opened read-only that you are attempting to write on. Also
-warns you if you use values as a number that doesn't look like numbers,
-using an array as though it were a scalar, if your subroutines recurse
-more than 100 deep, and innumerable other things.
+=item B<-W>
+X<-W>
-You can disable specific warnings using C<__WARN__> hooks, as described
-in L<perlvar> and L<perlfunc/warn>. See also L<perldiag> and L<perltrap>.
+Enables all warnings regardless of C<no warnings> or C<$^W>.
+See L<perllexwarn>.
+
+=item B<-X>
+X<-X>
+
+Disables all warnings regardless of C<use warnings> or C<$^W>.
+See L<perllexwarn>.
+
+=item B<-x>
+X<-x>
=item B<-x> I<directory>
-tells Perl that the script is embedded in a message. Leading
-garbage will be discarded until the first line that starts with #! and
-contains the string "perl". Any meaningful switches on that line will
-be applied. If a directory name is specified, Perl will switch to
-that directory before running the script. The B<-x> switch controls
-only the disposal of leading garbage. The script must be
-terminated with C<__END__> if there is trailing garbage to be ignored (the
-script can process any or all of the trailing garbage via the DATA
-filehandle if desired).
+tells Perl that the program is embedded in a larger chunk of unrelated
+ASCII text, such as in a mail message. Leading garbage will be
+discarded until the first line that starts with #! and contains the
+string "perl". Any meaningful switches on that line will be applied.
+If a directory name is specified, Perl will switch to that directory
+before running the program. The B<-x> switch controls only the
+disposal of leading garbage. The program must be terminated with
+C<__END__> if there is trailing garbage to be ignored (the program
+can process any or all of the trailing garbage via the DATA filehandle
+if desired).
=back
=head1 ENVIRONMENT
+X<perl, environment variables>
=over 12
=item HOME
+X<HOME>
Used if chdir has no argument.
=item LOGDIR
+X<LOGDIR>
Used if chdir has no argument and HOME is not set.
=item PATH
+X<PATH>
-Used in executing subprocesses, and in finding the script if B<-S> is
+Used in executing subprocesses, and in finding the program if B<-S> is
used.
=item PERL5LIB
+X<PERL5LIB>
-A colon-separated list of directories in which to look for Perl library
+A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
files before looking in the standard library and the current
-directory. If PERL5LIB is not defined, PERLLIB is used. When running
-taint checks (because the script was running setuid or setgid, or the
-B<-T> switch was used), neither variable is used. The script should
-instead say
+directory. Any architecture-specific directories under the specified
+locations are automatically included if they exist (this lookup
+being done at interpreter startup time.)
+
+If PERL5LIB is not defined, PERLLIB is used. Directories are separated
+(like in PATH) by a colon on unixish platforms and by a semicolon on
+Windows (the proper path separator being given by the command C<perl
+-V:path_sep>).
+
+When running taint checks (either because the program was running setuid
+or setgid, or the B<-T> or B<-t> switch was specified), neither variable
+is used. The program should instead say:
use lib "/my/directory";
=item PERL5OPT
+X<PERL5OPT>
Command-line options (switches). Switches in this variable are taken
-as if they were on every Perl command line. Only the B<-[DIMUdmw]>
-switches are allowed. When running taint checks (because the script
+as if they were on every Perl command line. Only the B<-[CDIMUdmtwA]>
+switches are allowed. When running taint checks (because the program
was running setuid or setgid, or the B<-T> switch was used), this
-variable is ignored.
+variable is ignored. If PERL5OPT begins with B<-T>, tainting will be
+enabled, and any subsequent options ignored.
+
+=item PERLIO
+X<PERLIO>
+
+A space (or colon) separated list of PerlIO layers. If perl is built
+to use PerlIO system for IO (the default) these layers effect perl's IO.
+
+It is conventional to start layer names with a colon e.g. C<:perlio> to
+emphasise their similarity to variable "attributes". But the code that parses
+layer specification strings (which is also used to decode the PERLIO
+environment variable) treats the colon as a separator.
+
+An unset or empty PERLIO is equivalent to the default set of layers for
+your platform, for example C<:unix:perlio> on UNIX-like systems
+and C<:unix:crlf> on Windows and other DOS-like systems.
+
+The list becomes the default for I<all> perl's IO. Consequently only built-in
+layers can appear in this list, as external layers (such as :encoding()) need
+IO in order to load them!. See L<"open pragma"|open> for how to add external
+encodings as defaults.
+
+The layers that it makes sense to include in the PERLIO environment
+variable are briefly summarised below. For more details see L<PerlIO>.
+
+=over 8
+
+=item :bytes
+X<:bytes>
+
+A pseudolayer that turns I<off> the C<:utf8> flag for the layer below.
+Unlikely to be useful on its own in the global PERLIO environment variable.
+You perhaps were thinking of C<:crlf:bytes> or C<:perlio:bytes>.
+
+=item :crlf
+X<:crlf>
+
+A layer which does CRLF to "\n" translation distinguishing "text" and
+"binary" files in the manner of MS-DOS and similar operating systems.
+(It currently does I<not> mimic MS-DOS as far as treating of Control-Z
+as being an end-of-file marker.)
+
+=item :mmap
+X<:mmap>
+
+A layer which implements "reading" of files by using C<mmap()> to
+make (whole) file appear in the process's address space, and then
+using that as PerlIO's "buffer".
+
+=item :perlio
+X<:perlio>
+
+This is a re-implementation of "stdio-like" buffering written as a
+PerlIO "layer". As such it will call whatever layer is below it for
+its operations (typically C<:unix>).
+
+=item :pop
+X<:pop>
+
+An experimental pseudolayer that removes the topmost layer.
+Use with the same care as is reserved for nitroglycerin.
+
+=item :raw
+X<:raw>
+
+A pseudolayer that manipulates other layers. Applying the C<:raw>
+layer is equivalent to calling C<binmode($fh)>. It makes the stream
+pass each byte as-is without any translation. In particular CRLF
+translation, and/or :utf8 intuited from locale are disabled.
+
+Unlike in the earlier versions of Perl C<:raw> is I<not>
+just the inverse of C<:crlf> - other layers which would affect the
+binary nature of the stream are also removed or disabled.
+
+=item :stdio
+X<:stdio>
+
+This layer provides PerlIO interface by wrapping system's ANSI C "stdio"
+library calls. The layer provides both buffering and IO.
+Note that C<:stdio> layer does I<not> do CRLF translation even if that
+is platforms normal behaviour. You will need a C<:crlf> layer above it
+to do that.
+
+=item :unix
+X<:unix>
+
+Low level layer which calls C<read>, C<write> and C<lseek> etc.
+
+=item :utf8
+X<:utf8>
+
+A pseudolayer that turns on a flag on the layer below to tell perl
+that output should be in utf8 and that input should be regarded as
+already in utf8 form. May be useful in PERLIO environment
+variable to make UTF-8 the default. (To turn off that behaviour
+use C<:bytes> layer.)
+
+=item :win32
+X<:win32>
+
+On Win32 platforms this I<experimental> layer uses native "handle" IO
+rather than unix-like numeric file descriptor layer. Known to be
+buggy in this release.
+
+=back
+
+On all platforms the default set of layers should give acceptable results.
+
+For UNIX platforms that will equivalent of "unix perlio" or "stdio".
+Configure is setup to prefer "stdio" implementation if system's library
+provides for fast access to the buffer, otherwise it uses the "unix perlio"
+implementation.
+
+On Win32 the default in this release is "unix crlf". Win32's "stdio"
+has a number of bugs/mis-features for perl IO which are somewhat
+C compiler vendor/version dependent. Using our own C<crlf> layer as
+the buffer avoids those issues and makes things more uniform.
+The C<crlf> layer provides CRLF to/from "\n" conversion as well as
+buffering.
+
+This release uses C<unix> as the bottom layer on Win32 and so still uses C
+compiler's numeric file descriptor routines. There is an experimental native
+C<win32> layer which is expected to be enhanced and should eventually be
+the default under Win32.
+
+=item PERLIO_DEBUG
+X<PERLIO_DEBUG>
+
+If set to the name of a file or device then certain operations of PerlIO
+sub-system will be logged to that file (opened as append). Typical uses
+are UNIX:
+
+ PERLIO_DEBUG=/dev/tty perl script ...
+
+and Win32 approximate equivalent:
+
+ set PERLIO_DEBUG=CON
+ perl script ...
+
+This functionality is disabled for setuid scripts and for scripts run
+with B<-T>.
=item PERLLIB
+X<PERLLIB>
-A colon-separated list of directories in which to look for Perl library
+A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
files before looking in the standard library and the current directory.
If PERL5LIB is defined, PERLLIB is not used.
=item PERL5DB
+X<PERL5DB>
The command used to load the debugger code. The default is:
BEGIN { require 'perl5db.pl' }
-=item PERL5SHELL (specific to WIN32 port)
+=item PERL5DB_THREADED
+X<PERL5DB_THREADED>
+
+If set to a true value, indicates to the debugger that the code being
+debugged uses threads.
+
+=item PERL5SHELL (specific to the Win32 port)
+X<PERL5SHELL>
May be set to an alternative shell that perl must use internally for
-executing "backtick" commands or system(). Default is C<cmd.exe /x/c>
+executing "backtick" commands or system(). Default is C<cmd.exe /x/d/c>
on WindowsNT and C<command.com /c> on Windows95. The value is considered
-to be space delimited. Precede any character that needs to be protected
+to be space-separated. Precede any character that needs to be protected
(like a space or backslash) with a backslash.
Note that Perl doesn't use COMSPEC for this purpose because
interfere with the proper functioning of other programs (which usually
look in COMSPEC to find a shell fit for interactive use).
+=item PERL_ALLOW_NON_IFS_LSP (specific to the Win32 port)
+X<PERL_ALLOW_NON_IFS_LSP>
+
+Set to 1 to allow the use of non-IFS compatible LSP's.
+Perl normally searches for an IFS-compatible LSP because this is required
+for its emulation of Windows sockets as real filehandles. However, this may
+cause problems if you have a firewall such as McAfee Guardian which requires
+all applications to use its LSP which is not IFS-compatible, because clearly
+Perl will normally avoid using such an LSP.
+Setting this environment variable to 1 means that Perl will simply use the
+first suitable LSP enumerated in the catalog, which keeps McAfee Guardian
+happy (and in that particular case Perl still works too because McAfee
+Guardian's LSP actually plays some other games which allow applications
+requiring IFS compatibility to work).
+
=item PERL_DEBUG_MSTATS
+X<PERL_DEBUG_MSTATS>
Relevant only if perl is compiled with the malloc included with the perl
distribution (that is, if C<perl -V:d_mymalloc> is 'define').
after compilation.
=item PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL
+X<PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL>
Relevant only if your perl executable was built with B<-DDEBUGGING>,
this controls the behavior of global destruction of objects and other
-references.
+references. See L<perlhack/PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL> for more information.
+
+=item PERL_DL_NONLAZY
+X<PERL_DL_NONLAZY>
+
+Set to one to have perl resolve B<all> undefined symbols when it loads
+a dynamic library. The default behaviour is to resolve symbols when
+they are used. Setting this variable is useful during testing of
+extensions as it ensures that you get an error on misspelled function
+names even if the test suite doesn't call it.
+
+=item PERL_ENCODING
+X<PERL_ENCODING>
+
+If using the C<encoding> pragma without an explicit encoding name, the
+PERL_ENCODING environment variable is consulted for an encoding name.
+
+=item PERL_HASH_SEED
+X<PERL_HASH_SEED>
+
+(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Used to randomise perl's internal hash function.
+To emulate the pre-5.8.1 behaviour, set to an integer (zero means
+exactly the same order as 5.8.0). "Pre-5.8.1" means, among other
+things, that hash keys will always have the same ordering between
+different runs of perl.
+
+Most hashes return elements in the same order as Perl 5.8.0 by default.
+On a hash by hash basis, if pathological data is detected during a hash
+key insertion, then that hash will switch to an alternative random hash
+seed.
+
+The default behaviour is to randomise unless the PERL_HASH_SEED is set.
+If perl has been compiled with C<-DUSE_HASH_SEED_EXPLICIT>, the default
+behaviour is B<not> to randomise unless the PERL_HASH_SEED is set.
+
+If PERL_HASH_SEED is unset or set to a non-numeric string, perl uses
+the pseudorandom seed supplied by the operating system and libraries.
+
+B<Please note that the hash seed is sensitive information>. Hashes are
+randomized to protect against local and remote attacks against Perl
+code. By manually setting a seed this protection may be partially or
+completely lost.
+
+See L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> and
+L</PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG> for more information.
+
+=item PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG
+X<PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG>
+
+(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Set to one to display (to STDERR) the value of
+the hash seed at the beginning of execution. This, combined with
+L</PERL_HASH_SEED> is intended to aid in debugging nondeterministic
+behavior caused by hash randomization.
+
+B<Note that the hash seed is sensitive information>: by knowing it one
+can craft a denial-of-service attack against Perl code, even remotely,
+see L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> for more information.
+B<Do not disclose the hash seed> to people who don't need to know it.
+See also hash_seed() of L<Hash::Util>.
+
+=item PERL_ROOT (specific to the VMS port)
+X<PERL_ROOT>
+
+A translation concealed rooted logical name that contains perl and the
+logical device for the @INC path on VMS only. Other logical names that
+affect perl on VMS include PERLSHR, PERL_ENV_TABLES, and
+SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL but are optional and discussed further in
+L<perlvms> and in F<README.vms> in the Perl source distribution.
+
+=item PERL_SIGNALS
+X<PERL_SIGNALS>
+
+In Perls 5.8.1 and later. If set to C<unsafe> the pre-Perl-5.8.0
+signals behaviour (immediate but unsafe) is restored. If set to
+C<safe> the safe (or deferred) signals are used.
+See L<perlipc/"Deferred Signals (Safe Signals)">.
+
+=item PERL_UNICODE
+X<PERL_UNICODE>
+
+Equivalent to the B<-C> command-line switch. Note that this is not
+a boolean variable-- setting this to C<"1"> is not the right way to
+"enable Unicode" (whatever that would mean). You can use C<"0"> to
+"disable Unicode", though (or alternatively unset PERL_UNICODE in
+your shell before starting Perl). See the description of the C<-C>
+switch for more information.
+
+=item SYS$LOGIN (specific to the VMS port)
+X<SYS$LOGIN>
+
+Used if chdir has no argument and HOME and LOGDIR are not set.
=back
specific to particular natural languages. See L<perllocale>.
Apart from these, Perl uses no other environment variables, except
-to make them available to the script being executed, and to child
-processes. However, scripts running setuid would do well to execute
+to make them available to the program being executed, and to child
+processes. However, programs running setuid would do well to execute
the following lines before doing anything else, just to keep people
honest:
- $ENV{PATH} = '/bin:/usr/bin'; # or whatever you need
+ $ENV{PATH} = '/bin:/usr/bin'; # or whatever you need
$ENV{SHELL} = '/bin/sh' if exists $ENV{SHELL};
delete @ENV{qw(IFS CDPATH ENV BASH_ENV)};
-
projects / p5sagit/p5-mst-13.2.git / blobdiff