=head2 Wildcard expansion
File specifications containing wildcards are allowed both on
-the command line and within Perl globs (e.g. <CE<lt>*.cE<gt>>). If
+the command line and within Perl globs (e.g. C<E<lt>*.cE<gt>>). If
the wildcard filespec uses VMS syntax, the resultant
filespecs will follow VMS syntax; if a Unix-style filespec is
passed in, Unix-style filespecs will be returned.
argument to the C<system> operator (see below). In this case,
Perl will wait for the subprocess to complete before continuing.
+The mailbox (MBX) that perl can create to communicate with a pipe
+defaults to a buffer size of 512. The default buffer size is
+adjustable via the logical name PERL_MBX_SIZE provided that the
+value falls between 128 and the SYSGEN parameter MAXBUF inclusive.
+For example, to double the MBX size from the default within
+a Perl program, use C<$ENV{'PERL_MBX_SIZE'} = 1024;> and then
+open and use pipe constructs. An alternative would be to issue
+the command:
+
+ $ Define PERL_MBX_SIZE 1024
+
+before running your wide record pipe program. A larger value may
+improve performance at the expense of the BYTLM UAF quota.
+
=head1 PERL5LIB and PERLLIB
The PERL5LIB and PERLLIB logical names work as documented in L<perl>,
Perl for VMS supports redirection of input and output on the
command line, using a subset of Bourne shell syntax:
- <F<file> reads stdin from F<file>,
- >F<file> writes stdout to F<file>,
- >>F<file> appends stdout to F<file>,
- 2>F<file> writes stderr to F<file>, and
- 2>>F<file> appends stderr to F<file>.
+=over
+
+=item *
+
+C<E<lt>file> reads stdin from C<file>,
+
+=item *
+
+C<E<gt>file> writes stdout to C<file>,
+
+=item *
+
+C<E<gt>E<gt>file> appends stdout to C<file>,
+
+=item *
+
+C<2E<gt>file> writes stderr to C<file>, and
+
+=item *
+
+C<2E<gt>E<gt>file> appends stderr to C<file>.
+
+=back
In addition, output may be piped to a subprocess, using the
character '|'. Anything after this character on the command
=item -S
-If the C<-S> switch is present I<and> the script name does
-not contain a directory, then Perl translates the logical
-name DCL$PATH as a searchlist, using each translation as
-a directory in which to look for the script. In addition,
+If the C<"-S"> or C<-"S"> switch is present I<and> the script
+name does not contain a directory, then Perl translates the
+logical name DCL$PATH as a searchlist, using each translation
+as a directory in which to look for the script. In addition,
if no file type is specified, Perl looks in each directory
for a file matching the name specified, with a blank type,
a type of F<.pl>, and a type of F<.com>, in that order.
caller, chdir, chmod, chown, chomp, chop, chr,
close, closedir, cos, crypt*, defined, delete,
die, do, dump*, each, endpwent, eof, eval, exec*,
- exists, exit, exp, fileno, fork*, getc, getlogin,
+ exists, exit, exp, fileno, getc, getlogin, getppid,
getpwent*, getpwnam*, getpwuid*, glob, gmtime*, goto,
grep, hex, import, index, int, join, keys, kill*,
last, lc, lcfirst, length, local, localtime, log, m//,
and calling them produces a fatal error (usually) or
undefined behavior (rarely, we hope):
- chroot, dbmclose, dbmopen, flock,
- getpgrp, getppid, getpriority, getgrent, getgrgid,
+ chroot, dbmclose, dbmopen, flock, fork*,
+ getpgrp, getpriority, getgrent, getgrgid,
getgrnam, setgrent, endgrent, ioctl, link, lstat,
msgctl, msgget, msgsend, msgrcv, readlink, semctl,
semget, semop, setpgrp, setpriority, shmctl, shmget,
password strings; you'll have to upcase the arguments to
C<crypt> to insure that you'll get the proper value:
- sub validate_passwd {
- my($user,$passwd) = @_;
- my($pwdhash);
- if ( !($pwdhash = (getpwnam($user))[1]) ||
- $pwdhash ne crypt("\U$passwd","\U$name") ) {
- intruder_alert($name);
+ sub validate_passwd {
+ my($user,$passwd) = @_;
+ my($pwdhash);
+ if ( !($pwdhash = (getpwnam($user))[1]) ||
+ $pwdhash ne crypt("\U$passwd","\U$name") ) {
+ intruder_alert($name);
+ }
+ return 1;
}
- return 1;
- }
=item dump
=item exec LIST
-The C<exec> operator behaves in one of two different ways.
-If called after a call to C<fork>, it will invoke the CRTL
-C<execv()> routine, passing its arguments to the subprocess
-created by C<fork> for execution. In this case, it is
-subject to all limitations that affect C<execv()>. (In
-particular, this usually means that the command executed in
-the subprocess must be an image compiled from C source code,
-and that your options for passing file descriptors and signal
-handlers to the subprocess are limited.)
-
-If the call to C<exec> does not follow a call to C<fork>, it
-will cause Perl to exit, and to invoke the command given as
-an argument to C<exec> via C<lib$do_command>. If the argument
-begins with '@' or '$' (other than as part of a filespec), then it
-is executed as a DCL command. Otherwise, the first token on
-the command line is treated as the filespec of an image to
-run, and an attempt is made to invoke it (using F<.Exe> and
-the process defaults to expand the filespec) and pass the
-rest of C<exec>'s argument to it as parameters. If the token
-has no file type, and matches a file with null type, then an
-attempt is made to determine whether the file is an executable
-image which should be invoked using C<MCR> or a text file which
-should be passed to DCL as a command procedure.
-
-You can use C<exec> in both ways within the same script, as
-long as you call C<fork> and C<exec> in pairs. Perl
-keeps track of how many times C<fork> and C<exec> have been
-called, and will call the CRTL C<execv()> routine if there have
-previously been more calls to C<fork> than to C<exec>.
+A call to C<exec> will cause Perl to exit, and to invoke the command
+given as an argument to C<exec> via C<lib$do_command>. If the
+argument begins with '@' or '$' (other than as part of a filespec),
+then it is executed as a DCL command. Otherwise, the first token on
+the command line is treated as the filespec of an image to run, and
+an attempt is made to invoke it (using F<.Exe> and the process
+defaults to expand the filespec) and pass the rest of C<exec>'s
+argument to it as parameters. If the token has no file type, and
+matches a file with null type, then an attempt is made to determine
+whether the file is an executable image which should be invoked
+using C<MCR> or a text file which should be passed to DCL as a
+command procedure.
=item fork
-The C<fork> operator works in the same way as the CRTL
-C<vfork()> routine, which is quite different under VMS than
-under Unix. Specifically, while C<fork> returns 0 after it
-is called and the subprocess PID after C<exec> is called, in
-both cases the thread of execution is within the parent
-process, so there is no opportunity to perform operations in
-the subprocess before calling C<exec>.
-
-In general, the use of C<fork> and C<exec> to create
-subprocesses is not recommended under VMS; wherever possible,
-use the C<system> operator or piped filehandles instead.
+While in principle the C<fork> operator could be implemented via
+(and with the same rather severe limitations as) the CRTL C<vfork()>
+routine, and while some internal support to do just that is in
+place, the implementation has never been completed, making C<fork>
+currently unavailable. A true kernel C<fork()> is expected in a
+future version of VMS, and the pseudo-fork based on interpreter
+threads may be available in a future version of Perl on VMS (see
+L<perlfork>). In the meantime, use C<system>, backticks, or piped
+filehandles to create subprocesses.
=item getpwent
=item waitpid PID,FLAGS
If PID is a subprocess started by a piped C<open()> (see L<open>),
-C<waitpid> will wait for that subprocess, and return its final
-status value in C<$?>. If PID is a subprocess created in some other
-way (e.g. SPAWNed before Perl was invoked), or is not a subprocess
-of the current process, C<waitpid> will attempt to read from the
-process's termination mailbox, making the final status available in
-C<$?> when the process completes. If the process specified by PID
-has no termination mailbox, C<waitpid> will simply check once per
-second whether the process has completed, and return when it has.
-(If PID specifies a process that isn't a subprocess of the current
-process, and you invoked Perl with the C<-w> switch, a warning will
-be issued.)
+C<waitpid> will wait for that subprocess, and return its final status
+value in C<$?>. If PID is a subprocess created in some other way (e.g.
+SPAWNed before Perl was invoked), C<waitpid> will simply check once per
+second whether the process has completed, and return when it has. (If
+PID specifies a process that isn't a subprocess of the current process,
+and you invoked Perl with the C<-w> switch, a warning will be issued.)
Returns PID on success, -1 on error. The FLAGS argument is ignored
in all cases.
by saying
foreach my $key (qw[C-local keys you want promoted]) {
- my $temp = $ENV{$key}; # read from C-local array
- $ENV{$key} = $temp; # and define as logical name
+ my $temp = $ENV{$key}; # read from C-local array
+ $ENV{$key} = $temp; # and define as logical name
}
(You can't just say C<$ENV{$key} = $ENV{$key}>, since the
=head1 Revision date
-This document was last updated on 2-Oct-2001, for Perl 5,
+This document was last updated on 01-May-2002, for Perl 5,
patchlevel 8.
=head1 AUTHOR
-Charles Bailey <bailey@cor.newman.upenn.edu>
-Craig Berry <craigberry@mac.com>
-Dan Sugalski <dan@sidhe.org>
+Charles Bailey bailey@cor.newman.upenn.edu
+Craig Berry craigberry@mac.com
+Dan Sugalski dan@sidhe.org