X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=pod%2Fperlfaq.pod;h=e0649fb5af0e0c76a2ad92453f4f8a70193acb35;hb=b851fbc1add6c3d9fa6158884279133c311a3efc;hp=a7f6ab835fd7f42bb341946c1e70f13145bce1ed;hpb=970ed2020efd7ea2be3bbbe0dc9c941d3a8658fd;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git

diff --git a/pod/perlfaq.pod b/pod/perlfaq.pod
index a7f6ab8..e0649fb 100644
--- a/pod/perlfaq.pod
+++ b/pod/perlfaq.pod
@@ -1,71 +1,1311 @@
 =head1 NAME
 
-perlfaq - frequently asked questions about Perl ($Date: 1998/06/22 15:15:57 $)
+perlfaq - frequently asked questions about Perl ($Date: 2001/11/19 17:09:37 $)
 
 =head1 DESCRIPTION
 
-This document is structured into the following sections:
+The perlfaq is structured into the following documents:
 
-=over
 
-=item perlfaq: Structural overview of the FAQ.
+=head2 perlfaq: Structural overview of the FAQ.
 
 This document.
 
-=item L<perlfaq1>: General Questions About Perl
+=head2 L<perlfaq1>: General Questions About Perl
 
 Very general, high-level information about Perl.
 
-=item L<perlfaq2>: Obtaining and Learning about Perl
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+What is Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Who supports Perl?  Who develops it?  Why is it free?
+
+=item *
+
+Which version of Perl should I use?
+
+=item *
+
+What are perl4 and perl5?
+
+=item *
+
+What is perl6?
+
+=item *
+
+How stable is Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Is Perl difficult to learn?
+
+=item *
+
+How does Perl compare with other languages like Java, Python, REXX, Scheme, or Tcl?
+
+=item *
+
+Can I do [task] in Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+When shouldn't I program in Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+What's the difference between "perl" and "Perl"?
+
+=item *
+
+Is it a Perl program or a Perl script?
+
+=item *
+
+What is a JAPH?
+
+=item *
+
+Where can I get a list of Larry Wall witticisms?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I convince my sysadmin/supervisor/employees to use version 5/5.005/Perl instead of some other language?
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 L<perlfaq2>: Obtaining and Learning about Perl
+
+Where to find source and documentation to Perl, support,
+and related matters.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+What machines support Perl?  Where do I get it?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I get a binary version of Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+I don't have a C compiler on my system.  How can I compile perl?
+
+=item *
+
+I copied the Perl binary from one machine to another, but scripts don't work.
+
+=item *
+
+I grabbed the sources and tried to compile but gdbm/dynamic loading/malloc/linking/... failed.  How do I make it work?
+
+=item *
+
+What modules and extensions are available for Perl?  What is CPAN?  What does CPAN/src/... mean?
+
+=item *
+
+Is there an ISO or ANSI certified version of Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Where can I get information on Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+What are the Perl newsgroups on Usenet?  Where do I post questions?
+
+=item *
+
+Where should I post source code?
+
+=item *
+
+Perl Books
+
+=item *
+
+Perl in Magazines
+
+=item *
+
+Perl on the Net: FTP and WWW Access
+
+=item *
+
+What mailing lists are there for Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Archives of comp.lang.perl.misc
+
+=item *
+
+Where can I buy a commercial version of Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Where do I send bug reports?
+
+=item *
+
+What is perl.com? Perl Mongers? pm.org? perl.org?
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 L<perlfaq3>: Programming Tools
+
+Programmer tools and programming support.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+How do I do (anything)?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I use Perl interactively?
+
+=item *
+
+Is there a Perl shell?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I debug my Perl programs?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I profile my Perl programs?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I cross-reference my Perl programs?
+
+=item *
+
+Is there a pretty-printer (formatter) for Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Is there a ctags for Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Is there an IDE or Windows Perl Editor?
+
+=item *
+
+Where can I get Perl macros for vi?
+
+=item *
+
+Where can I get perl-mode for emacs?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I use curses with Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I use X or Tk with Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I generate simple menus without using CGI or Tk?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I make my Perl program run faster?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I make my Perl program take less memory?
+
+=item *
+
+Is it unsafe to return a pointer to local data?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I free an array or hash so my program shrinks?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I make my CGI script more efficient?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I hide the source for my Perl program?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I compile my Perl program into byte code or C?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I compile Perl into Java?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I get C<#!perl> to work on [MS-DOS,NT,...]?
+
+=item *
+
+Can I write useful Perl programs on the command line?
+
+=item *
+
+Why don't Perl one-liners work on my DOS/Mac/VMS system?
+
+=item *
+
+Where can I learn about CGI or Web programming in Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Where can I learn about object-oriented Perl programming?
+
+=item *
+
+Where can I learn about linking C with Perl? [h2xs, xsubpp]
+
+=item *
+
+I've read perlembed, perlguts, etc., but I can't embed perl in
+my C program; what am I doing wrong?
+
+=item *
+
+When I tried to run my script, I got this message. What does it
+mean?
+
+=item *
+
+What's MakeMaker?
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 L<perlfaq4>: Data Manipulation
+
+Manipulating numbers, dates, strings, arrays, hashes, and
+miscellaneous data issues.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+Why am I getting long decimals (eg, 19.9499999999999) instead of the numbers I should be getting (eg, 19.95)?
+
+=item *
+
+Why isn't my octal data interpreted correctly?
+
+=item *
+
+Does Perl have a round() function?  What about ceil() and floor()?  Trig functions?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I convert bits into ints?
+
+=item *
+
+Why doesn't & work the way I want it to?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I multiply matrices?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I perform an operation on a series of integers?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I output Roman numerals?
+
+=item *
+
+Why aren't my random numbers random?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find the week-of-the-year/day-of-the-year?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find the current century or millennium?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I compare two dates and find the difference?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I take a string and turn it into epoch seconds?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I find the Julian Day?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find yesterday's date?
+
+=item *
+
+Does Perl have a Year 2000 problem?  Is Perl Y2K compliant?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I validate input?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I unescape a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I remove consecutive pairs of characters?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I expand function calls in a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find matching/nesting anything?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I reverse a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I expand tabs in a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I reformat a paragraph?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I access/change the first N letters of a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I change the Nth occurrence of something?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I count the number of occurrences of a substring within a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I capitalize all the words on one line?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I split a [character] delimited string except when inside
+[character]? (Comma-separated files)
+
+=item *
+
+How do I strip blank space from the beginning/end of a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I pad a string with blanks or pad a number with zeroes?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I extract selected columns from a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find the soundex value of a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I expand variables in text strings?
+
+=item *
+
+What's wrong with always quoting "$vars"?
+
+=item *
+
+Why don't my <<HERE documents work?
+
+=item *
+
+What is the difference between a list and an array?
+
+=item *
+
+What is the difference between $array[1] and @array[1]?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I remove duplicate elements from a list or array?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I tell whether a list or array contains a certain element?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I compute the difference of two arrays?  How do I compute the intersection of two arrays?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I test whether two arrays or hashes are equal?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find the first array element for which a condition is true?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I handle linked lists?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I handle circular lists?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I shuffle an array randomly?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I process/modify each element of an array?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I select a random element from an array?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I permute N elements of a list?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I sort an array by (anything)?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I manipulate arrays of bits?
+
+=item *
+
+Why does defined() return true on empty arrays and hashes?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I process an entire hash?
+
+=item *
+
+What happens if I add or remove keys from a hash while iterating over it?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I look up a hash element by value?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I know how many entries are in a hash?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I sort a hash (optionally by value instead of key)?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I always keep my hash sorted?
+
+=item *
+
+What's the difference between "delete" and "undef" with hashes?
+
+=item *
+
+Why don't my tied hashes make the defined/exists distinction?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I reset an each() operation part-way through?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I get the unique keys from two hashes?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I store a multidimensional array in a DBM file?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I make my hash remember the order I put elements into it?
+
+=item *
+
+Why does passing a subroutine an undefined element in a hash create it?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I make the Perl equivalent of a C structure/C++ class/hash or array of hashes or arrays?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I use a reference as a hash key?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I handle binary data correctly?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I determine whether a scalar is a number/whole/integer/float?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I keep persistent data across program calls?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I print out or copy a recursive data structure?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I define methods for every class/object?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I verify a credit card checksum?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I pack arrays of doubles or floats for XS code?
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 L<perlfaq5>: Files and Formats
+
+I/O and the "f" issues: filehandles, flushing, formats and footers.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+How do I flush/unbuffer an output filehandle?  Why must I do this?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I change one line in a file/delete a line in a file/insert a line in the middle of a file/append to the beginning of a file?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I count the number of lines in a file?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I make a temporary file name?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I manipulate fixed-record-length files?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I make a filehandle local to a subroutine?  How do I pass filehandles between subroutines?  How do I make an array of filehandles?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I use a filehandle indirectly?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I set up a footer format to be used with write()?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I write() into a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I output my numbers with commas added?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I translate tildes (~) in a filename?
+
+=item *
+
+How come when I open a file read-write it wipes it out?
+
+=item *
+
+Why do I sometimes get an "Argument list too long" when I use <*>?
+
+=item *
+
+Is there a leak/bug in glob()?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I open a file with a leading ">" or trailing blanks?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I reliably rename a file?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I lock a file?
+
+=item *
+
+Why can't I just open(FH, ">file.lock")?
+
+=item *
+
+I still don't get locking.  I just want to increment the number in the file.  How can I do this?
+
+=item *
+
+All I want to do is append a small amount of text to the end of a file.  Do I still have to use locking?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I randomly update a binary file?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I get a file's timestamp in perl?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I set a file's timestamp in perl?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I print to more than one file at once?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I read in an entire file all at once?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I read in a file by paragraphs?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I read a single character from a file?  From the keyboard?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I tell whether there's a character waiting on a filehandle?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I do a C<tail -f> in perl?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I dup() a filehandle in Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I close a file descriptor by number?
+
+=item *
+
+Why can't I use "C:\temp\foo" in DOS paths?  What doesn't `C:\temp\foo.exe` work?
+
+=item *
+
+Why doesn't glob("*.*") get all the files?
+
+=item *
+
+Why does Perl let me delete read-only files?  Why does C<-i> clobber protected files?  Isn't this a bug in Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I select a random line from a file?
+
+=item *
+
+Why do I get weird spaces when I print an array of lines?
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 L<perlfaq6>: Regexps
+
+Pattern matching and regular expressions.
+
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+How can I hope to use regular expressions without creating illegible and unmaintainable code?
+
+=item *
+
+I'm having trouble matching over more than one line.  What's wrong?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I pull out lines between two patterns that are themselves on different lines?
+
+=item *
+
+I put a regular expression into $/ but it didn't work. What's wrong?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I substitute case insensitively on the LHS while preserving case on the RHS?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I make C<\w> match national character sets?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I match a locale-smart version of C</[a-zA-Z]/>?
 
-Where to find source and documentation to Perl, support and training,
-and related matters.
+=item *
 
-=item L<perlfaq3>: Programming Tools
+How can I quote a variable to use in a regex?
 
-Programmer tools and programming support.
+=item *
 
-=item L<perlfaq4>: Data Manipulation
+What is C</o> really for?
 
-Manipulating numbers, dates, strings, arrays, hashes, and
-miscellaneous data issues.
+=item *
 
-=item L<perlfaq5>: Files and Formats
+How do I use a regular expression to strip C style comments from a file?
 
-I/O and the "f" issues: filehandles, flushing, formats and footers.
+=item *
 
-=item L<perlfaq6>: Regexps
+Can I use Perl regular expressions to match balanced text?
+
+=item *
+
+What does it mean that regexes are greedy?  How can I get around it?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I process each word on each line?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I print out a word-frequency or line-frequency summary?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I do approximate matching?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I efficiently match many regular expressions at once?
+
+=item *
+
+Why don't word-boundary searches with C<\b> work for me?
+
+=item *
+
+Why does using $&, $`, or $' slow my program down?
+
+=item *
+
+What good is C<\G> in a regular expression?
+
+=item *
+
+Are Perl regexes DFAs or NFAs?  Are they POSIX compliant?
+
+=item *
+
+What's wrong with using grep or map in a void context?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I match strings with multibyte characters?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I match a pattern that is supplied by the user?
+
+=back
 
-Pattern matching and regular expressions.
 
-=item L<perlfaq7>: General Perl Language Issues
+=head2 L<perlfaq7>: General Perl Language Issues
 
 General Perl language issues that don't clearly fit into any of the
 other sections.
 
-=item L<perlfaq8>: System Interaction
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+Can I get a BNF/yacc/RE for the Perl language?
+
+=item *
+
+What are all these $@%&* punctuation signs, and how do I know when to use them?
+
+=item *
+
+Do I always/never have to quote my strings or use semicolons and commas?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I skip some return values?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I temporarily block warnings?
+
+=item *
+
+What's an extension?
+
+=item *
+
+Why do Perl operators have different precedence than C operators?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I declare/create a structure?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I create a module?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I create a class?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I tell if a variable is tainted?
+
+=item *
+
+What's a closure?
+
+=item *
+
+What is variable suicide and how can I prevent it?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I pass/return a {Function, FileHandle, Array, Hash, Method, Regex}?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I create a static variable?
+
+=item *
+
+What's the difference between dynamic and lexical (static) scoping?  Between local() and my()?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I access a dynamic variable while a similarly named lexical is in scope?
+
+=item *
+
+What's the difference between deep and shallow binding?
+
+=item *
+
+Why doesn't "my($foo) = <FILE>;" work right?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I redefine a builtin function, operator, or method?
+
+=item *
+
+What's the difference between calling a function as &foo and foo()?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I create a switch or case statement?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I catch accesses to undefined variables/functions/methods?
+
+=item *
+
+Why can't a method included in this same file be found?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I find out my current package?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I comment out a large block of perl code?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I clear a package?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I use a variable as a variable name?
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 L<perlfaq8>: System Interaction
 
 Interprocess communication (IPC), control over the user-interface
 (keyboard, screen and pointing devices).
 
-=item L<perlfaq9>: Networking
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find out which operating system I'm running under?
+
+=item *
+
+How come exec() doesn't return?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I do fancy stuff with the keyboard/screen/mouse?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I print something out in color?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I read just one key without waiting for a return key?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I check whether input is ready on the keyboard?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I clear the screen?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I get the screen size?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I ask the user for a password?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I read and write the serial port?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I decode encrypted password files?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I start a process in the background?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I trap control characters/signals?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I modify the shadow password file on a Unix system?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I set the time and date?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I sleep() or alarm() for under a second?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I measure time under a second?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I do an atexit() or setjmp()/longjmp()? (Exception handling)
+
+=item *
+
+Why doesn't my sockets program work under System V (Solaris)?  What does the error message "Protocol not supported" mean?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I call my system's unique C functions from Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Where do I get the include files to do ioctl() or syscall()?
+
+=item *
+
+Why do setuid perl scripts complain about kernel problems?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I open a pipe both to and from a command?
+
+=item *
+
+Why can't I get the output of a command with system()?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I capture STDERR from an external command?
+
+=item *
+
+Why doesn't open() return an error when a pipe open fails?
+
+=item *
+
+What's wrong with using backticks in a void context?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I call backticks without shell processing?
+
+=item *
+
+Why can't my script read from STDIN after I gave it EOF (^D on Unix, ^Z on MS-DOS)?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I convert my shell script to perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Can I use perl to run a telnet or ftp session?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I write expect in Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+Is there a way to hide perl's command line from programs such as "ps"?
+
+=item *
+
+I {changed directory, modified my environment} in a perl script.  How come the change disappeared when I exited the script?  How do I get my changes to be visible?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I close a process's filehandle without waiting for it to complete?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I fork a daemon process?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find out if I'm running interactively or not?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I timeout a slow event?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I set CPU limits?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I avoid zombies on a Unix system?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I use an SQL database?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I make a system() exit on control-C?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I open a file without blocking?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I install a module from CPAN?
+
+=item *
+
+What's the difference between require and use?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I keep my own module/library directory?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I add the directory my program lives in to the module/library search path?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I add a directory to my include path at runtime?
+
+=item *
+
+What is socket.ph and where do I get it?
+
+=back
+
+
+=head2 L<perlfaq9>: Networking
 
 Networking, the Internet, and a few on the web.
 
+=over 4
+
+=item *
+
+My CGI script runs from the command line but not the browser.  (500 Server Error)
+
+=item *
+
+How can I get better error messages from a CGI program?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I remove HTML from a string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I extract URLs?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I download a file from the user's machine?  How do I open a file on another machine?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I make a pop-up menu in HTML?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I fetch an HTML file?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I automate an HTML form submission?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I decode or create those %-encodings on the web?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I redirect to another page?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I put a password on my web pages?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I edit my .htpasswd and .htgroup files with Perl?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I make sure users can't enter values into a form that cause my CGI script to do bad things?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I parse a mail header?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I decode a CGI form?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I check a valid mail address?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I decode a MIME/BASE64 string?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I return the user's mail address?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I send mail?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I read mail?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I find out my hostname/domainname/IP address?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I fetch a news article or the active newsgroups?
+
+=item *
+
+How do I fetch/put an FTP file?
+
+=item *
+
+How can I do RPC in Perl?
+
 =back
 
-=head2 Where to get this document
+
+=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
+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 this document
+=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
 
@@ -88,17 +1328,13 @@ Perl Porters.
 
 =head1 Author and Copyright Information
 
-Copyright (c) 1997, 1998 Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington.
+Copyright (c) 1997-1999 Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington.
 All rights reserved.
 
 =head2 Bundled Distributions
 
-When included as part of the Standard Version of Perl, or as part of
-its complete documentation whether printed or otherwise, this work
-may be distributed only under the terms of Perl's Artistic License.
-Any distribution of this file or derivatives thereof I<outside>
-of that package require that special arrangements be made with
-copyright holder.
+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
@@ -117,6 +1353,24 @@ in respect of this information or its use.
 
 =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 touch ups 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