What is Perl, and where can I get more information about it?

Perl is a compiled scripting language written by Larry Wall. It is particularly useful for text processing and file conversion, Unix system administration and utilities, web forms, and report generation.

The syntax of Perl combines features of C, sed, awk, and sh, and its design philosophy is to place as few restrictions as possible on the programmer. Perl's ability to perform pattern matching on strings is particularly powerful, and it includes commands for using dbm format databases and report templates. Perl also allows convenient file access and interaction with Unix commands and environment information.

Online documentation and other Perl information

Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN):

Perl.com:

O'Reilly Perl Center:

Perl Mongers:

You can also read the Perl man page. At the Unix prompt, enter:

At Indiana University, to get support for personal or departmental Linux or Unix systems, see At IU, how do I get support for Linux or Unix?

Also see:

• In Unix, what do some obscurely named commands stand for?
• In Emacs, how can I make the program start in a given mode?
• At IU, which systems have Perl?
• What is awk, and how do I use it?