Computing Resources in ESCI
Unix Software: Programming: Perl
Description
Perl (the Practical Extraction and Reporting
Language) is an interpreted, fully-functional programming
language. It one of the most commonly used of the "scripting
languages", so-called because it is most often used to automate
everyday tasks. It is often used to create dynamic web page
content through the CGI-BIN interface.
Commands
In order to run a Perl program, either type perl
filename where filename is the name of the program you
want to run, or use the following procedure to make it
executable on it's own:
- Make sure the line
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
appears as the first line of the file.
- Turn on the execution permission bit of the file with chmod. In most cases,
the correct thing to do is
chmod 744
filename; this will make the file executable and
writable only by yourself, while leaving it readable to the
outside world.
Documentation
Perl manpage - useful mainly
to describe the perl command's options.
The Perl Mongers and Perl.com are two great websites
for Perl resources.
Perl FAQs
The Perl Manual
In addition to these online resources, the system
administrator, Mary Cochran (mcc@rice.edu), has several Perl
books available, including "Learning Perl", by Randal
L. Schwartz (O'Reilly and Assoc.), an excellent introduction to
the language.
See Also
Python - another full-featured,
interpreted scripting language.
TCL/TK - same as above.
The Unix Shells - for simple jobs, a
shell script is sometimes a better solution.
Questions? Comments? Please contact Mary Cochran.