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1=head1 NAME
2
3perlrun - how to execute the Perl interpreter
4
5=head1 SYNOPSIS
6
672fde27 7B<perl> S<[ B<-sTtuUWX> ]>
e0ebc809 8 S<[ B<-hv> ] [ B<-V>[:I<configvar>] ]>
2cbb2ee1 9 S<[ B<-cw> ] [ B<-d>[B<t>][:I<debugger>] ] [ B<-D>[I<number/list>] ]>
f2095865 10 S<[ B<-pna> ] [ B<-F>I<pattern> ] [ B<-l>[I<octal>] ] [ B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>] ]>
df451b2a 11 S<[ B<-I>I<dir> ] [ B<-m>[B<->]I<module> ] [ B<-M>[B<->]I<'module...'> ] [ B<-f> ]>
c630fe62 12 S<[ B<-C [I<number/list>] >]>
e0ebc809 13 S<[ B<-S> ]>
14 S<[ B<-x>[I<dir>] ]>
15 S<[ B<-i>[I<extension>] ]>
eb1dd64e 16 S<[ [B<-e>|B<-E>] I<'command'> ] [ B<--> ] [ I<programfile> ] [ I<argument> ]...>
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17
18=head1 DESCRIPTION
19
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20The normal way to run a Perl program is by making it directly
21executable, or else by passing the name of the source file as an
22argument on the command line. (An interactive Perl environment
23is also possible--see L<perldebug> for details on how to do that.)
24Upon startup, Perl looks for your program in one of the following
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25places:
26
27=over 4
28
29=item 1.
30
bc9b29db 31Specified line by line via B<-e> or B<-E> switches on the command line.
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32
33=item 2.
34
35Contained in the file specified by the first filename on the command line.
f4750dab 36(Note that systems supporting the C<#!> notation invoke interpreters this
a3cb178b 37way. See L<Location of Perl>.)
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38
39=item 3.
40
5f05dabc 41Passed in implicitly via standard input. This works only if there are
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42no filename arguments--to pass arguments to a STDIN-read program you
43must explicitly specify a "-" for the program name.
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44
45=back
46
47With methods 2 and 3, Perl starts parsing the input file from the
48beginning, unless you've specified a B<-x> switch, in which case it
f4750dab 49scans for the first line starting with C<#!> and containing the word
19799a22 50"perl", and starts there instead. This is useful for running a program
a0d0e21e 51embedded in a larger message. (In this case you would indicate the end
19799a22 52of the program using the C<__END__> token.)
a0d0e21e 53
f4750dab 54The C<#!> line is always examined for switches as the line is being
5f05dabc 55parsed. Thus, if you're on a machine that allows only one argument
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56with the C<#!> line, or worse, doesn't even recognize the C<#!> line, you
57still can get consistent switch behaviour regardless of how Perl was
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58invoked, even if B<-x> was used to find the beginning of the program.
59
60Because historically some operating systems silently chopped off
f4750dab 61kernel interpretation of the C<#!> line after 32 characters, some
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62switches may be passed in on the command line, and some may not;
63you could even get a "-" without its letter, if you're not careful.
64You probably want to make sure that all your switches fall either
65before or after that 32-character boundary. Most switches don't
66actually care if they're processed redundantly, but getting a "-"
67instead of a complete switch could cause Perl to try to execute
68standard input instead of your program. And a partial B<-I> switch
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69could also cause odd results.
70
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71Some switches do care if they are processed twice, for instance
72combinations of B<-l> and B<-0>. Either put all the switches after
73the 32-character boundary (if applicable), or replace the use of
74B<-0>I<digits> by C<BEGIN{ $/ = "\0digits"; }>.
fb73857a 75
f4750dab 76Parsing of the C<#!> switches starts wherever "perl" is mentioned in the line.
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77The sequences "-*" and "- " are specifically ignored so that you could,
78if you were so inclined, say
79
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80 #!/bin/sh
81 #! -*-perl-*-
82 eval 'exec perl -x -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
83 if 0;
a0d0e21e 84
44a4342c 85to let Perl see the B<-p> switch.
19799a22 86
f4750dab 87A similar trick involves the I<env> program, if you have it.
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88
89 #!/usr/bin/env perl
90
91The examples above use a relative path to the perl interpreter,
92getting whatever version is first in the user's path. If you want
6898e867 93a specific version of Perl, say, perl5.14.1, you should place
f4750dab 94that directly in the C<#!> line's path.
a0d0e21e 95
3b56f80d 96If the C<#!> line does not contain the word "perl" nor the word "indir",
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97the program named after the C<#!> is executed instead of the Perl
98interpreter. This is slightly bizarre, but it helps people on machines
99that don't do C<#!>, because they can tell a program that their SHELL is
100F</usr/bin/perl>, and Perl will then dispatch the program to the correct
101interpreter for them.
a0d0e21e 102
19799a22 103After locating your program, Perl compiles the entire program to an
a0d0e21e 104internal form. If there are any compilation errors, execution of the
19799a22 105program is not attempted. (This is unlike the typical shell script,
54310121 106which might run part-way through before finding a syntax error.)
a0d0e21e 107
19799a22 108If the program is syntactically correct, it is executed. If the program
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109runs off the end without hitting an exit() or die() operator, an implicit
110C<exit(0)> is provided to indicate successful completion.
111
68dc0745 112=head2 #! and quoting on non-Unix systems
d74e8afc 113X<hashbang> X<#!>
68dc0745 114
f4750dab 115Unix's C<#!> technique can be simulated on other systems:
68dc0745 116
117=over 4
118
119=item OS/2
120
121Put
122
123 extproc perl -S -your_switches
124
19799a22 125as the first line in C<*.cmd> file (B<-S> due to a bug in cmd.exe's
68dc0745 126`extproc' handling).
127
54310121 128=item MS-DOS
68dc0745 129
19799a22 130Create a batch file to run your program, and codify it in
fd1adc71 131C<ALTERNATE_SHEBANG> (see the F<dosish.h> file in the source
68dc0745 132distribution for more information).
133
134=item Win95/NT
135
6c6a61e2 136The Win95/NT installation, when using the ActiveState installer for Perl,
c8db1d39 137will modify the Registry to associate the F<.pl> extension with the perl
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138interpreter. If you install Perl by other means (including building from
139the sources), you may have to modify the Registry yourself. Note that
140this means you can no longer tell the difference between an executable
141Perl program and a Perl library file.
68dc0745 142
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143=item VMS
144
145Put
146
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147 $ perl -mysw 'f$env("procedure")' 'p1' 'p2' 'p3' 'p4' 'p5' 'p6' 'p7' 'p8' !
148 $ exit++ + ++$status != 0 and $exit = $status = undef;
bd3fa61c 149
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150at the top of your program, where B<-mysw> are any command line switches you
151want to pass to Perl. You can now invoke the program directly, by saying
152C<perl program>, or as a DCL procedure, by saying C<@program> (or implicitly
153via F<DCL$PATH> by just using the name of the program).
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154
155This incantation is a bit much to remember, but Perl will display it for
156you if you say C<perl "-V:startperl">.
157
68dc0745 158=back
159
160Command-interpreters on non-Unix systems have rather different ideas
161on quoting than Unix shells. You'll need to learn the special
162characters in your command-interpreter (C<*>, C<\> and C<"> are
163common) and how to protect whitespace and these characters to run
76c9ab0e 164one-liners (see L<-e|/-e commandline> below).
68dc0745 165
166On some systems, you may have to change single-quotes to double ones,
e6f03d26 167which you must I<not> do on Unix or Plan 9 systems. You might also
68dc0745 168have to change a single % to a %%.
169
170For example:
171
172 # Unix
173 perl -e 'print "Hello world\n"'
174
54310121 175 # MS-DOS, etc.
68dc0745 176 perl -e "print \"Hello world\n\""
177
68dc0745 178 # VMS
179 perl -e "print ""Hello world\n"""
180
19799a22 181The problem is that none of this is reliable: it depends on the
f4750dab 182command and it is entirely possible neither works. If I<4DOS> were
19799a22 183the command shell, this would probably work better:
68dc0745 184
185 perl -e "print <Ctrl-x>"Hello world\n<Ctrl-x>""
186
19799a22 187B<CMD.EXE> in Windows NT slipped a lot of standard Unix functionality in
68dc0745 188when nobody was looking, but just try to find documentation for its
189quoting rules.
190
68dc0745 191There is no general solution to all of this. It's just a mess.
192
a3cb178b 193=head2 Location of Perl
d74e8afc 194X<perl, location of interpreter>
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195
196It may seem obvious to say, but Perl is useful only when users can
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197easily find it. When possible, it's good for both F</usr/bin/perl>
198and F</usr/local/bin/perl> to be symlinks to the actual binary. If
199that can't be done, system administrators are strongly encouraged
200to put (symlinks to) perl and its accompanying utilities into a
201directory typically found along a user's PATH, or in some other
202obvious and convenient place.
203
204In this documentation, C<#!/usr/bin/perl> on the first line of the program
205will stand in for whatever method works on your system. You are
206advised to use a specific path if you care about a specific version.
a3cb178b 207
6898e867 208 #!/usr/local/bin/perl5.14
a3cb178b 209
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210or if you just want to be running at least version, place a statement
211like this at the top of your program:
a0d0e21e 212
6898e867 213 use 5.014;
a0d0e21e 214
19799a22 215=head2 Command Switches
d74e8afc 216X<perl, command switches> X<command switches>
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217
218As with all standard commands, a single-character switch may be
219clustered with the following switch, if any.
220
221 #!/usr/bin/perl -spi.orig # same as -s -p -i.orig
a0d0e21e 222
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223A C<--> signals the end of options and disables further option processing. Any
224arguments after the C<--> are treated as filenames and arguments.
225
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226Switches include:
227
228=over 5
229
f2095865 230=item B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>]
d74e8afc 231X<-0> X<$/>
a0d0e21e 232
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233specifies the input record separator (C<$/>) as an octal or
234hexadecimal number. If there are no digits, the null character is the
235separator. Other switches may precede or follow the digits. For
f4750dab 236example, if you have a version of I<find> which can print filenames
f2095865 237terminated by the null character, you can say this:
a0d0e21e 238
19799a22 239 find . -name '*.orig' -print0 | perl -n0e unlink
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240
241The special value 00 will cause Perl to slurp files in paragraph mode.
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242Any value 0400 or above will cause Perl to slurp files whole, but by convention
243the value 0777 is the one normally used for this purpose.
f2095865 244
7ba31cb4 245You can also specify the separator character using hexadecimal notation:
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246B<-0xI<HHH...>>, where the C<I<H>> are valid hexadecimal digits. Unlike
247the octal form, this one may be used to specify any Unicode character, even
248those beyond 0xFF. So if you I<really> want a record separator of 0777,
249specify it as B<-0x1FF>. (This means that you cannot use the B<-x> option
250with a directory name that consists of hexadecimal digits, or else Perl
251will think you have specified a hex number to B<-0>.)
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252
253=item B<-a>
d74e8afc 254X<-a> X<autosplit>
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255
256turns on autosplit mode when used with a B<-n> or B<-p>. An implicit
257split command to the @F array is done as the first thing inside the
258implicit while loop produced by the B<-n> or B<-p>.
259
260 perl -ane 'print pop(@F), "\n";'
261
262is equivalent to
263
264 while (<>) {
265 @F = split(' ');
266 print pop(@F), "\n";
267 }
268
269An alternate delimiter may be specified using B<-F>.
270
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271B<-a> implicitly sets B<-n>.
272
a05d7ebb 273=item B<-C [I<number/list>]>
d74e8afc 274X<-C>
46487f74 275
f4750dab 276The B<-C> flag controls some of the Perl Unicode features.
a05d7ebb 277
f4750dab 278As of 5.8.1, the B<-C> can be followed either by a number or a list
f3f8427d 279of option letters. The letters, their numeric values, and effects
8aa8f774 280are as follows; listing the letters is equal to summing the numbers.
9f21530f 281
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282 I 1 STDIN is assumed to be in UTF-8
283 O 2 STDOUT will be in UTF-8
284 E 4 STDERR will be in UTF-8
285 S 7 I + O + E
286 i 8 UTF-8 is the default PerlIO layer for input streams
287 o 16 UTF-8 is the default PerlIO layer for output streams
288 D 24 i + o
289 A 32 the @ARGV elements are expected to be strings encoded
290 in UTF-8
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291 L 64 normally the "IOEioA" are unconditional, the L makes
292 them conditional on the locale environment variables
407a9f94 293 (the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG, in the order of
60b7c710 294 decreasing precedence) -- if the variables indicate
73e12209 295 UTF-8, then the selected "IOEioA" are in effect
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296 a 256 Set ${^UTF8CACHE} to -1, to run the UTF-8 caching
297 code in debugging mode.
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298
299=for documenting_the_underdocumented
300perl.h gives W/128 as PERL_UNICODE_WIDESYSCALLS "/* for Sarathy */"
9f21530f 301
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302=for todo
303perltodo mentions Unicode in %ENV and filenames. I guess that these will be
304options e and f (or F).
305
f4750dab 306For example, B<-COE> and B<-C6> will both turn on UTF-8-ness on both
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307STDOUT and STDERR. Repeating letters is just redundant, not cumulative
308nor toggling.
a05d7ebb 309
44505768 310The C<io> options mean that any subsequent open() (or similar I/O
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311operations) in the current file scope will have the C<:utf8> PerlIO layer
312implicitly applied to them, in other words, UTF-8 is expected from any
313input stream, and UTF-8 is produced to any output stream. This is just
314the default, with explicit layers in open() and with binmode() one can
315manipulate streams as usual.
44505768 316
f4750dab 317B<-C> on its own (not followed by any number or option list), or the
47427c4e 318empty string C<""> for the C<PERL_UNICODE> environment variable, has the
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319same effect as B<-CSDL>. In other words, the standard I/O handles and
320the default C<open()> layer are UTF-8-fied I<but> only if the locale
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321environment variables indicate a UTF-8 locale. This behaviour follows
322the I<implicit> (and problematic) UTF-8 behaviour of Perl 5.8.0.
370155be 323(See L<perl581delta/UTF-8 no longer default under UTF-8 locales>.)
a05d7ebb 324
f4750dab 325You can use B<-C0> (or C<"0"> for C<PERL_UNICODE>) to explicitly
5b4f334e 326disable all the above Unicode features.
fde18df1 327
8aa8f774 328The read-only magic variable C<${^UNICODE}> reflects the numeric value
f60ef620 329of this setting. This variable is set during Perl startup and is
ab9e1bb7 330thereafter read-only. If you want runtime effects, use the three-arg
2307c6d0 331open() (see L<perlfunc/open>), the two-arg binmode() (see L<perlfunc/binmode>),
ab9e1bb7 332and the C<open> pragma (see L<open>).
fde18df1 333
f4750dab 334(In Perls earlier than 5.8.1 the B<-C> switch was a Win32-only switch
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335that enabled the use of Unicode-aware "wide system call" Win32 APIs.
336This feature was practically unused, however, and the command line
337switch was therefore "recycled".)
46487f74 338
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339B<Note:> Since perl 5.10.1, if the B<-C> option is used on the C<#!> line,
340it must be specified on the command line as well, since the standard streams
618078e9 341are already set up at this point in the execution of the perl interpreter.
4ba71d51 342You can also use binmode() to set the encoding of an I/O stream.
618078e9 343
a0d0e21e 344=item B<-c>
d74e8afc 345X<-c>
a0d0e21e 346
19799a22 347causes Perl to check the syntax of the program and then exit without
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348executing it. Actually, it I<will> execute and C<BEGIN>, C<UNITCHECK>,
349or C<CHECK> blocks and any C<use> statements: these are considered as
350occurring outside the execution of your program. C<INIT> and C<END>
351blocks, however, will be skipped.
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352
353=item B<-d>
d74e8afc 354X<-d> X<-dt>
a0d0e21e 355
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356=item B<-dt>
357
19799a22 358runs the program under the Perl debugger. See L<perldebug>.
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359If B<t> is specified, it indicates to the debugger that threads
360will be used in the code being debugged.
a0d0e21e 361
f4750dab 362=item B<-d:>I<MOD[=bar,baz]>
d74e8afc 363X<-d> X<-dt>
3c81428c 364
f4750dab 365=item B<-dt:>I<MOD[=bar,baz]>
2cbb2ee1 366
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367runs the program under the control of a debugging, profiling, or tracing
368module installed as C<Devel::I<MOD>>. E.g., B<-d:DProf> executes the
369program using the C<Devel::DProf> profiler. As with the B<-M> flag, options
370may be passed to the C<Devel::I<MOD>> package where they will be received
371and interpreted by the C<Devel::I<MOD>::import> routine. Again, like B<-M>,
372use -B<-d:-I<MOD>> to call C<Devel::I<MOD>::unimport> instead of import. The
373comma-separated list of options must follow a C<=> character. If B<t> is
374specified, it indicates to the debugger that threads will be used in the
375code being debugged. See L<perldebug>.
3c81428c 376
db2ba183 377=item B<-D>I<letters>
d74e8afc 378X<-D> X<DEBUGGING> X<-DDEBUGGING>
a0d0e21e 379
db2ba183 380=item B<-D>I<number>
a0d0e21e 381
19799a22 382sets debugging flags. To watch how it executes your program, use
db2ba183
TB
383B<-Dtls>. (This works only if debugging is compiled into your
384Perl.) Another nice value is B<-Dx>, which lists your compiled
4197b13f 385syntax tree. And B<-Dr> displays compiled regular expressions;
44a4342c 386the format of the output is explained in L<perldebguts>.
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387
388As an alternative, specify a number instead of list of letters (e.g.,
389B<-D14> is equivalent to B<-Dtls>):
a0d0e21e 390
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391 1 p Tokenizing and parsing (with v, displays parse
392 stack)
393 2 s Stack snapshots (with v, displays all stacks)
394 4 l Context (loop) stack processing
395 8 t Trace execution
396 16 o Method and overloading resolution
397 32 c String/numeric conversions
398 64 P Print profiling info, source file input state
399 128 m Memory and SV allocation
400 256 f Format processing
401 512 r Regular expression parsing and execution
402 1024 x Syntax tree dump
403 2048 u Tainting checks
404 4096 U Unofficial, User hacking (reserved for private,
405 unreleased use)
406 8192 H Hash dump -- usurps values()
407 16384 X Scratchpad allocation
408 32768 D Cleaning up
409 65536 S Op slab allocation
410 131072 T Tokenizing
411 262144 R Include reference counts of dumped variables
412 (eg when using -Ds)
413 524288 J show s,t,P-debug (don't Jump over) on opcodes within
414 package DB
415 1048576 v Verbose: use in conjunction with other flags
416 2097152 C Copy On Write
417 4194304 A Consistency checks on internal structures
418 8388608 q quiet - currently only suppresses the "EXECUTING"
419 message
420 16777216 M trace smart match resolution
421 33554432 B dump suBroutine definitions, including special
422 Blocks like BEGIN
423 67108864 L trace Locale-related info; what gets output is very
424 subject to change
425 134217728 i trace PerlIO layer processing. Set PERLIO_DEBUG to
426 the filename to trace to.
a0d0e21e 427
19799a22 428All these flags require B<-DDEBUGGING> when you compile the Perl
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429executable (but see C<:opd> in L<Devel::Peek> or L<re/'debug' mode>
430which may change this).
44a4342c 431See the F<INSTALL> file in the Perl source distribution
19799a22 432for how to do this. This flag is automatically set if you include B<-g>
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433option when C<Configure> asks you about optimizer/debugger flags.
434
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435If you're just trying to get a print out of each line of Perl code
436as it executes, the way that C<sh -x> provides for shell scripts,
44a4342c 437you can't use Perl's B<-D> switch. Instead do this
19799a22 438
c406981e 439 # If you have "env" utility
fdac53cd 440 env PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop=1 AutoTrace=1 frame=2" perl -dS program
c406981e 441
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442 # Bourne shell syntax
443 $ PERLDB_OPTS="NonStop=1 AutoTrace=1 frame=2" perl -dS program
444
445 # csh syntax
446 % (setenv PERLDB_OPTS "NonStop=1 AutoTrace=1 frame=2"; perl -dS program)
447
448See L<perldebug> for details and variations.
449
a0d0e21e 450=item B<-e> I<commandline>
d74e8afc 451X<-e>
a0d0e21e 452
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453may be used to enter one line of program. If B<-e> is given, Perl
454will not look for a filename in the argument list. Multiple B<-e>
455commands may be given to build up a multi-line script. Make sure
456to use semicolons where you would in a normal program.
a0d0e21e 457
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458=item B<-E> I<commandline>
459X<-E>
460
461behaves just like B<-e>, except that it implicitly enables all
462optional features (in the main compilation unit). See L<feature>.
463
20ef40cf 464=item B<-f>
174299ac 465X<-f> X<sitecustomize> X<sitecustomize.pl>
20ef40cf 466
4a42f219 467Disable executing F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup.
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468
469Perl can be built so that it by default will try to execute
e846cbe5 470F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup (in a BEGIN block).
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471This is a hook that allows the sysadmin to customize how Perl behaves.
472It can for instance be used to add entries to the @INC array to make Perl
e846cbe5 473find modules in non-standard locations.
20ef40cf 474
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475Perl actually inserts the following code:
476
477 BEGIN {
478 do { local $!; -f "$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl"; }
479 && do "$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl";
480 }
481
482Since it is an actual C<do> (not a C<require>), F<sitecustomize.pl>
483doesn't need to return a true value. The code is run in package C<main>,
484in its own lexical scope. However, if the script dies, C<$@> will not
485be set.
486
487The value of C<$Config{sitelib}> is also determined in C code and not
488read from C<Config.pm>, which is not loaded.
489
f4750dab 490The code is executed I<very> early. For example, any changes made to
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491C<@INC> will show up in the output of `perl -V`. Of course, C<END>
492blocks will be likewise executed very late.
493
494To determine at runtime if this capability has been compiled in your
495perl, you can check the value of C<$Config{usesitecustomize}>.
496
e0ebc809 497=item B<-F>I<pattern>
d74e8afc 498X<-F>
a0d0e21e 499
24ffa309
TC
500specifies the pattern to split on for B<-a>. The pattern may be
501surrounded by C<//>, C<"">, or C<''>, otherwise it will be put in single
502quotes. You can't use literal whitespace in the pattern.
503
504B<-F> implicitly sets both B<-a> and B<-n>.
a0d0e21e 505
e0ebc809 506=item B<-h>
d74e8afc 507X<-h>
e0ebc809 508
509prints a summary of the options.
510
511=item B<-i>[I<extension>]
d74e8afc 512X<-i> X<in-place>
a0d0e21e 513
2d259d92
CK
514specifies that files processed by the C<E<lt>E<gt>> construct are to be
515edited in-place. It does this by renaming the input file, opening the
516output file by the original name, and selecting that output file as the
517default for print() statements. The extension, if supplied, is used to
518modify the name of the old file to make a backup copy, following these
519rules:
520
479e5f87
PM
521If no extension is supplied, and your system supports it, the original
522I<file> is kept open without a name while the output is redirected to
523a new file with the original I<filename>. When perl exits, cleanly or not,
524the original I<file> is unlinked.
2d259d92 525
19799a22
GS
526If the extension doesn't contain a C<*>, then it is appended to the
527end of the current filename as a suffix. If the extension does
528contain one or more C<*> characters, then each C<*> is replaced
529with the current filename. In Perl terms, you could think of this
530as:
2d259d92 531
66606d78 532 ($backup = $extension) =~ s/\*/$file_name/g;
2d259d92
CK
533
534This allows you to add a prefix to the backup file, instead of (or in
535addition to) a suffix:
536
60b7c710
KW
537 $ perl -pi'orig_*' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to
538 # 'orig_fileA'
2d259d92
CK
539
540Or even to place backup copies of the original files into another
541directory (provided the directory already exists):
542
60b7c710
KW
543 $ perl -pi'old/*.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to
544 # 'old/fileA.orig'
2d259d92 545
66606d78
CK
546These sets of one-liners are equivalent:
547
60b7c710
KW
548 $ perl -pi -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # overwrite current file
549 $ perl -pi'*' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # overwrite current file
66606d78 550
60b7c710
KW
551 $ perl -pi'.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'fileA.orig'
552 $ perl -pi'*.orig' -e 's/bar/baz/' fileA # backup to 'fileA.orig'
66606d78 553
2d259d92 554From the shell, saying
a0d0e21e 555
19799a22 556 $ perl -p -i.orig -e "s/foo/bar/; ... "
a0d0e21e 557
19799a22 558is the same as using the program:
a0d0e21e 559
19799a22 560 #!/usr/bin/perl -pi.orig
a0d0e21e
LW
561 s/foo/bar/;
562
563which is equivalent to
564
565 #!/usr/bin/perl
19799a22
GS
566 $extension = '.orig';
567 LINE: while (<>) {
a0d0e21e 568 if ($ARGV ne $oldargv) {
66606d78
CK
569 if ($extension !~ /\*/) {
570 $backup = $ARGV . $extension;
571 }
572 else {
573 ($backup = $extension) =~ s/\*/$ARGV/g;
574 }
575 rename($ARGV, $backup);
a0d0e21e
LW
576 open(ARGVOUT, ">$ARGV");
577 select(ARGVOUT);
578 $oldargv = $ARGV;
579 }
580 s/foo/bar/;
581 }
582 continue {
583 print; # this prints to original filename
584 }
585 select(STDOUT);
586
587except that the B<-i> form doesn't need to compare $ARGV to $oldargv to
588know when the filename has changed. It does, however, use ARGVOUT for
66606d78
CK
589the selected filehandle. Note that STDOUT is restored as the default
590output filehandle after the loop.
591
592As shown above, Perl creates the backup file whether or not any output
593is actually changed. So this is just a fancy way to copy files:
594
cd2d1bac 595 $ perl -p -i'/some/file/path/*' -e 1 file1 file2 file3...
19799a22 596or
cd2d1bac 597 $ perl -p -i'.orig' -e 1 file1 file2 file3...
66606d78
CK
598
599You can use C<eof> without parentheses to locate the end of each input
600file, in case you want to append to each file, or reset line numbering
601(see example in L<perlfunc/eof>).
602
603If, for a given file, Perl is unable to create the backup file as
604specified in the extension then it will skip that file and continue on
605with the next one (if it exists).
606
1dcc3c19
DG
607For a discussion of issues surrounding file permissions and B<-i>, see
608L<perlfaq5/Why does Perl let me delete read-only files? Why does -i clobber
609protected files? Isn't this a bug in Perl?>.
66606d78
CK
610
611You cannot use B<-i> to create directories or to strip extensions from
612files.
a0d0e21e 613
19799a22
GS
614Perl does not expand C<~> in filenames, which is good, since some
615folks use it for their backup files:
a0d0e21e 616
19799a22
GS
617 $ perl -pi~ -e 's/foo/bar/' file1 file2 file3...
618
a66b22ca 619Note that because B<-i> renames or deletes the original file before
e1020413 620creating a new file of the same name, Unix-style soft and hard links will
0cb0633f 621not be preserved.
a66b22ca 622
19799a22 623Finally, the B<-i> switch does not impede execution when no
a2008d6d
GS
624files are given on the command line. In this case, no backup is made
625(the original file cannot, of course, be determined) and processing
626proceeds from STDIN to STDOUT as might be expected.
627
a0d0e21e 628=item B<-I>I<directory>
d74e8afc 629X<-I> X<@INC>
a0d0e21e 630
e0ebc809 631Directories specified by B<-I> are prepended to the search path for
4c84d7f2 632modules (C<@INC>).
a0d0e21e 633
e0ebc809 634=item B<-l>[I<octnum>]
d74e8afc 635X<-l> X<$/> X<$\>
a0d0e21e 636
19799a22
GS
637enables automatic line-ending processing. It has two separate
638effects. First, it automatically chomps C<$/> (the input record
639separator) when used with B<-n> or B<-p>. Second, it assigns C<$\>
640(the output record separator) to have the value of I<octnum> so
641that any print statements will have that separator added back on.
642If I<octnum> is omitted, sets C<$\> to the current value of
643C<$/>. For instance, to trim lines to 80 columns:
a0d0e21e
LW
644
645 perl -lpe 'substr($_, 80) = ""'
646
647Note that the assignment C<$\ = $/> is done when the switch is processed,
648so the input record separator can be different than the output record
649separator if the B<-l> switch is followed by a B<-0> switch:
650
651 gnufind / -print0 | perl -ln0e 'print "found $_" if -p'
652
1fef88e7 653This sets C<$\> to newline and then sets C<$/> to the null character.
a0d0e21e 654
e0ebc809 655=item B<-m>[B<->]I<module>
d74e8afc 656X<-m> X<-M>
e0ebc809 657
658=item B<-M>[B<->]I<module>
c07a80fd 659
e0ebc809 660=item B<-M>[B<->]I<'module ...'>
661
662=item B<-[mM]>[B<->]I<module=arg[,arg]...>
3c81428c 663
19799a22
GS
664B<-m>I<module> executes C<use> I<module> C<();> before executing your
665program.
3c81428c 666
19799a22
GS
667B<-M>I<module> executes C<use> I<module> C<;> before executing your
668program. You can use quotes to add extra code after the module name,
f4750dab 669e.g., C<'-MI<MODULE> qw(foo bar)'>.
3c81428c 670
f4750dab 671If the first character after the B<-M> or B<-m> is a dash (B<->)
a5f75d66
AD
672then the 'use' is replaced with 'no'.
673
54310121 674A little builtin syntactic sugar means you can also say
f4750dab
TC
675B<-mI<MODULE>=foo,bar> or B<-MI<MODULE>=foo,bar> as a shortcut for
676B<'-MI<MODULE> qw(foo bar)'>. This avoids the need to use quotes when
677importing symbols. The actual code generated by B<-MI<MODULE>=foo,bar> is
e0ebc809 678C<use module split(/,/,q{foo,bar})>. Note that the C<=> form
c2d9228f
A
679removes the distinction between B<-m> and B<-M>; that is,
680B<-mI<MODULE>=foo,bar> is the same as B<-MI<MODULE>=foo,bar>.
3c81428c 681
f4750dab
TC
682A consequence of this is that B<-MI<MODULE>=number> never does a version check,
683unless C<I<MODULE>::import()> itself is set up to do a version check, which
684could happen for example if I<MODULE> inherits from L<Exporter>.
642d0c2f 685
a0d0e21e 686=item B<-n>
d74e8afc 687X<-n>
a0d0e21e 688
19799a22 689causes Perl to assume the following loop around your program, which
f4750dab
TC
690makes it iterate over filename arguments somewhat like I<sed -n> or
691I<awk>:
a0d0e21e 692
19799a22 693 LINE:
a0d0e21e 694 while (<>) {
19799a22 695 ... # your program goes here
a0d0e21e
LW
696 }
697
76c9ab0e 698Note that the lines are not printed by default. See L</-p> to have
08e9d68e 699lines printed. If a file named by an argument cannot be opened for
19799a22 700some reason, Perl warns you about it and moves on to the next file.
08e9d68e 701
48ab5743
ML
702Also note that C<< <> >> passes command line arguments to
703L<perlfunc/open>, which doesn't necessarily interpret them as file names.
704See L<perlop> for possible security implications.
705
fa11829f 706Here is an efficient way to delete all files that haven't been modified for
9976c5c7 707at least a week:
a0d0e21e 708
19799a22 709 find . -mtime +7 -print | perl -nle unlink
a0d0e21e 710
f4750dab 711This is faster than using the B<-exec> switch of I<find> because you don't
45cc06e3
DH
712have to start a process on every filename found (but it's not faster
713than using the B<-delete> switch available in newer versions of I<find>.
714It does suffer from the bug of mishandling newlines in pathnames, which
715you can fix if you follow the example under B<-0>.
a0d0e21e
LW
716
717C<BEGIN> and C<END> blocks may be used to capture control before or after
f4750dab 718the implicit program loop, just as in I<awk>.
a0d0e21e
LW
719
720=item B<-p>
d74e8afc 721X<-p>
a0d0e21e 722
19799a22 723causes Perl to assume the following loop around your program, which
f4750dab 724makes it iterate over filename arguments somewhat like I<sed>:
a0d0e21e
LW
725
726
19799a22 727 LINE:
a0d0e21e 728 while (<>) {
19799a22 729 ... # your program goes here
a0d0e21e 730 } continue {
08e9d68e 731 print or die "-p destination: $!\n";
a0d0e21e
LW
732 }
733
08e9d68e
DD
734If a file named by an argument cannot be opened for some reason, Perl
735warns you about it, and moves on to the next file. Note that the
c2611fb3 736lines are printed automatically. An error occurring during printing is
08e9d68e
DD
737treated as fatal. To suppress printing use the B<-n> switch. A B<-p>
738overrides a B<-n> switch.
a0d0e21e
LW
739
740C<BEGIN> and C<END> blocks may be used to capture control before or after
f4750dab 741the implicit loop, just as in I<awk>.
a0d0e21e 742
a0d0e21e 743=item B<-s>
d74e8afc 744X<-s>
a0d0e21e 745
19799a22
GS
746enables rudimentary switch parsing for switches on the command
747line after the program name but before any filename arguments (or before
74ac850a 748an argument of B<-->). Any switch found there is removed from @ARGV and sets the
19799a22 749corresponding variable in the Perl program. The following program
3c0facb2
GS
750prints "1" if the program is invoked with a B<-xyz> switch, and "abc"
751if it is invoked with B<-xyz=abc>.
a0d0e21e
LW
752
753 #!/usr/bin/perl -s
3c0facb2 754 if ($xyz) { print "$xyz\n" }
a0d0e21e 755
1dcc3c19
DG
756Do note that a switch like B<--help> creates the variable C<${-help}>, which is
757not compliant with C<use strict "refs">. Also, when using this option on a
758script with warnings enabled you may get a lot of spurious "used only once"
759warnings.
3bbcc830 760
a0d0e21e 761=item B<-S>
d74e8afc 762X<-S>
a0d0e21e
LW
763
764makes Perl use the PATH environment variable to search for the
f4750dab 765program unless the name of the program contains path separators.
19799a22 766
2a92aaa0
GS
767On some platforms, this also makes Perl append suffixes to the
768filename while searching for it. For example, on Win32 platforms,
769the ".bat" and ".cmd" suffixes are appended if a lookup for the
770original name fails, and if the name does not already end in one
f4750dab
TC
771of those suffixes. If your Perl was compiled with C<DEBUGGING> turned
772on, using the B<-Dp> switch to Perl shows how the search progresses.
2a92aaa0 773
f4750dab
TC
774Typically this is used to emulate C<#!> startup on platforms that don't
775support C<#!>. It's also convenient when debugging a script that uses C<#!>,
fa3aa65a
JC
776and is thus normally found by the shell's $PATH search mechanism.
777
778This example works on many platforms that have a shell compatible with
779Bourne shell:
a0d0e21e
LW
780
781 #!/usr/bin/perl
a3cb178b 782 eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
a0d0e21e
LW
783 if $running_under_some_shell;
784
19799a22
GS
785The system ignores the first line and feeds the program to F</bin/sh>,
786which proceeds to try to execute the Perl program as a shell script.
a0d0e21e
LW
787The shell executes the second line as a normal shell command, and thus
788starts up the Perl interpreter. On some systems $0 doesn't always
789contain the full pathname, so the B<-S> tells Perl to search for the
19799a22 790program if necessary. After Perl locates the program, it parses the
a0d0e21e 791lines and ignores them because the variable $running_under_some_shell
19799a22 792is never true. If the program will be interpreted by csh, you will need
a3cb178b 793to replace C<${1+"$@"}> with C<$*>, even though that doesn't understand
f4750dab
TC
794embedded spaces (and such) in the argument list. To start up I<sh> rather
795than I<csh>, some systems may have to replace the C<#!> line with a line
a0d0e21e
LW
796containing just a colon, which will be politely ignored by Perl. Other
797systems can't control that, and need a totally devious construct that
f4750dab 798will work under any of I<csh>, I<sh>, or Perl, such as the following:
a0d0e21e 799
19799a22 800 eval '(exit $?0)' && eval 'exec perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
a3cb178b 801 & eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -wS $0 $argv:q'
5f05dabc 802 if $running_under_some_shell;
a0d0e21e 803
f4750dab 804If the filename supplied contains directory separators (and so is an
19799a22
GS
805absolute or relative pathname), and if that file is not found,
806platforms that append file extensions will do so and try to look
807for the file with those extensions added, one by one.
808
809On DOS-like platforms, if the program does not contain directory
810separators, it will first be searched for in the current directory
811before being searched for on the PATH. On Unix platforms, the
812program will be searched for strictly on the PATH.
813
6537fe72 814=item B<-t>
d74e8afc 815X<-t>
6537fe72
MS
816
817Like B<-T>, but taint checks will issue warnings rather than fatal
f4750dab 818errors. These warnings can now be controlled normally with C<no warnings
317ea90d 819qw(taint)>.
1dbad523 820
f4750dab
TC
821B<Note: This is not a substitute for C<-T>!> This is meant to be
822used I<only> as a temporary development aid while securing legacy code:
823for real production code and for new secure code written from scratch,
1dbad523 824always use the real B<-T>.
6537fe72 825
a0d0e21e 826=item B<-T>
d74e8afc 827X<-T>
a0d0e21e 828
f4750dab 829turns on "taint" so you can test them. Ordinarily
19799a22
GS
830these checks are done only when running setuid or setgid. It's a
831good idea to turn them on explicitly for programs that run on behalf
832of someone else whom you might not necessarily trust, such as CGI
833programs or any internet servers you might write in Perl. See
834L<perlsec> for details. For security reasons, this option must be
835seen by Perl quite early; usually this means it must appear early
f4750dab 836on the command line or in the C<#!> line for systems which support
19799a22 837that construct.
a0d0e21e
LW
838
839=item B<-u>
d74e8afc 840X<-u>
a0d0e21e 841
f4750dab 842This switch causes Perl to dump core after compiling your
19799a22 843program. You can then in theory take this core dump and turn it
f4750dab 844into an executable file by using the I<undump> program (not supplied).
19799a22
GS
845This speeds startup at the expense of some disk space (which you
846can minimize by stripping the executable). (Still, a "hello world"
847executable comes out to about 200K on my machine.) If you want to
848execute a portion of your program before dumping, use the dump()
f4750dab 849operator instead. Note: availability of I<undump> is platform
19799a22
GS
850specific and may not be available for a specific port of Perl.
851
a0d0e21e 852=item B<-U>
d74e8afc 853X<-U>
a0d0e21e
LW
854
855allows Perl to do unsafe operations. Currently the only "unsafe"
f4750dab
TC
856operations are attempting to unlink directories while running as superuser
857and running setuid programs with fatal taint checks turned into warnings.
858Note that warnings must be enabled along with this option to actually
859I<generate> the taint-check warnings.
a0d0e21e
LW
860
861=item B<-v>
d74e8afc 862X<-v>
a0d0e21e 863
19799a22 864prints the version and patchlevel of your perl executable.
a0d0e21e 865
3c81428c 866=item B<-V>
d74e8afc 867X<-V>
3c81428c 868
869prints summary of the major perl configuration values and the current
19799a22 870values of @INC.
3c81428c 871
307dc113 872=item B<-V:>I<configvar>
3c81428c 873
4a305f6a 874Prints to STDOUT the value of the named configuration variable(s),
f4750dab 875with multiples when your C<I<configvar>> argument looks like a regex (has
307dc113 876non-letters). For example:
3c81428c 877
307dc113
JC
878 $ perl -V:libc
879 libc='/lib/libc-2.2.4.so';
4a305f6a
JC
880 $ perl -V:lib.
881 libs='-lnsl -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lcrypt -lutil -lc';
882 libc='/lib/libc-2.2.4.so';
883 $ perl -V:lib.*
884 libpth='/usr/local/lib /lib /usr/lib';
885 libs='-lnsl -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lcrypt -lutil -lc';
886 lib_ext='.a';
887 libc='/lib/libc-2.2.4.so';
888 libperl='libperl.a';
889 ....
890
891Additionally, extra colons can be used to control formatting. A
f4750dab 892trailing colon suppresses the linefeed and terminator ";", allowing
4a305f6a 893you to embed queries into shell commands. (mnemonic: PATH separator
f4750dab 894":".)
4a305f6a
JC
895
896 $ echo "compression-vars: " `perl -V:z.*: ` " are here !"
897 compression-vars: zcat='' zip='zip' are here !
898
f4750dab 899A leading colon removes the "name=" part of the response, this allows
307dc113 900you to map to the name you need. (mnemonic: empty label)
4a305f6a
JC
901
902 $ echo "goodvfork="`./perl -Ilib -V::usevfork`
903 goodvfork=false;
904
905Leading and trailing colons can be used together if you need
906positional parameter values without the names. Note that in the case
f4750dab 907below, the C<PERL_API> params are returned in alphabetical order.
4a305f6a
JC
908
909 $ echo building_on `perl -V::osname: -V::PERL_API_.*:` now
910 building_on 'linux' '5' '1' '9' now
a0d0e21e 911
19799a22 912=item B<-w>
d74e8afc 913X<-w>
774d564b 914
19799a22 915prints warnings about dubious constructs, such as variable names
f4750dab
TC
916mentioned only once and scalar variables used
917before being set; redefined subroutines; references to undefined
918filehandles; filehandles opened read-only that you are attempting
919to write on; values used as a number that don't I<look> like numbers;
920using an array as though it were a scalar; if your subroutines
921recurse more than 100 deep; and innumerable other things.
922
923This switch really just enables the global C<$^W> variable; normally,
924the lexically scoped C<use warnings> pragma is preferred. You
19799a22
GS
925can disable or promote into fatal errors specific warnings using
926C<__WARN__> hooks, as described in L<perlvar> and L<perlfunc/warn>.
f4750dab 927See also L<perldiag> and L<perltrap>. A fine-grained warning
19799a22 928facility is also available if you want to manipulate entire classes
44ecbbd8 929of warnings; see L<warnings>.
a0d0e21e 930
0453d815 931=item B<-W>
d74e8afc 932X<-W>
0453d815 933
3c3f8cd6 934Enables all warnings regardless of C<no warnings> or C<$^W>.
44ecbbd8 935See L<warnings>.
0453d815
PM
936
937=item B<-X>
d74e8afc 938X<-X>
0453d815 939
3c3f8cd6 940Disables all warnings regardless of C<use warnings> or C<$^W>.
44ecbbd8 941See L<warnings>.
0453d815 942
136e4fd6 943=item B<-x>
d74e8afc 944X<-x>
136e4fd6 945
d3bf4b0e 946=item B<-x>I<directory>
a0d0e21e 947
19799a22 948tells Perl that the program is embedded in a larger chunk of unrelated
f4750dab
TC
949text, such as in a mail message. Leading garbage will be
950discarded until the first line that starts with C<#!> and contains the
19799a22 951string "perl". Any meaningful switches on that line will be applied.
3d6c2ba7
B
952
953All references to line numbers by the program (warnings, errors, ...)
f4750dab
TC
954will treat the C<#!> line as the first line.
955Thus a warning on the 2nd line of the program, which is on the 100th
956line in the file will be reported as line 2, not as line 100.
957This can be overridden by using the C<#line> directive.
96090e4f 958(See L<perlsyn/"Plain Old Comments (Not!)">)
3d6c2ba7 959
19799a22
GS
960If a directory name is specified, Perl will switch to that directory
961before running the program. The B<-x> switch controls only the
962disposal of leading garbage. The program must be terminated with
f4750dab
TC
963C<__END__> if there is trailing garbage to be ignored; the program
964can process any or all of the trailing garbage via the C<DATA> filehandle
965if desired.
a0d0e21e 966
353c6505 967The directory, if specified, must appear immediately following the B<-x>
d3bf4b0e
DN
968with no intervening whitespace.
969
1e422769 970=back
971
972=head1 ENVIRONMENT
d74e8afc 973X<perl, environment variables>
1e422769 974
975=over 12
976
977=item HOME
d74e8afc 978X<HOME>
1e422769 979
f4750dab 980Used if C<chdir> has no argument.
1e422769 981
982=item LOGDIR
d74e8afc 983X<LOGDIR>
1e422769 984
f4750dab 985Used if C<chdir> has no argument and HOME is not set.
1e422769 986
987=item PATH
d74e8afc 988X<PATH>
1e422769 989
19799a22 990Used in executing subprocesses, and in finding the program if B<-S> is
1e422769 991used.
992
993=item PERL5LIB
d74e8afc 994X<PERL5LIB>
1e422769 995
48b971ca 996A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
1e422769 997files before looking in the standard library and the current
4b85e17e
AD
998directory. Any architecture-specific and version-specific directories,
999such as F<version/archname/>, F<version/>, or F<archname/> under the
1000specified locations are automatically included if they exist, with this
1001lookup done at interpreter startup time. In addition, any directories
1002matching the entries in C<$Config{inc_version_list}> are added.
1003(These typically would be for older compatible perl versions installed
1004in the same directory tree.)
69681433
A
1005
1006If PERL5LIB is not defined, PERLLIB is used. Directories are separated
e1020413 1007(like in PATH) by a colon on Unixish platforms and by a semicolon on
69681433 1008Windows (the proper path separator being given by the command C<perl
f4750dab 1009-V:I<path_sep>>).
951ba7fe 1010
f4750dab
TC
1011When running taint checks, either because the program was running setuid or
1012setgid, or the B<-T> or B<-t> switch was specified, neither PERL5LIB nor
1013PERLLIB is consulted. The program should instead say:
1e422769 1014
1015 use lib "/my/directory";
1016
54310121 1017=item PERL5OPT
d74e8afc 1018X<PERL5OPT>
54310121 1019
f4750dab 1020Command-line options (switches). Switches in this variable are treated
2b622f1a 1021as if they were on every Perl command line. Only the B<-[CDIMUdmtwW]>
f4750dab
TC
1022switches are allowed. When running taint checks (either because the
1023program was running setuid or setgid, or because the B<-T> or B<-t>
1024switch was used), this variable is ignored. If PERL5OPT begins with
cce9fd8c 1025B<-T>, tainting will be enabled and subsequent options ignored. If
f4750dab
TC
1026PERL5OPT begins with B<-t>, tainting will be enabled, a writable dot
1027removed from @INC, and subsequent options honored.
54310121 1028
16537909 1029=item PERLIO
d74e8afc 1030X<PERLIO>
16537909 1031
44a4342c 1032A space (or colon) separated list of PerlIO layers. If perl is built
f4750dab 1033to use PerlIO system for IO (the default) these layers affect Perl's IO.
44a4342c 1034
f4750dab
TC
1035It is conventional to start layer names with a colon (for example, C<:perlio>) to
1036emphasize their similarity to variable "attributes". But the code that parses
cce9fd8c 1037layer specification strings, which is also used to decode the PERLIO
f4750dab 1038environment variable, treats the colon as a separator.
44a4342c 1039
5b64f2bf 1040An unset or empty PERLIO is equivalent to the default set of layers for
f4750dab 1041your platform; for example, C<:unix:perlio> on Unix-like systems
1f070127 1042and C<:unix:crlf> on Windows and other DOS-like systems.
3b0db4f9 1043
f4750dab
TC
1044The list becomes the default for I<all> Perl's IO. Consequently only built-in
1045layers can appear in this list, as external layers (such as C<:encoding()>) need
cce9fd8c 1046IO in order to load them! See L<"open pragma"|open> for how to add external
44a4342c
NIS
1047encodings as defaults.
1048
f4750dab
TC
1049Layers it makes sense to include in the PERLIO environment
1050variable are briefly summarized below. For more details see L<PerlIO>.
16537909
JH
1051
1052=over 8
1053
1054=item :bytes
d74e8afc 1055X<:bytes>
16537909 1056
f4750dab
TC
1057A pseudolayer that turns the C<:utf8> flag I<off> for the layer below;
1058unlikely to be useful on its own in the global PERLIO environment variable.
18aba96f 1059You perhaps were thinking of C<:crlf:bytes> or C<:perlio:bytes>.
16537909
JH
1060
1061=item :crlf
d74e8afc 1062X<:crlf>
16537909 1063
f4750dab 1064A layer which does CRLF to C<"\n"> translation distinguishing "text" and
3d897973
IT
1065"binary" files in the manner of MS-DOS and similar operating systems.
1066(It currently does I<not> mimic MS-DOS as far as treating of Control-Z
1067as being an end-of-file marker.)
44a4342c
NIS
1068
1069=item :mmap
d74e8afc 1070X<:mmap>
44a4342c 1071
f4750dab
TC
1072A layer that implements "reading" of files by using I<mmap>(2) to
1073make an entire file appear in the process's address space, and then
3d897973 1074using that as PerlIO's "buffer".
16537909 1075
44a4342c 1076=item :perlio
d74e8afc 1077X<:perlio>
16537909 1078
f4750dab
TC
1079This is a re-implementation of stdio-like buffering written as a
1080PerlIO layer. As such it will call whatever layer is below it for
1081its operations, typically C<:unix>.
16537909 1082
18aba96f 1083=item :pop
d74e8afc 1084X<:pop>
18aba96f
JH
1085
1086An experimental pseudolayer that removes the topmost layer.
f4750dab 1087Use with the same care as is reserved for nitroglycerine.
18aba96f 1088
44a4342c 1089=item :raw
d74e8afc 1090X<:raw>
16537909 1091
136e4fd6 1092A pseudolayer that manipulates other layers. Applying the C<:raw>
18aba96f 1093layer is equivalent to calling C<binmode($fh)>. It makes the stream
f4750dab
TC
1094pass each byte as-is without translation. In particular, both CRLF
1095translation and intuiting C<:utf8> from the locale are disabled.
1cbfc93d 1096
f4750dab
TC
1097Unlike in earlier versions of Perl, C<:raw> is I<not>
1098just the inverse of C<:crlf>: other layers which would affect the
3d897973 1099binary nature of the stream are also removed or disabled.
16537909 1100
44a4342c 1101=item :stdio
d74e8afc 1102X<:stdio>
44a4342c 1103
f4750dab 1104This layer provides a PerlIO interface by wrapping system's ANSI C "stdio"
44a4342c 1105library calls. The layer provides both buffering and IO.
f4750dab
TC
1106Note that the C<:stdio> layer does I<not> do CRLF translation even if that
1107is the platform's normal behaviour. You will need a C<:crlf> layer above it
44a4342c
NIS
1108to do that.
1109
1110=item :unix
d74e8afc 1111X<:unix>
44a4342c 1112
f4750dab 1113Low-level layer that calls C<read>, C<write>, C<lseek>, etc.
16537909
JH
1114
1115=item :utf8
d74e8afc 1116X<:utf8>
16537909 1117
f4750dab 1118A pseudolayer that enables a flag in the layer below to tell Perl
3d897973 1119that output should be in utf8 and that input should be regarded as
f4750dab
TC
1120already in valid utf8 form. B<WARNING: It does not check for validity and as such
1121should be handled with extreme caution for input, because security violations
1122can occur with non-shortest UTF-8 encodings, etc.> Generally C<:encoding(utf8)> is
740d4bb2 1123the best option when reading UTF-8 encoded data.
44a4342c
NIS
1124
1125=item :win32
d74e8afc 1126X<:win32>
44a4342c 1127
ab4f7683 1128On Win32 platforms this I<experimental> layer uses native "handle" IO
f4750dab
TC
1129rather than a Unix-like numeric file descriptor layer. Known to be
1130buggy in this release (5.14).
16537909
JH
1131
1132=back
1133
f4750dab 1134The default set of layers should give acceptable results on all platforms
44a4342c 1135
f4750dab
TC
1136For Unix platforms that will be the equivalent of "unix perlio" or "stdio".
1137Configure is set up to prefer the "stdio" implementation if the system's library
1138provides for fast access to the buffer; otherwise, it uses the "unix perlio"
44a4342c
NIS
1139implementation.
1140
f4750dab
TC
1141On Win32 the default in this release (5.14) is "unix crlf". Win32's "stdio"
1142has a number of bugs/mis-features for Perl IO which are somewhat depending
1143on the version and vendor of the C compiler. Using our own C<crlf> layer as
1144the buffer avoids those issues and makes things more uniform. The C<crlf>
1145layer provides CRLF conversion as well as buffering.
44a4342c 1146
f4750dab
TC
1147This release (5.14) uses C<unix> as the bottom layer on Win32, and so still
1148uses the C compiler's numeric file descriptor routines. There is an
1149experimental native C<win32> layer, which is expected to be enhanced and
1150should eventually become the default under Win32.
44a4342c 1151
f4750dab 1152The PERLIO environment variable is completely ignored when Perl
5437faeb
PF
1153is run in taint mode.
1154
44a4342c 1155=item PERLIO_DEBUG
d74e8afc 1156X<PERLIO_DEBUG>
44a4342c 1157
2104c695
CB
1158If set to the name of a file or device when Perl is run with the
1159B<-Di> command-line switch, the logging of certain operations of
1160the PerlIO subsystem will be redirected to the specified file rather
1161than going to stderr, which is the default. The file is opened in append
1162mode. Typical uses are in Unix:
44a4342c 1163
2104c695 1164 % env PERLIO_DEBUG=/tmp/perlio.log perl -Di script ...
44a4342c 1165
f4750dab 1166and under Win32, the approximately equivalent:
44a4342c 1167
f4750dab 1168 > set PERLIO_DEBUG=CON
2104c695 1169 perl -Di script ...
44a4342c 1170
2104c695
CB
1171This functionality is disabled for setuid scripts, for scripts run
1172with B<-T>, and for scripts run on a Perl built without C<-DDEBUGGING>
1173support.
16537909 1174
1e422769 1175=item PERLLIB
d74e8afc 1176X<PERLLIB>
1e422769 1177
48b971ca 1178A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
1e422769 1179files before looking in the standard library and the current directory.
1180If PERL5LIB is defined, PERLLIB is not used.
1181
f4750dab 1182The PERLLIB environment variable is completely ignored when Perl
5437faeb
PF
1183is run in taint mode.
1184
1e422769 1185=item PERL5DB
d74e8afc 1186X<PERL5DB>
1e422769 1187
1188The command used to load the debugger code. The default is:
1189
f4750dab 1190 BEGIN { require "perl5db.pl" }
1e422769 1191
f4750dab 1192The PERL5DB environment variable is only used when Perl is started with
5437faeb
PF
1193a bare B<-d> switch.
1194
2cbb2ee1 1195=item PERL5DB_THREADED
d74e8afc 1196X<PERL5DB_THREADED>
2cbb2ee1
RGS
1197
1198If set to a true value, indicates to the debugger that the code being
1199debugged uses threads.
1200
19799a22 1201=item PERL5SHELL (specific to the Win32 port)
d74e8afc 1202X<PERL5SHELL>
174c211a 1203
f4750dab
TC
1204On Win32 ports only, may be set to an alternative shell that Perl must use
1205internally for executing "backtick" commands or system(). Default is
1206C<cmd.exe /x/d/c> on WindowsNT and C<command.com /c> on Windows95. The
1207value is considered space-separated. Precede any character that
1208needs to be protected, like a space or backslash, with another backslash.
ce1da67e
GS
1209
1210Note that Perl doesn't use COMSPEC for this purpose because
1211COMSPEC has a high degree of variability among users, leading to
f4750dab 1212portability concerns. Besides, Perl can use a shell that may not be
ce1da67e
GS
1213fit for interactive use, and setting COMSPEC to such a shell may
1214interfere with the proper functioning of other programs (which usually
1215look in COMSPEC to find a shell fit for interactive use).
174c211a 1216
5437faeb
PF
1217Before Perl 5.10.0 and 5.8.8, PERL5SHELL was not taint checked
1218when running external commands. It is recommended that
1219you explicitly set (or delete) C<$ENV{PERL5SHELL}> when running
1220in taint mode under Windows.
1221
1c972609 1222=item PERL_ALLOW_NON_IFS_LSP (specific to the Win32 port)
d74e8afc 1223X<PERL_ALLOW_NON_IFS_LSP>
1c972609 1224
f4750dab 1225Set to 1 to allow the use of non-IFS compatible LSPs (Layered Service Providers).
1c972609
SH
1226Perl normally searches for an IFS-compatible LSP because this is required
1227for its emulation of Windows sockets as real filehandles. However, this may
f4750dab
TC
1228cause problems if you have a firewall such as I<McAfee Guardian>, which requires
1229that all applications use its LSP but which is not IFS-compatible, because clearly
1c972609 1230Perl will normally avoid using such an LSP.
f4750dab 1231
1c972609 1232Setting this environment variable to 1 means that Perl will simply use the
f4750dab
TC
1233first suitable LSP enumerated in the catalog, which keeps I<McAfee Guardian>
1234happy--and in that particular case Perl still works too because I<McAfee
1235Guardian>'s LSP actually plays other games which allow applications
1236requiring IFS compatibility to work.
1c972609 1237
1e422769 1238=item PERL_DEBUG_MSTATS
d74e8afc 1239X<PERL_DEBUG_MSTATS>
1e422769 1240
f4750dab
TC
1241Relevant only if Perl is compiled with the C<malloc> included with the Perl
1242distribution; that is, if C<perl -V:d_mymalloc> is "define".
1243
1244If set, this dumps out memory statistics after execution. If set
1245to an integer greater than one, also dumps out memory statistics
1e422769 1246after compilation.
1247
1248=item PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL
d74e8afc 1249X<PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL>
1e422769 1250
f4750dab
TC
1251Relevant only if your Perl executable was built with B<-DDEBUGGING>,
1252this controls the behaviour of global destruction of objects and other
96090e4f 1253references. See L<perlhacktips/PERL_DESTRUCT_LEVEL> for more information.
a0d0e21e 1254
02c7413a 1255=item PERL_DL_NONLAZY
d74e8afc 1256X<PERL_DL_NONLAZY>
02c7413a 1257
f4750dab 1258Set to C<"1"> to have Perl resolve I<all> undefined symbols when it loads
02c7413a
GA
1259a dynamic library. The default behaviour is to resolve symbols when
1260they are used. Setting this variable is useful during testing of
f4750dab
TC
1261extensions, as it ensures that you get an error on misspelled function
1262names even if the test suite doesn't call them.
02c7413a 1263
5d170f3a 1264=item PERL_ENCODING
d74e8afc 1265X<PERL_ENCODING>
5d170f3a 1266
f4750dab 1267If using the C<use encoding> pragma without an explicit encoding name, the
5d170f3a
JH
1268PERL_ENCODING environment variable is consulted for an encoding name.
1269
504f80c1 1270=item PERL_HASH_SEED
d74e8afc 1271X<PERL_HASH_SEED>
504f80c1 1272
6a5b4183
YO
1273(Since Perl 5.8.1, new semantics in Perl 5.18.0) Used to override
1274the randomization of Perl's internal hash function. The value is expressed
1275in hexadecimal, and may include a leading 0x. Truncated patterns
1276are treated as though they are suffixed with sufficient 0's as required.
8d4a1e6c 1277
6a5b4183
YO
1278If the option is provided, and C<PERL_PERTURB_KEYS> is NOT set, then
1279a value of '0' implies C<PERL_PERTURB_KEYS=0> and any other value
1280implies C<PERL_PERTURB_KEYS=2>.
504f80c1 1281
f4750dab 1282B<PLEASE NOTE: The hash seed is sensitive information>. Hashes are
26a2d347 1283randomized to protect against local and remote attacks against Perl
f4750dab 1284code. By manually setting a seed, this protection may be partially or
26a2d347
JH
1285completely lost.
1286
4a70680a 1287See L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks">, L</PERL_PERTURB_KEYS>, and
26a2d347 1288L</PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG> for more information.
504f80c1 1289
6a5b4183
YO
1290=item PERL_PERTURB_KEYS
1291X<PERL_PERTURB_KEYS>
1292
1293(Since Perl 5.18.0) Set to C<"0"> or C<"NO"> then traversing keys
e6b54db6 1294will be repeatable from run to run for the same PERL_HASH_SEED.
6a5b4183
YO
1295Insertion into a hash will not change the order, except to provide
1296for more space in the hash. When combined with setting PERL_HASH_SEED
1297this mode is as close to pre 5.18 behavior as you can get.
1298
1299When set to C<"1"> or C<"RANDOM"> then traversing keys will be randomized.
1300Every time a hash is inserted into the key order will change in a random
e6b54db6 1301fashion. The order may not be repeatable in a following program run
6a5b4183
YO
1302even if the PERL_HASH_SEED has been specified. This is the default
1303mode for perl.
1304
1305When set to C<"2"> or C<"DETERMINISTIC"> then inserting keys into a hash
e6b54db6 1306will cause the key order to change, but in a way that is repeatable
6a5b4183
YO
1307from program run to program run.
1308
1309B<NOTE:> Use of this option is considered insecure, and is intended only
1310for debugging non-deterministic behavior in Perl's hash function. Do
1311not use it in production.
1312
1313See L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks"> and L</PERL_HASH_SEED>
1314and L</PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG> for more information. You can get and set the
1315key traversal mask for a specific hash by using the C<hash_traversal_mask()>
1316function from L<Hash::Util>.
1317
2191697e 1318=item PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG
d74e8afc 1319X<PERL_HASH_SEED_DEBUG>
2191697e 1320
6a5b4183
YO
1321(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Set to C<"1"> to display (to STDERR) information
1322about the hash function, seed, and what type of key traversal
1323randomization is in effect at the beginning of execution. This, combined
1324with L</PERL_HASH_SEED> and L</PERL_PERTURB_KEYS> is intended to aid in
1325debugging nondeterministic behaviour caused by hash randomization.
1326
1327B<Note> that any information about the hash function, especially the hash
1328seed is B<sensitive information>: by knowing it, one can craft a denial-of-service
1329attack against Perl code, even remotely; see L<perlsec/"Algorithmic Complexity Attacks">
1330for more information. B<Do not disclose the hash seed> to people who
1331don't need to know it. See also C<hash_seed()> and
1332C<key_traversal_mask()> in L<Hash::Util>.
1333
1334An example output might be:
26a2d347 1335
e46aa1dd 1336 HASH_FUNCTION = ONE_AT_A_TIME_HARD HASH_SEED = 0x652e9b9349a7a032 PERTURB_KEYS = 1 (RANDOM)
2191697e 1337
9aa9f499
JC
1338=item PERL_MEM_LOG
1339X<PERL_MEM_LOG>
1340
f4750dab 1341If your Perl was configured with B<-Accflags=-DPERL_MEM_LOG>, setting
7916a455 1342the environment variable C<PERL_MEM_LOG> enables logging debug
f4750dab
TC
1343messages. The value has the form C<< <I<number>>[m][s][t] >>, where
1344C<I<number>> is the file descriptor number you want to write to (2 is
7916a455
JC
1345default), and the combination of letters specifies that you want
1346information about (m)emory and/or (s)v, optionally with
f4750dab
TC
1347(t)imestamps. For example, C<PERL_MEM_LOG=1mst> logs all
1348information to stdout. You can write to other opened file descriptors
1349in a variety of ways:
9aa9f499 1350
f4750dab 1351 $ 3>foo3 PERL_MEM_LOG=3m perl ...
9aa9f499 1352
3d0ae7ba 1353=item PERL_ROOT (specific to the VMS port)
d74e8afc 1354X<PERL_ROOT>
3d0ae7ba 1355
f4750dab 1356A translation-concealed rooted logical name that contains Perl and the
3d0ae7ba 1357logical device for the @INC path on VMS only. Other logical names that
f4750dab
TC
1358affect Perl on VMS include PERLSHR, PERL_ENV_TABLES, and
1359SYS$TIMEZONE_DIFFERENTIAL, but are optional and discussed further in
3d0ae7ba
GS
1360L<perlvms> and in F<README.vms> in the Perl source distribution.
1361
4ffa73a3 1362=item PERL_SIGNALS
d74e8afc 1363X<PERL_SIGNALS>
4ffa73a3 1364
f4750dab
TC
1365Available in Perls 5.8.1 and later. If set to C<"unsafe">, the pre-Perl-5.8.0
1366signal behaviour (which is immediate but unsafe) is restored. If set
1367to C<safe>, then safe (but deferred) signals are used. See
1368L<perlipc/"Deferred Signals (Safe Signals)">.
4ffa73a3 1369
a05d7ebb 1370=item PERL_UNICODE
d74e8afc 1371X<PERL_UNICODE>
acae81db 1372
bf61ac64 1373Equivalent to the B<-C> command-line switch. Note that this is not
ac036724 1374a boolean variable. Setting this to C<"1"> is not the right way to
5b4f334e 1375"enable Unicode" (whatever that would mean). You can use C<"0"> to
e654d908 1376"disable Unicode", though (or alternatively unset PERL_UNICODE in
f4750dab 1377your shell before starting Perl). See the description of the B<-C>
e654d908 1378switch for more information.
acae81db 1379
3d0ae7ba 1380=item SYS$LOGIN (specific to the VMS port)
d74e8afc 1381X<SYS$LOGIN>
3d0ae7ba
GS
1382
1383Used if chdir has no argument and HOME and LOGDIR are not set.
1384
a0d0e21e 1385=back
1e422769 1386
1387Perl also has environment variables that control how Perl handles data
f4750dab
TC
1388specific to particular natural languages; see L<perllocale>.
1389
1390Perl and its various modules and components, including its test frameworks,
1391may sometimes make use of certain other environment variables. Some of
1392these are specific to a particular platform. Please consult the
1393appropriate module documentation and any documentation for your platform
1394(like L<perlsolaris>, L<perllinux>, L<perlmacosx>, L<perlwin32>, etc) for
1395variables peculiar to those specific situations.
1396
1397Perl makes all environment variables available to the program being
1398executed, and passes these along to any child processes it starts.
1399However, programs running setuid would do well to execute the following
1400lines before doing anything else, just to keep people honest:
1401
1402 $ENV{PATH} = "/bin:/usr/bin"; # or whatever you need
1403 $ENV{SHELL} = "/bin/sh" if exists $ENV{SHELL};
c90c0ff4 1404 delete @ENV{qw(IFS CDPATH ENV BASH_ENV)};