# phpman > man > perlbook(1) [PERLBOOK(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PERLBOOK/1/markdown) Perl Programmers Reference Guide [PERLBOOK(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PERLBOOK/1/markdown) ## NAME perlbook - Books about and related to Perl ## DESCRIPTION There are many books on Perl and Perl-related. A few of these are good, some are OK, but many aren't worth your money. There is a list of these books, some with extensive reviews, at <> . We list some of the books here, and while listing a book implies our endorsement, don't think that not including a book means anything. Most of these books are available online through Safari Books Online ( <> ). ### The most popular books The major reference book on Perl, written by the creator of Perl, is _Programming_ _Perl_: _Programming_ _Perl_ (the "Camel Book"): by Tom Christiansen, brian d foy, Larry Wall with Jon Orwant ISBN 978-0-596-00492-7 [4th edition February 2012] ISBN 978-1-4493-9890-3 [ebook] The Ram is a cookbook with hundreds of examples of using Perl to accomplish specific tasks: _The_ _Perl_ _Cookbook_ (the "Ram Book"): by Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington, with Foreword by Larry Wall ISBN 978-0-596-00313-5 [2nd Edition August 2003] ISBN 978-0-596-15888-0 [ebook] If you want to learn the basics of Perl, you might start with the Llama book, which assumes that you already know a little about programming: _Learning_ _Perl_ (the "Llama Book") by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, and brian d foy ISBN 978-1-4493-0358-7 [6th edition June 2011] ISBN 978-1-4493-0458-4 [ebook] The tutorial started in the Llama continues in the Alpaca, which introduces the intermediate features of references, data structures, object-oriented programming, and modules: _Intermediate_ _Perl_ (the "Alpaca Book") by Randal L. Schwartz and brian d foy, with Tom Phoenix foreword by Damian Conway ISBN 978-1-4493-9309-0 [2nd edition August 2012] ISBN 978-1-4493-0459-1 [ebook] ### References You might want to keep these desktop references close by your keyboard: _Perl_ _5_ _Pocket_ _Reference_ by Johan Vromans ISBN 978-1-4493-0370-9 [5th edition July 2011] ISBN 978-1-4493-0813-1 [ebook] _Perl_ _Debugger_ _Pocket_ _Reference_ by Richard Foley ISBN 978-0-596-00503-0 [1st edition January 2004] ISBN 978-0-596-55625-9 [ebook] _Regular_ _Expression_ _Pocket_ _Reference_ by Tony Stubblebine ISBN 978-0-596-51427-3 [2nd edition July 2007] ISBN 978-0-596-55782-9 [ebook] ### Tutorials _Beginning_ _Perl_ (There are 2 books with this title) by Curtis 'Ovid' Poe ISBN 978-1-118-01384-7 by James Lee ISBN 1-59059-391-X [3rd edition April 2010 & ebook] _Learning_ _Perl_ (the "Llama Book") by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix, and brian d foy ISBN 978-1-4493-0358-7 [6th edition June 2011] ISBN 978-1-4493-0458-4 [ebook] _Intermediate_ _Perl_ (the "Alpaca Book") by Randal L. Schwartz and brian d foy, with Tom Phoenix foreword by Damian Conway ISBN 978-1-4493-9309-0 [2nd edition August 2012] ISBN 978-1-4493-0459-1 [ebook] _Mastering_ _Perl_ by brian d foy ISBN 9978-1-4493-9311-3 [2st edition January 2014] ISBN 978-1-4493-6487-8 [ebook] _Effective_ _Perl_ _Programming_ by Joseph N. Hall, Joshua A. McAdams, brian d foy ISBN 0-321-49694-9 [2nd edition 2010] ### Task-Oriented _Writing_ _Perl_ _Modules_ _for_ _CPAN_ by Sam Tregar ISBN 1-59059-018-X [1st edition August 2002 & ebook] _The_ _Perl_ _Cookbook_ by Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington, with Foreword by Larry Wall ISBN 978-0-596-00313-5 [2nd Edition August 2003] ISBN 978-0-596-15888-0 [ebook] _Automating_ _System_ _Administration_ _with_ _Perl_ by David N. Blank-Edelman ISBN 978-0-596-00639-6 [2nd edition May 2009] ISBN 978-0-596-80251-6 [ebook] _Real_ _World_ _SQL_ _Server_ _Administration_ _with_ _Perl_ by Linchi Shea ISBN 1-59059-097-X [1st edition July 2003 & ebook] ### Special Topics _Regular_ _Expressions_ _Cookbook_ by Jan Goyvaerts and Steven Levithan ISBN 978-1-4493-1943-4 [2nd edition August 2012] ISBN 978-1-4493-2747-7 [ebook] _Programming_ _the_ _Perl_ _DBI_ by Tim Bunce and Alligator Descartes ISBN 978-1-56592-699-8 [February 2000] ISBN 978-1-4493-8670-2 [ebook] _Perl_ _Best_ _Practices_ by Damian Conway ISBN 978-0-596-00173-5 [1st edition July 2005] ISBN 978-0-596-15900-9 [ebook] _Higher-Order_ _Perl_ by Mark-Jason Dominus ISBN 1-55860-701-3 [1st edition March 2005] free ebook _Mastering_ _Regular_ _Expressions_ by Jeffrey E. F. Friedl ISBN 978-0-596-52812-6 [3rd edition August 2006] ISBN 978-0-596-55899-4 [ebook] _Network_ _Programming_ _with_ _Perl_ by Lincoln Stein ISBN 0-201-61571-1 [1st edition 2001] _Perl_ _Template_ _Toolkit_ by Darren Chamberlain, Dave Cross, and Andy Wardley ISBN 978-0-596-00476-7 [December 2003] ISBN 978-1-4493-8647-4 [ebook] _Object_ _Oriented_ _Perl_ by Damian Conway with foreword by Randal L. Schwartz ISBN 1-884777-79-1 [1st edition August 1999 & ebook] _Data_ _Munging_ _with_ _Perl_ by Dave Cross ISBN 1-930110-00-6 [1st edition 2001 & ebook] _Mastering_ _Perl/Tk_ by Steve Lidie and Nancy Walsh ISBN 978-1-56592-716-2 [1st edition January 2002] ISBN 978-0-596-10344-6 [ebook] _Extending_ _and_ _Embedding_ _Perl_ by Tim Jenness and Simon Cozens ISBN 1-930110-82-0 [1st edition August 2002 & ebook] _Pro_ _Perl_ _Debugging_ by Richard Foley with Andy Lester ISBN 1-59059-454-1 [1st edition July 2005 & ebook] ### Free (as in beer) books Some of these books are available as free downloads. _Higher-Order_ _Perl_: <> _Modern_ _Perl_: <> ### Other interesting, non-Perl books You might notice several familiar Perl concepts in this collection of ACM columns from Jon Bentley. The similarity to the title of the major Perl book (which came later) is not completely accidental: _Programming_ _Pearls_ by Jon Bentley ISBN 978-0-201-65788-3 [2 edition, October 1999] _More_ _Programming_ _Pearls_ by Jon Bentley ISBN 0-201-11889-0 [January 1988] ### A note on freshness Each version of Perl comes with the documentation that was current at the time of release. This poses a problem for content such as book lists. There are probably very nice books published after this list was included in your Perl release, and you can check the latest released version at <> . Some of the books we've listed appear almost ancient in internet scale, but we've included those books because they still describe the current way of doing things. Not everything in Perl changes every day. Many of the beginner-level books, too, go over basic features and techniques that are still valid today. In general though, we try to limit this list to books published in the past five years. ### Get your book listed If your Perl book isn't listed and you think it should be, let us know. > perl v5.34.0 2025-07-25 [PERLBOOK(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PERLBOOK/1/markdown)