S<[ B<-hv> ] [ B<-V>[:I<configvar>] ]>
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...'> ]>
- S<[ B<-A>[I<module>][=I<assertions>] ]>
+ 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
=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.
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:
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 F</usr/bin/perl>
use 5.005_54;
=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.
=over 5
=item B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>]
+X<-0> X<$/>
specifies the input record separator (C<$/>) as an octal or
hexadecimal number. If there are no digits, the null character is the
(This means that you cannot use the C<-x> with a directory name that
consists of hexadecimal digits.)
-=item B<-A[I<module>][=I<assertions>]>
-
-Activates the assertions given after the equal sign as a comma-separated
-list of assertion names or regular expressions. If no assertion name
-is given, activates all assertions.
-
-The module L<assertions::activate> is used by default to activate the
-selected assertions. An alternate module may be specified including
-its name between the switch and the equal sign.
-
-See L<assertions> and L<assertions::activate>.
-
=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.
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 ${^UTF8CACHE} to -1, to run the UTF-8 caching code in
+ debugging mode.
+
+=for documenting_the_underdocumented
+perl.h gives W/128 as PERL_UNICODE_WIDESYSCALLS "/* for Sarathy */"
+
+=for todo
+perltodo mentions Unicode in %ENV and filenames. I guess that these will be
+options e and f (or F).
For example, C<-COE> and C<-C6> will both turn on UTF-8-ness on both
STDOUT and STDERR. Repeating letters is just redundant, not cumulative
switch was therefore "recycled".)
=item B<-c>
+X<-c>
causes Perl to check the syntax of the program and then exit without
-executing it. Actually, it I<will> execute C<BEGIN>, C<CHECK>, and
-C<use> blocks, because these are considered as occurring outside the
-execution of your program. C<INIT> and C<END> blocks, however, will
-be skipped.
+executing it. Actually, it I<will> execute C<BEGIN>, C<UNITCHECK>,
+C<CHECK>, and C<use> blocks, because these are considered as occurring
+outside the execution of your program. C<INIT> and C<END> blocks,
+however, will be skipped.
=item B<-d>
+X<-d> X<-dt>
=item B<-dt>
will be used in the code being debugged.
=item B<-d:>I<foo[=bar,baz]>
+X<-d> X<-dt>
=item B<-dt:>I<foo[=bar,baz]>
See L<perldebug>.
=item B<-D>I<letters>
+X<-D> X<DEBUGGING> X<-DDEBUGGING>
=item B<-D>I<number>
See L<perldebug> for details and variations.
=item B<-e> I<commandline>
+X<-e>
may be used to enter one line of program. If B<-e> is given, Perl
will not look for a filename in the argument list. Multiple B<-e>
commands may be given to build up a multi-line script. Make sure
to use semicolons where you would in a normal program.
+=item B<-E> I<commandline>
+X<-E>
+
+behaves just like B<-e>, except that it implicitly enables all
+optional features (in the main compilation unit). See L<feature>.
+
=item B<-f>
+X<-f>
-Disable executing F<$Config{siteperl}/sitecustomize.pl> at
-startup.
+Disable executing F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup.
Perl can be built so that it by default will try to execute
-F<$Config{siteperl}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup. This is a hook that
+F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup. This is a hook that
allows the sysadmin to customize how perl behaves. It can for
instance be used to add entries to the @INC array to make perl find
modules in non-standard locations.
=item B<-F>I<pattern>
+X<-F>
specifies the pattern to split on if B<-a> is also in effect. The
pattern may be surrounded by C<//>, C<"">, or C<''>, otherwise it will be
-put in single quotes.
+put in single quotes. You can't use literal whitespace in the pattern.
=item B<-h>
+X<-h>
prints a summary of the options.
=item B<-i>[I<extension>]
+X<-i> X<in-place>
specifies that files processed by the C<E<lt>E<gt>> construct are to be
edited in-place. It does this by renaming the input file, opening the
proceeds from STDIN to STDOUT as might be expected.
=item B<-I>I<directory>
+X<-I> X<@INC>
Directories specified by B<-I> are prepended to the search path for
modules (C<@INC>), and also tells the C preprocessor where to search for
searches /usr/include and /usr/lib/perl.
=item B<-l>[I<octnum>]
+X<-l> X<$/> X<$\>
enables automatic line-ending processing. It has two separate
effects. First, it automatically chomps C<$/> (the input record
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>
C<use module split(/,/,q{foo,bar})>. Note that the C<=> form
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 program, which
makes it iterate over filename arguments somewhat like B<sed -n> or
the implicit program loop, just as in B<awk>.
=item B<-p>
+X<-p>
causes Perl to assume the following loop around your program, which
makes it iterate over filename arguments somewhat like B<sed>:
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.>
=back
=item B<-s>
+X<-s>
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<-->). This means you can have switches with two leading
-dashes (B<--help>). Any switch found there is removed from @ARGV and sets the
+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 ($xyz) { print "$xyz\n" }
-Do note that B<--help> creates the variable ${-help}, which is not compliant
+Do note that a switch like B<--help> creates the variable ${-help}, which is not compliant
with C<strict refs>. Also, when using this option on a script with
warnings enabled you may get a lot of spurious "used only once" warnings.
=item B<-S>
+X<-S>
makes Perl use the PATH environment variable to search for the
program (unless the name of the program contains directory separators).
program will be searched for strictly on the PATH.
=item B<-t>
+X<-t>
Like B<-T>, but taint checks will issue warnings rather than fatal
errors. These warnings can be controlled normally with C<no warnings
always use the real B<-T>.
=item B<-T>
+X<-T>
forces "taint" checks to be turned on so you can test them. Ordinarily
these checks are done only when running setuid or setgid. It's a
that construct.
=item B<-u>
+X<-u>
This obsolete switch causes Perl to dump core after compiling your
program. You can then in theory take this core dump and turn it
for details.
=item B<-U>
+X<-U>
allows Perl to do unsafe operations. Currently the only "unsafe"
-operations are the unlinking of directories while running as superuser,
-and running setuid programs with fatal taint checks turned into
-warnings. Note that the B<-w> switch (or the C<$^W> variable) must
-be used along with this option to actually I<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<$^W> variable)
+must be used along with this option to actually I<generate> the
+taint-check warnings.
=item B<-v>
+X<-v>
prints the version and patchlevel of your perl executable.
=item B<-V>
+X<-V>
prints summary of the major perl configuration values and the current
values of @INC.
building_on 'linux' '5' '1' '9' now
=item B<-w>
+X<-w>
prints warnings about dubious constructs, such as variable names
that are mentioned only once and scalar variables that are used
of warnings; see L<warnings> or L<perllexwarn>.
=item B<-W>
+X<-W>
Enables all warnings regardless of C<no warnings> or C<$^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>
=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 program if B<-S> is
used.
=item PERL5LIB
+X<PERL5LIB>
A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
files before looking in the standard library and the current
directory. Any architecture-specific directories under the specified
-locations are automatically included if they exist. 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>).
+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> switch was used), neither variable is used.
-The program should instead say:
+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<-[DIMUdmtw]>
+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. 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.
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 C<:stdio>.
+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
=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.
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
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.
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
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
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
with B<-T>.
=item PERLLIB
+X<PERLLIB>
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 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/d/c>
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
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. 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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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