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a0d0e21e LW |
1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | ||
3 | perl - Practical Extraction and Report Language | |
4 | ||
5 | =head1 SYNOPSIS | |
6 | ||
df451b2a RGS |
7 | B<perl> S<[ B<-sTtuUWX> ]> |
8 | S<[ B<-hv> ] [ B<-V>[:I<configvar>] ]> | |
9 | S<[ B<-cw> ] [ B<-d>[B<t>][:I<debugger>] ] [ B<-D>[I<number/list>] ]> | |
10 | S<[ B<-pna> ] [ B<-F>I<pattern> ] [ B<-l>[I<octal>] ] [ B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>] ]> | |
11 | S<[ B<-I>I<dir> ] [ B<-m>[B<->]I<module> ] [ B<-M>[B<->]I<'module...'> ] [ B<-f> ]> | |
df451b2a | 12 | S<[ B<-C [I<number/list>] >]> |
df451b2a RGS |
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> ]...> |
c07a80fd | 17 | |
10151d09 JH |
18 | If you're new to Perl, you should start with L<perlintro>, which is a |
19 | general intro for beginners and provides some background to help you | |
20 | navigate the rest of Perl's extensive documentation. | |
21 | ||
22 | For ease of access, the Perl manual has been split up into several sections. | |
a0d0e21e | 23 | |
fd7b6849 MJD |
24 | =head2 Overview |
25 | ||
fb9cefb4 | 26 | perl Perl overview (this section) |
10151d09 | 27 | perlintro Perl introduction for beginners |
fb9cefb4 | 28 | perltoc Perl documentation table of contents |
760ac839 | 29 | |
fd7b6849 MJD |
30 | =head2 Tutorials |
31 | ||
7a2320f0 AMS |
32 | perlreftut Perl references short introduction |
33 | perldsc Perl data structures intro | |
34 | perllol Perl data structures: arrays of arrays | |
7a2320f0 | 35 | |
41630250 | 36 | perlrequick Perl regular expressions quick start |
7a2320f0 AMS |
37 | perlretut Perl regular expressions tutorial |
38 | ||
39 | perlboot Perl OO tutorial for beginners | |
40 | perltoot Perl OO tutorial, part 1 | |
41 | perltooc Perl OO tutorial, part 2 | |
42 | perlbot Perl OO tricks and examples | |
43 | ||
da096611 RGS |
44 | perlperf Perl Performance and Optimization Techniques |
45 | ||
7a2320f0 AMS |
46 | perlstyle Perl style guide |
47 | ||
41630250 | 48 | perlcheat Perl cheat sheet |
7a2320f0 AMS |
49 | perltrap Perl traps for the unwary |
50 | perldebtut Perl debugging tutorial | |
51 | ||
fd7b6849 MJD |
52 | perlfaq Perl frequently asked questions |
53 | perlfaq1 General Questions About Perl | |
54 | perlfaq2 Obtaining and Learning about Perl | |
55 | perlfaq3 Programming Tools | |
56 | perlfaq4 Data Manipulation | |
57 | perlfaq5 Files and Formats | |
58 | perlfaq6 Regexes | |
59 | perlfaq7 Perl Language Issues | |
60 | perlfaq8 System Interaction | |
61 | perlfaq9 Networking | |
0f542199 | 62 | |
fd7b6849 | 63 | =head2 Reference Manual |
413510b3 | 64 | |
fb9cefb4 | 65 | perlsyn Perl syntax |
4755096e | 66 | perldata Perl data structures |
fb9cefb4 | 67 | perlop Perl operators and precedence |
c2e66d9e | 68 | perlsub Perl subroutines |
fd7b6849 | 69 | perlfunc Perl built-in functions |
413510b3 | 70 | perlopentut Perl open() tutorial |
41630250 | 71 | perlpacktut Perl pack() and unpack() tutorial |
c2e66d9e | 72 | perlpod Perl plain old documentation |
41630250 | 73 | perlpodspec Perl plain old documentation format specification |
c2e66d9e GS |
74 | perlrun Perl execution and options |
75 | perldiag Perl diagnostic messages | |
41630250 | 76 | perllexwarn Perl warnings and their control |
4755096e | 77 | perldebug Perl debugging |
fb9cefb4 | 78 | perlvar Perl predefined variables |
4755096e | 79 | perlre Perl regular expressions, the rest of the story |
8a118206 RGS |
80 | perlrebackslash Perl regular expression backslash sequences |
81 | perlrecharclass Perl regular expression character classes | |
30487ceb | 82 | perlreref Perl regular expressions quick reference |
d396a558 | 83 | perlref Perl references, the rest of the story |
fb9cefb4 | 84 | perlform Perl formats |
d396a558 | 85 | perlobj Perl objects |
d396a558 | 86 | perltie Perl objects hidden behind simple variables |
fd7b6849 | 87 | perldbmfilter Perl DBM filters |
760ac839 | 88 | |
c2e66d9e GS |
89 | perlipc Perl interprocess communication |
90 | perlfork Perl fork() information | |
91 | perlnumber Perl number semantics | |
53d7eaa8 | 92 | |
c2e66d9e GS |
93 | perlthrtut Perl threads tutorial |
94 | ||
95 | perlport Perl portability guide | |
d396a558 | 96 | perllocale Perl locale support |
07fcf8ff | 97 | perluniintro Perl Unicode introduction |
41630250 | 98 | perlunicode Perl Unicode support |
3426ea3d | 99 | perlunifaq Perl Unicode FAQ |
e06a4ec4 | 100 | perluniprops Complete index of Unicode Version 5.1.0 properties |
aadaa455 | 101 | perlunitut Perl Unicode tutorial |
d396a558 | 102 | perlebcdic Considerations for running Perl on EBCDIC platforms |
c2e66d9e | 103 | |
d396a558 | 104 | perlsec Perl security |
4755096e | 105 | |
c2e66d9e | 106 | perlmod Perl modules: how they work |
35bf961c JH |
107 | perlmodlib Perl modules: how to write and use |
108 | perlmodstyle Perl modules: how to write modules with style | |
fd7b6849 | 109 | perlmodinstall Perl modules: how to install from CPAN |
c2e66d9e | 110 | perlnewmod Perl modules: preparing a new module for distribution |
a550ee30 | 111 | perlpragma Perl modules: writing a user pragma |
760ac839 | 112 | |
fd7b6849 | 113 | perlutil utilities packaged with the Perl distribution |
760ac839 | 114 | |
41630250 | 115 | perlcompile Perl compiler suite intro |
760ac839 | 116 | |
fd7b6849 MJD |
117 | perlfilter Perl source filters |
118 | ||
97a1d740 YST |
119 | perlglossary Perl Glossary |
120 | ||
fd7b6849 MJD |
121 | =head2 Internals and C Language Interface |
122 | ||
fb9cefb4 | 123 | perlembed Perl ways to embed perl in your C or C++ application |
41630250 | 124 | perldebguts Perl debugging guts and tips |
fb9cefb4 | 125 | perlxstut Perl XS tutorial |
4755096e | 126 | perlxs Perl XS application programming interface |
f40a6c71 | 127 | perlclib Internal replacements for standard C library functions |
fb9cefb4 GS |
128 | perlguts Perl internal functions for those doing extensions |
129 | perlcall Perl calling conventions from C | |
15932acc | 130 | perlmroapi Perl method resolution plugin interface |
108003db | 131 | perlreapi Perl regular expression plugin interface |
b23a565d | 132 | perlreguts Perl regular expression engine internals |
fd7b6849 | 133 | |
954c1994 GS |
134 | perlapi Perl API listing (autogenerated) |
135 | perlintern Perl internal functions (autogenerated) | |
dc5c060f | 136 | perliol C API for Perl's implementation of IO in Layers |
4755096e | 137 | perlapio Perl internal IO abstraction interface |
fd7b6849 | 138 | |
e8cd7eae | 139 | perlhack Perl hackers guide |
cb8a010e | 140 | perlpolicy Perl development policies |
00f54a07 | 141 | perlrepository Perl source repository |
4755096e | 142 | |
fd7b6849 MJD |
143 | =head2 Miscellaneous |
144 | ||
145 | perlbook Perl book information | |
cbd87e7e | 146 | perlcommunity Perl community information |
fd7b6849 MJD |
147 | perltodo Perl things to do |
148 | ||
2a551100 JH |
149 | perldoc Look up Perl documentation in Pod format |
150 | ||
fb9cefb4 | 151 | perlhist Perl history records |
2bc3a088 | 152 | perl5120delta Perl changes in version 5.12.0 |
4755096e | 153 | perldelta Perl changes since previous version |
3be84f1f | 154 | perl5114delta Perl changes in version 5.11.4 |
e06a4ec4 | 155 | perl5113delta Perl changes in version 5.11.3 |
2e8102e6 | 156 | perl5112delta Perl changes in version 5.11.2 |
d5114285 | 157 | perl5111delta Perl changes in version 5.11.1 |
11545435 | 158 | perl5110delta Perl changes in version 5.11.0 |
7cdf958d | 159 | perl5101delta Perl changes in version 5.10.1 |
7120b314 | 160 | perl5100delta Perl changes in version 5.10.0 |
cf6c151c | 161 | perl595delta Perl changes in version 5.9.5 |
f6eae373 | 162 | perl594delta Perl changes in version 5.9.4 |
6c7deadb | 163 | perl593delta Perl changes in version 5.9.3 |
496c75d0 | 164 | perl592delta Perl changes in version 5.9.2 |
e0eb806d | 165 | perl591delta Perl changes in version 5.9.1 |
1400179b | 166 | perl590delta Perl changes in version 5.9.0 |
fc5be808 | 167 | perl589delta Perl changes in version 5.8.9 |
c11a53c6 | 168 | perl588delta Perl changes in version 5.8.8 |
315ba985 | 169 | perl587delta Perl changes in version 5.8.7 |
e4bb216d | 170 | perl586delta Perl changes in version 5.8.6 |
07e9b5fe | 171 | perl585delta Perl changes in version 5.8.5 |
5f15c94e | 172 | perl584delta Perl changes in version 5.8.4 |
2e038148 NC |
173 | perl583delta Perl changes in version 5.8.3 |
174 | perl582delta Perl changes in version 5.8.2 | |
b6235c4f | 175 | perl581delta Perl changes in version 5.8.1 |
2e038148 | 176 | perl58delta Perl changes in version 5.8.0 |
77b096b5 | 177 | perl573delta Perl changes in version 5.7.3 |
245d750e | 178 | perl572delta Perl changes in version 5.7.2 |
1db9e106 JH |
179 | perl571delta Perl changes in version 5.7.1 |
180 | perl570delta Perl changes in version 5.7.0 | |
493a87da | 181 | perl561delta Perl changes in version 5.6.1 |
41630250 | 182 | perl56delta Perl changes in version 5.6 |
4755096e GS |
183 | perl5005delta Perl changes in version 5.005 |
184 | perl5004delta Perl changes in version 5.004 | |
d516a115 | 185 | |
2a551100 JH |
186 | perlartistic Perl Artistic License |
187 | perlgpl GNU General Public License | |
188 | ||
d8416318 JH |
189 | =head2 Language-Specific |
190 | ||
191 | perlcn Perl for Simplified Chinese (in EUC-CN) | |
192 | perljp Perl for Japanese (in EUC-JP) | |
193 | perlko Perl for Korean (in EUC-KR) | |
194 | perltw Perl for Traditional Chinese (in Big5) | |
195 | ||
fd7b6849 MJD |
196 | =head2 Platform-Specific |
197 | ||
37d4d706 | 198 | perlaix Perl notes for AIX |
a83b6f46 JH |
199 | perlamiga Perl notes for AmigaOS |
200 | perlapollo Perl notes for Apollo DomainOS | |
201 | perlbeos Perl notes for BeOS | |
dc5c060f | 202 | perlbs2000 Perl notes for POSIX-BC BS2000 |
a1f19229 | 203 | perlce Perl notes for WinCE |
49877630 | 204 | perlcygwin Perl notes for Cygwin |
245d750e | 205 | perldgux Perl notes for DG/UX |
49877630 | 206 | perldos Perl notes for DOS |
9a997319 | 207 | perlepoc Perl notes for EPOC |
41630250 | 208 | perlfreebsd Perl notes for FreeBSD |
f6706af3 | 209 | perlhaiku Perl notes for Haiku |
49877630 | 210 | perlhpux Perl notes for HP-UX |
a83b6f46 | 211 | perlhurd Perl notes for Hurd |
469e7be4 | 212 | perlirix Perl notes for Irix |
991e8403 | 213 | perllinux Perl notes for Linux |
26d9b02f | 214 | perlmacos Perl notes for Mac OS (Classic) |
0d53b15f | 215 | perlmacosx Perl notes for Mac OS X |
ab648d5e | 216 | perlmpeix Perl notes for MPE/iX |
41630250 | 217 | perlnetware Perl notes for NetWare |
b0846812 | 218 | perlopenbsd Perl notes for OpenBSD |
49877630 GS |
219 | perlos2 Perl notes for OS/2 |
220 | perlos390 Perl notes for OS/390 | |
522b859a | 221 | perlos400 Perl notes for OS/400 |
a83b6f46 JH |
222 | perlplan9 Perl notes for Plan 9 |
223 | perlqnx Perl notes for QNX | |
2f08ed66 | 224 | perlriscos Perl notes for RISC OS |
d420ca49 | 225 | perlsolaris Perl notes for Solaris |
27da23d5 | 226 | perlsymbian Perl notes for Symbian |
772ff3b9 | 227 | perltru64 Perl notes for Tru64 |
41630250 | 228 | perluts Perl notes for UTS |
cbe1151c | 229 | perlvmesa Perl notes for VM/ESA |
49877630 | 230 | perlvms Perl notes for VMS |
9a997319 | 231 | perlvos Perl notes for Stratus VOS |
49877630 GS |
232 | perlwin32 Perl notes for Windows |
233 | ||
a0d0e21e | 234 | |
19799a22 | 235 | By default, the manpages listed above are installed in the |
fc952dec CS |
236 | F</usr/local/man/> directory. |
237 | ||
238 | Extensive additional documentation for Perl modules is available. The | |
239 | default configuration for perl will place this additional documentation | |
240 | in the F</usr/local/lib/perl5/man> directory (or else in the F<man> | |
241 | subdirectory of the Perl library directory). Some of this additional | |
242 | documentation is distributed standard with Perl, but you'll also find | |
243 | documentation for third-party modules there. | |
244 | ||
245 | You should be able to view Perl's documentation with your man(1) | |
246 | program by including the proper directories in the appropriate start-up | |
247 | files, or in the MANPATH environment variable. To find out where the | |
248 | configuration has installed the manpages, type: | |
16d20bd9 | 249 | |
760ac839 | 250 | perl -V:man.dir |
16d20bd9 | 251 | |
fc952dec CS |
252 | If the directories have a common stem, such as F</usr/local/man/man1> |
253 | and F</usr/local/man/man3>, you need only to add that stem | |
254 | (F</usr/local/man>) to your man(1) configuration files or your MANPATH | |
255 | environment variable. If they do not share a stem, you'll have to add | |
256 | both stems. | |
16d20bd9 AD |
257 | |
258 | If that doesn't work for some reason, you can still use the | |
4633a7c4 LW |
259 | supplied F<perldoc> script to view module information. You might |
260 | also look into getting a replacement man program. | |
16d20bd9 | 261 | |
a0d0e21e LW |
262 | If something strange has gone wrong with your program and you're not |
263 | sure where you should look for help, try the B<-w> switch first. It | |
264 | will often point out exactly where the trouble is. | |
265 | ||
266 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
267 | ||
5f05dabc | 268 | Perl is a language optimized for scanning arbitrary |
a0d0e21e LW |
269 | text files, extracting information from those text files, and printing |
270 | reports based on that information. It's also a good language for many | |
271 | system management tasks. The language is intended to be practical | |
272 | (easy to use, efficient, complete) rather than beautiful (tiny, | |
94d58c47 | 273 | elegant, minimal). |
274 | ||
aa689395 | 275 | Perl combines (in the author's opinion, anyway) some of the best |
276 | features of C, B<sed>, B<awk>, and B<sh>, so people familiar with | |
277 | those languages should have little difficulty with it. (Language | |
278 | historians will also note some vestiges of B<csh>, Pascal, and even | |
14218588 | 279 | BASIC-PLUS.) Expression syntax corresponds closely to C |
a0d0e21e LW |
280 | expression syntax. Unlike most Unix utilities, Perl does not |
281 | arbitrarily limit the size of your data--if you've got the memory, | |
aa689395 | 282 | Perl can slurp in your whole file as a single string. Recursion is of |
0f31cffe | 283 | unlimited depth. And the tables used by hashes (sometimes called |
aa689395 | 284 | "associative arrays") grow as necessary to prevent degraded |
0f31cffe | 285 | performance. Perl can use sophisticated pattern matching techniques to |
14218588 | 286 | scan large amounts of data quickly. Although optimized for |
aa689395 | 287 | scanning text, Perl can also deal with binary data, and can make dbm |
288 | files look like hashes. Setuid Perl scripts are safer than C programs | |
14218588 | 289 | through a dataflow tracing mechanism that prevents many stupid |
aa689395 | 290 | security holes. |
291 | ||
292 | If you have a problem that would ordinarily use B<sed> or B<awk> or | |
293 | B<sh>, but it exceeds their capabilities or must run a little faster, | |
294 | and you don't want to write the silly thing in C, then Perl may be for | |
295 | you. There are also translators to turn your B<sed> and B<awk> | |
296 | scripts into Perl scripts. | |
a0d0e21e LW |
297 | |
298 | But wait, there's more... | |
299 | ||
19799a22 GS |
300 | Begun in 1993 (see L<perlhist>), Perl version 5 is nearly a complete |
301 | rewrite that provides the following additional benefits: | |
a0d0e21e | 302 | |
13a2d996 | 303 | =over 4 |
a0d0e21e | 304 | |
551e1d92 RB |
305 | =item * |
306 | ||
307 | modularity and reusability using innumerable modules | |
a0d0e21e | 308 | |
19799a22 | 309 | Described in L<perlmod>, L<perlmodlib>, and L<perlmodinstall>. |
a0d0e21e | 310 | |
551e1d92 RB |
311 | =item * |
312 | ||
313 | embeddable and extensible | |
a0d0e21e | 314 | |
19799a22 GS |
315 | Described in L<perlembed>, L<perlxstut>, L<perlxs>, L<perlcall>, |
316 | L<perlguts>, and L<xsubpp>. | |
a0d0e21e | 317 | |
551e1d92 RB |
318 | =item * |
319 | ||
63de3cb2 JH |
320 | roll-your-own magic variables (including multiple simultaneous DBM |
321 | implementations) | |
a0d0e21e | 322 | |
19799a22 | 323 | Described in L<perltie> and L<AnyDBM_File>. |
a0d0e21e | 324 | |
551e1d92 RB |
325 | =item * |
326 | ||
327 | subroutines can now be overridden, autoloaded, and prototyped | |
a0d0e21e | 328 | |
19799a22 | 329 | Described in L<perlsub>. |
a0d0e21e | 330 | |
551e1d92 RB |
331 | =item * |
332 | ||
333 | arbitrarily nested data structures and anonymous functions | |
a0d0e21e | 334 | |
19799a22 | 335 | Described in L<perlreftut>, L<perlref>, L<perldsc>, and L<perllol>. |
a0d0e21e | 336 | |
551e1d92 RB |
337 | =item * |
338 | ||
339 | object-oriented programming | |
a0d0e21e | 340 | |
f6b3c421 MJD |
341 | Described in L<perlobj>, L<perlboot>, L<perltoot>, L<perltooc>, |
342 | and L<perlbot>. | |
a0d0e21e | 343 | |
551e1d92 RB |
344 | =item * |
345 | ||
551e1d92 | 346 | support for light-weight processes (threads) |
a0d0e21e | 347 | |
63de3cb2 | 348 | Described in L<perlthrtut> and L<threads>. |
a0d0e21e | 349 | |
551e1d92 RB |
350 | =item * |
351 | ||
63de3cb2 | 352 | support for Unicode, internationalization, and localization |
a0d0e21e | 353 | |
63de3cb2 | 354 | Described in L<perluniintro>, L<perllocale> and L<Locale::Maketext>. |
a0d0e21e | 355 | |
551e1d92 RB |
356 | =item * |
357 | ||
358 | lexical scoping | |
a0d0e21e | 359 | |
19799a22 | 360 | Described in L<perlsub>. |
a0d0e21e | 361 | |
551e1d92 RB |
362 | =item * |
363 | ||
364 | regular expression enhancements | |
a0d0e21e | 365 | |
19799a22 | 366 | Described in L<perlre>, with additional examples in L<perlop>. |
a0d0e21e | 367 | |
551e1d92 RB |
368 | =item * |
369 | ||
370 | enhanced debugger and interactive Perl environment, | |
371 | with integrated editor support | |
a0d0e21e | 372 | |
f6b3c421 | 373 | Described in L<perldebtut>, L<perldebug> and L<perldebguts>. |
a0d0e21e | 374 | |
551e1d92 RB |
375 | =item * |
376 | ||
377 | POSIX 1003.1 compliant library | |
5f05dabc | 378 | |
19799a22 | 379 | Described in L<POSIX>. |
5f05dabc | 380 | |
a0d0e21e LW |
381 | =back |
382 | ||
68dc0745 | 383 | Okay, that's I<definitely> enough hype. |
a0d0e21e | 384 | |
8e465e4e JH |
385 | =head1 AVAILABILITY |
386 | ||
14218588 | 387 | Perl is available for most operating systems, including virtually |
055fd3a9 GS |
388 | all Unix-like platforms. See L<perlport/"Supported Platforms"> |
389 | for a listing. | |
8bc4a6bb | 390 | |
a0d0e21e LW |
391 | =head1 ENVIRONMENT |
392 | ||
1e422769 | 393 | See L<perlrun>. |
a0d0e21e LW |
394 | |
395 | =head1 AUTHOR | |
396 | ||
19799a22 | 397 | Larry Wall <larry@wall.org>, with the help of oodles of other folks. |
a0d0e21e | 398 | |
a99b1639 TP |
399 | If your Perl success stories and testimonials may be of help to others |
400 | who wish to advocate the use of Perl in their applications, | |
401 | or if you wish to simply express your gratitude to Larry and the | |
19799a22 | 402 | Perl developers, please write to perl-thanks@perl.org . |
a99b1639 | 403 | |
a0d0e21e LW |
404 | =head1 FILES |
405 | ||
5f05dabc | 406 | "@INC" locations of perl libraries |
a0d0e21e LW |
407 | |
408 | =head1 SEE ALSO | |
409 | ||
410 | a2p awk to perl translator | |
411 | s2p sed to perl translator | |
412 | ||
c5f69108 | 413 | http://www.perl.org/ the Perl homepage |
da9e6348 | 414 | http://www.perl.com/ Perl articles (O'Reilly) |
f6b3c421 | 415 | http://www.cpan.org/ the Comprehensive Perl Archive |
c5f69108 | 416 | http://www.pm.org/ the Perl Mongers |
19799a22 | 417 | |
a0d0e21e LW |
418 | =head1 DIAGNOSTICS |
419 | ||
9f1b1f2d GS |
420 | The C<use warnings> pragma (and the B<-w> switch) produces some |
421 | lovely diagnostics. | |
a0d0e21e | 422 | |
5a964f20 TC |
423 | See L<perldiag> for explanations of all Perl's diagnostics. The C<use |
424 | diagnostics> pragma automatically turns Perl's normally terse warnings | |
425 | and errors into these longer forms. | |
a0d0e21e LW |
426 | |
427 | Compilation errors will tell you the line number of the error, with an | |
428 | indication of the next token or token type that was to be examined. | |
14218588 | 429 | (In a script passed to Perl via B<-e> switches, each |
a0d0e21e LW |
430 | B<-e> is counted as one line.) |
431 | ||
432 | Setuid scripts have additional constraints that can produce error | |
433 | messages such as "Insecure dependency". See L<perlsec>. | |
434 | ||
435 | Did we mention that you should definitely consider using the B<-w> | |
436 | switch? | |
437 | ||
438 | =head1 BUGS | |
439 | ||
440 | The B<-w> switch is not mandatory. | |
441 | ||
442 | Perl is at the mercy of your machine's definitions of various | |
1b3f7d21 CS |
443 | operations such as type casting, atof(), and floating-point |
444 | output with sprintf(). | |
a0d0e21e | 445 | |
748a9306 | 446 | If your stdio requires a seek or eof between reads and writes on a |
a0d0e21e LW |
447 | particular stream, so does Perl. (This doesn't apply to sysread() |
448 | and syswrite().) | |
449 | ||
450 | While none of the built-in data types have any arbitrary size limits | |
451 | (apart from memory size), there are still a few arbitrary limits: a | |
a30ac152 GS |
452 | given variable name may not be longer than 251 characters. Line numbers |
453 | displayed by diagnostics are internally stored as short integers, | |
454 | so they are limited to a maximum of 65535 (higher numbers usually being | |
455 | affected by wraparound). | |
a0d0e21e | 456 | |
b0607b7a | 457 | You may mail your bug reports (be sure to include full configuration |
19799a22 | 458 | information as output by the myconfig program in the perl source |
7f2de2d2 | 459 | tree, or by C<perl -V>) to perlbug@perl.org . If you've succeeded |
055fd3a9 | 460 | in compiling perl, the B<perlbug> script in the F<utils/> subdirectory |
19799a22 | 461 | can be used to help mail in a bug report. |
4633a7c4 | 462 | |
a0d0e21e LW |
463 | Perl actually stands for Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister, but |
464 | don't tell anyone I said that. | |
465 | ||
466 | =head1 NOTES | |
467 | ||
468 | The Perl motto is "There's more than one way to do it." Divining | |
469 | how many more is left as an exercise to the reader. | |
470 | ||
4633a7c4 | 471 | The three principal virtues of a programmer are Laziness, |
a0d0e21e | 472 | Impatience, and Hubris. See the Camel Book for why. |
16d20bd9 | 473 |