S<[ B<-cw> ] [ B<-d>[B<t>][:I<debugger>] ] [ B<-D>[I<number/list>] ]>
S<[ B<-pna> ] [ B<-F>I<pattern> ] [ B<-l>[I<octal>] ] [ B<-0>[I<octal/hexadecimal>] ]>
S<[ B<-I>I<dir> ] [ B<-m>[B<->]I<module> ] [ B<-M>[B<->]I<'module...'> ] [ B<-f> ]>
- S<[ B<-A>[I<module>][=I<assertions>] ]>
S<[ B<-C [I<number/list>] >]>
- S<[ B<-P> ]>
S<[ B<-S> ]>
S<[ B<-x>[I<dir>] ]>
S<[ B<-i>[I<extension>] ]>
- S<[ B<-eE> I<'command'> ] [ B<--> ] [ I<programfile> ] [ I<argument> ]...>
+ S<[ [B<-e>|B<-E>] I<'command'> ] [ B<--> ] [ I<programfile> ] [ I<argument> ]...>
=head1 DESCRIPTION
The sequences "-*" and "- " are specifically ignored so that you could,
if you were so inclined, say
- #!/bin/sh -- # -*- perl -*- -p
- eval 'exec perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
- if $running_under_some_shell;
+ #!/bin/sh
+ #! -*-perl-*-
+ eval 'exec perl -x -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}'
+ if 0;
to let Perl see the B<-p> switch.
this means you can no longer tell the difference between an executable
Perl program and a Perl library file.
-=item Macintosh
-
-Under "Classic" MacOS, a perl program will have the appropriate Creator and
-Type, so that double-clicking them will invoke the MacPerl application.
-Under Mac OS X, clickable apps can be made from any C<#!> script using Wil
-Sanchez' DropScript utility: http://www.wsanchez.net/software/ .
-
=item VMS
Put
# MS-DOS, etc.
perl -e "print \"Hello world\n\""
- # Macintosh
- print "Hello world\n"
- (then Run "Myscript" or Shift-Command-R)
-
# VMS
perl -e "print ""Hello world\n"""
when nobody was looking, but just try to find documentation for its
quoting rules.
-Under the Macintosh, it depends which environment you are using. The MacPerl
-shell, or MPW, is much like Unix shells in its support for several
-quoting variants, except that it makes free use of the Macintosh's non-ASCII
-characters as control characters.
-
There is no general solution to all of this. It's just a mess.
=head2 Location of Perl
find . -name '*.orig' -print0 | perl -n0e unlink
The special value 00 will cause Perl to slurp files in paragraph mode.
-The value 0777 will cause Perl to slurp files whole because there is no
-legal byte with that value.
+Any value 0400 or above will cause Perl to slurp files whole, but by convention
+the value 0777 is the one normally used for this purpose.
-If you want to specify any Unicode character, use the hexadecimal
-format: C<-0xHHH...>, where the C<H> are valid hexadecimal digits.
+You can also specify the separator character using hexadecimal notation:
+C<-0xHHH...>, where the C<H> are valid hexadecimal digits. Unlike the octal
+form, this one may be used to specify any Unicode character, even those beyond
+0xFF.
(This means that you cannot use the C<-x> with a directory name that
consists of hexadecimal digits.)
-=item B<-A[I<module>][=I<assertions>]>
-X<-A>
-
-Activates the assertions given after the equal sign as a comma-separated
-list of assertion names or regular expressions. If no assertion name
-is given, activates all assertions.
-
-The module L<assertions::activate> is used by default to activate the
-selected assertions. An alternate module may be specified including
-its name between the switch and the equal sign.
-
-See L<assertions> and L<assertions::activate>.
-
=item B<-a>
X<-a> X<autosplit>
=item B<-C [I<number/list>]>
X<-C>
-The C<-C> flag controls some Unicode of the Perl Unicode features.
+The C<-C> flag controls some of the Perl Unicode features.
As of 5.8.1, the C<-C> can be followed either by a number or a list
of option letters. The letters, their numeric values, and effects
variables (the LC_ALL, LC_TYPE, and LANG, in the order
of decreasing precedence) -- if the variables indicate
UTF-8, then the selected "IOEioA" are in effect
+ a 256 Set ${^UTF8CACHE} to -1, to run the UTF-8 caching code in
+ debugging mode.
+
+=for documenting_the_underdocumented
+perl.h gives W/128 as PERL_UNICODE_WIDESYSCALLS "/* for Sarathy */"
+
+=for todo
+perltodo mentions Unicode in %ENV and filenames. I guess that these will be
+options e and f (or F).
For example, C<-COE> and C<-C6> will both turn on UTF-8-ness on both
STDOUT and STDERR. Repeating letters is just redundant, not cumulative
nor toggling.
The C<io> options mean that any subsequent open() (or similar I/O
-operations) will have the C<:utf8> PerlIO layer implicitly applied
-to them, in other words, UTF-8 is expected from any input stream,
-and UTF-8 is produced to any output stream. This is just the default,
-with explicit layers in open() and with binmode() one can manipulate
-streams as usual.
+operations) in the current file scope will have the C<:utf8> PerlIO layer
+implicitly applied to them, in other words, UTF-8 is expected from any
+input stream, and UTF-8 is produced to any output stream. This is just
+the default, with explicit layers in open() and with binmode() one can
+manipulate streams as usual.
C<-C> on its own (not followed by any number or option list), or the
empty string C<""> for the C<PERL_UNICODE> environment variable, has the
disable all the above Unicode features.
The read-only magic variable C<${^UNICODE}> reflects the numeric value
-of this setting. This is variable is set during Perl startup and is
+of this setting. This variable is set during Perl startup and is
thereafter read-only. If you want runtime effects, use the three-arg
open() (see L<perlfunc/open>), the two-arg binmode() (see L<perlfunc/binmode>),
and the C<open> pragma (see L<open>).
This feature was practically unused, however, and the command line
switch was therefore "recycled".)
+B<Note:> Since perl 5.10.1, if the -C option is used on the #! line, it
+must be specified on the command line as well, since the standard streams
+are already set up at this point in the execution of the perl interpreter.
+You can also use binmode() to set the encoding of an I/O stream.
+
=item B<-c>
X<-c>
causes Perl to check the syntax of the program and then exit without
-executing it. Actually, it I<will> execute C<BEGIN>, C<CHECK>, and
-C<use> blocks, because these are considered as occurring outside the
-execution of your program. C<INIT> and C<END> blocks, however, will
-be skipped.
+executing it. Actually, it I<will> execute C<BEGIN>, C<UNITCHECK>,
+C<CHECK>, and C<use> blocks, because these are considered as occurring
+outside the execution of your program. C<INIT> and C<END> blocks,
+however, will be skipped.
=item B<-d>
X<-d> X<-dt>
8 t Trace execution
16 o Method and overloading resolution
32 c String/numeric conversions
- 64 P Print profiling info, preprocessor command for -P, source file input state
- 128 m Memory allocation
+ 64 P Print profiling info, source file input state
+ 128 m Memory and SV allocation
256 f Format processing
512 r Regular expression parsing and execution
1024 x Syntax tree dump
2048 u Tainting checks
- 4096 (Obsolete, previously used for LEAKTEST)
+ 4096 U Unofficial, User hacking (reserved for private, unreleased use)
8192 H Hash dump -- usurps values()
16384 X Scratchpad allocation
32768 D Cleaning up
- 65536 S Thread synchronization
131072 T Tokenising
262144 R Include reference counts of dumped variables (eg when using -Ds)
- 524288 J Do not s,t,P-debug (Jump over) opcodes within package DB
+ 524288 J show s,t,P-debug (don't Jump over) on opcodes within package DB
1048576 v Verbose: use in conjunction with other flags
2097152 C Copy On Write
4194304 A Consistency checks on internal structures
8388608 q quiet - currently only suppresses the "EXECUTING" message
+ 16777216 M trace smart match resolution
+ 33554432 B dump suBroutine definitions, including special Blocks like BEGIN
All these flags require B<-DDEBUGGING> when you compile the Perl
-executable (but see L<Devel::Peek>, L<re> which may change this).
+executable (but see C<:opd> in L<Devel::Peek> or L<re/'debug' mode>
+which may change this).
See the F<INSTALL> file in the Perl source distribution
for how to do this. This flag is automatically set if you include B<-g>
option when C<Configure> asks you about optimizer/debugger flags.
optional features (in the main compilation unit). See L<feature>.
=item B<-f>
-X<-f>
+X<-f> X<sitecustomize> X<sitecustomize.pl>
Disable executing F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup.
Perl can be built so that it by default will try to execute
-F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup. This is a hook that
-allows the sysadmin to customize how perl behaves. It can for
-instance be used to add entries to the @INC array to make perl find
-modules in non-standard locations.
+F<$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl> at startup (in a BEGIN block).
+This is a hook that allows the sysadmin to customize how perl behaves.
+It can for instance be used to add entries to the @INC array to make perl
+find modules in non-standard locations.
+
+Perl actually inserts the following code:
+
+ BEGIN {
+ do { local $!; -f "$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl"; }
+ && do "$Config{sitelib}/sitecustomize.pl";
+ }
+
+Since it is an actual C<do> (not a C<require>), F<sitecustomize.pl>
+doesn't need to return a true value. The code is run in package C<main>,
+in its own lexical scope. However, if the script dies, C<$@> will not
+be set.
+
+The value of C<$Config{sitelib}> is also determined in C code and not
+read from C<Config.pm>, which is not loaded.
+
+The code is executed B<very> early. For example, any changes made to
+C<@INC> will show up in the output of `perl -V`. Of course, C<END>
+blocks will be likewise executed very late.
+
+To determine at runtime if this capability has been compiled in your
+perl, you can check the value of C<$Config{usesitecustomize}>.
=item B<-F>I<pattern>
X<-F>
$ perl -pi~ -e 's/foo/bar/' file1 file2 file3...
Note that because B<-i> renames or deletes the original file before
-creating a new file of the same name, UNIX-style soft and hard links will
+creating a new file of the same name, Unix-style soft and hard links will
not be preserved.
Finally, the B<-i> switch does not impede execution when no
X<-I> X<@INC>
Directories specified by B<-I> are prepended to the search path for
-modules (C<@INC>), and also tells the C preprocessor where to search for
-include files. The C preprocessor is invoked with B<-P>; by default it
-searches /usr/include and /usr/lib/perl.
+modules (C<@INC>).
=item B<-l>[I<octnum>]
X<-l> X<$/> X<$\>
lines printed. If a file named by an argument cannot be opened for
some reason, Perl warns you about it and moves on to the next file.
+Also note that C<< <> >> passes command line arguments to
+L<perlfunc/open>, which doesn't necessarily interpret them as file names.
+See L<perlop> for possible security implications.
+
Here is an efficient way to delete all files that haven't been modified for
at least a week:
C<BEGIN> and C<END> blocks may be used to capture control before or after
the implicit loop, just as in B<awk>.
-=item B<-P>
-X<-P>
-
-B<NOTE: Use of -P is strongly discouraged because of its inherent
-problems, including poor portability.>
-
-This option causes your program to be run through the C preprocessor before
-compilation by Perl. Because both comments and B<cpp> directives begin
-with the # character, you should avoid starting comments with any words
-recognized by the C preprocessor such as C<"if">, C<"else">, or C<"define">.
-
-If you're considering using C<-P>, you might also want to look at the
-Filter::cpp module from CPAN.
-
-The problems of -P include, but are not limited to:
-
-=over 10
-
-=item *
-
-The C<#!> line is stripped, so any switches there don't apply.
-
-=item *
-
-A C<-P> on a C<#!> line doesn't work.
-
-=item *
-
-B<All> lines that begin with (whitespace and) a C<#> but
-do not look like cpp commands, are stripped, including anything
-inside Perl strings, regular expressions, and here-docs .
-
-=item *
-
-In some platforms the C preprocessor knows too much: it knows about
-the C++ -style until-end-of-line comments starting with C<"//">.
-This will cause problems with common Perl constructs like
-
- s/foo//;
-
-because after -P this will became illegal code
-
- s/foo
-
-The workaround is to use some other quoting separator than C<"/">,
-like for example C<"!">:
-
- s!foo!!;
-
-
-
-=item *
-
-It requires not only a working C preprocessor but also a working
-F<sed>. If not on UNIX, you are probably out of luck on this.
-
-=item *
-
-Script line numbers are not preserved.
-
-=item *
-
-The C<-x> does not work with C<-P>.
-
-=back
-
=item B<-s>
X<-s>
operator instead. Note: availability of B<undump> is platform
specific and may not be available for a specific port of Perl.
-This switch has been superseded in favor of the new Perl code
-generator backends to the compiler. See L<B> and L<B::Bytecode>
-for details.
-
=item B<-U>
X<-U>
=item B<-x>
X<-x>
-=item B<-x> I<directory>
+=item B<-x>I<directory>
tells Perl that the program is embedded in a larger chunk of unrelated
ASCII text, such as in a mail message. Leading garbage will be
discarded until the first line that starts with #! and contains the
string "perl". Any meaningful switches on that line will be applied.
+
+All references to line numbers by the program (warnings, errors, ...)
+will treat the #! line as the first line.
+Thus a warning on the 2nd line of the program (which is on the 100th
+line in the file) will be reported as line 2, and not as line 100.
+This can be overridden by using the #line directive.
+(See L<perlsyn/"Plain-Old-Comments-(Not!)">)
+
If a directory name is specified, Perl will switch to that directory
before running the program. The B<-x> switch controls only the
disposal of leading garbage. The program must be terminated with
can process any or all of the trailing garbage via the DATA filehandle
if desired).
+The directory, if specified, must appear immediately following the B<-x>
+with no intervening whitespace.
+
=back
=head1 ENVIRONMENT
A list of directories in which to look for Perl library
files before looking in the standard library and the current
directory. Any architecture-specific directories under the specified
-locations are automatically included if they exist. If PERL5LIB is not
-defined, PERLLIB is used. Directories are separated (like in PATH) by
-a colon on unixish platforms and by a semicolon on Windows (the proper
-path separator being given by the command C<perl -V:path_sep>).
+locations are automatically included if they exist (this lookup
+being done at interpreter startup time.)
+
+If PERL5LIB is not defined, PERLLIB is used. Directories are separated
+(like in PATH) by a colon on Unixish platforms and by a semicolon on
+Windows (the proper path separator being given by the command C<perl
+-V:path_sep>).
When running taint checks (either because the program was running setuid
-or setgid, or the B<-T> switch was used), neither variable is used.
-The program should instead say:
+or setgid, or the B<-T> or B<-t> switch was specified), neither variable
+is used. The program should instead say:
use lib "/my/directory";
X<PERL5OPT>
Command-line options (switches). Switches in this variable are taken
-as if they were on every Perl command line. Only the B<-[CDIMUdmtwA]>
+as if they were on every Perl command line. Only the B<-[CDIMUdmtwW]>
switches are allowed. When running taint checks (because the program
was running setuid or setgid, or the B<-T> switch was used), this
variable is ignored. If PERL5OPT begins with B<-T>, tainting will be
layer specification strings (which is also used to decode the PERLIO
environment variable) treats the colon as a separator.
-An unset or empty PERLIO is equivalent to C<:stdio>.
+An unset or empty PERLIO is equivalent to the default set of layers for
+your platform, for example C<:unix:perlio> on Unix-like systems
+and C<:unix:crlf> on Windows and other DOS-like systems.
The list becomes the default for I<all> perl's IO. Consequently only built-in
layers can appear in this list, as external layers (such as :encoding()) need
A pseudolayer that turns on a flag on the layer below to tell perl
that output should be in utf8 and that input should be regarded as
-already in utf8 form. May be useful in PERLIO environment
-variable to make UTF-8 the default. (To turn off that behaviour
-use C<:bytes> layer.)
+already in valid utf8 form. It does not check for validity and as such
+should be handled with caution for input. Generally C<:encoding(utf8)> is
+the best option when reading UTF-8 encoded data.
=item :win32
X<:win32>
On all platforms the default set of layers should give acceptable results.
-For UNIX platforms that will equivalent of "unix perlio" or "stdio".
+For Unix platforms that will equivalent of "unix perlio" or "stdio".
Configure is setup to prefer "stdio" implementation if system's library
provides for fast access to the buffer, otherwise it uses the "unix perlio"
implementation.
C<win32> layer which is expected to be enhanced and should eventually be
the default under Win32.
+The PERLIO environment variable is completely ignored when perl
+is run in taint mode.
+
=item PERLIO_DEBUG
X<PERLIO_DEBUG>
If set to the name of a file or device then certain operations of PerlIO
sub-system will be logged to that file (opened as append). Typical uses
-are UNIX:
+are Unix:
PERLIO_DEBUG=/dev/tty perl script ...
files before looking in the standard library and the current directory.
If PERL5LIB is defined, PERLLIB is not used.
+The PERLLIB environment variable is completely ignored when perl
+is run in taint mode.
+
=item PERL5DB
X<PERL5DB>
BEGIN { require 'perl5db.pl' }
+The PERL5DB environment variable only used when perl is started with
+a bare B<-d> switch.
+
=item PERL5DB_THREADED
X<PERL5DB_THREADED>
interfere with the proper functioning of other programs (which usually
look in COMSPEC to find a shell fit for interactive use).
+Before Perl 5.10.0 and 5.8.8, PERL5SHELL was not taint checked
+when running external commands. It is recommended that
+you explicitly set (or delete) C<$ENV{PERL5SHELL}> when running
+in taint mode under Windows.
+
=item PERL_ALLOW_NON_IFS_LSP (specific to the Win32 port)
X<PERL_ALLOW_NON_IFS_LSP>
=item PERL_HASH_SEED
X<PERL_HASH_SEED>
-(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Used to randomise Perl's internal hash function.
+(Since Perl 5.8.1.) Used to randomise perl's internal hash function.
To emulate the pre-5.8.1 behaviour, set to an integer (zero means
exactly the same order as 5.8.0). "Pre-5.8.1" means, among other
-things, that hash keys will be ordered the same between different runs
-of Perl.
+things, that hash keys will always have the same ordering between
+different runs of perl.
+
+Most hashes return elements in the same order as Perl 5.8.0 by default.
+On a hash by hash basis, if pathological data is detected during a hash
+key insertion, then that hash will switch to an alternative random hash
+seed.
The default behaviour is to randomise unless the PERL_HASH_SEED is set.
-If Perl has been compiled with C<-DUSE_HASH_SEED_EXPLICIT>, the default
+If perl has been compiled with C<-DUSE_HASH_SEED_EXPLICIT>, the default
behaviour is B<not> to randomise unless the PERL_HASH_SEED is set.
-If PERL_HASH_SEED is unset or set to a non-numeric string, Perl uses
+If PERL_HASH_SEED is unset or set to a non-numeric string, perl uses
the pseudorandom seed supplied by the operating system and libraries.
-This means that each different run of Perl will have a different
-ordering of the results of keys(), values(), and each().
B<Please note that the hash seed is sensitive information>. Hashes are
randomized to protect against local and remote attacks against Perl
B<Do not disclose the hash seed> to people who don't need to know it.
See also hash_seed() of L<Hash::Util>.
+=item PERL_MEM_LOG
+X<PERL_MEM_LOG>
+
+If your perl was configured with C<-Accflags=-DPERL_MEM_LOG>, setting
+the environment variable C<PERL_MEM_LOG> enables logging debug
+messages. The value has the form C<< <number>[m][s][t] >>, where
+C<number> is the filedescriptor number you want to write to (2 is
+default), and the combination of letters specifies that you want
+information about (m)emory and/or (s)v, optionally with
+(t)imestamps. For example C<PERL_MEM_LOG=1mst> will log all
+information to stdout. You can write to other opened filedescriptors
+too, in a variety of ways;
+
+ bash$ 3>foo3 PERL_MEM_LOG=3m perl ...
+
=item PERL_ROOT (specific to the VMS port)
X<PERL_ROOT>
X<PERL_UNICODE>
Equivalent to the B<-C> command-line switch. Note that this is not
-a boolean variable-- setting this to C<"1"> is not the right way to
+a boolean variable. Setting this to C<"1"> is not the right way to
"enable Unicode" (whatever that would mean). You can use C<"0"> to
"disable Unicode", though (or alternatively unset PERL_UNICODE in
your shell before starting Perl). See the description of the C<-C>