{ "content": [ { "type": "text", "text": "# perlfaq1 (man)\n\n## NAME\n\nperlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl\n\n## DESCRIPTION\n\nThis section of the FAQ answers very general, high-level questions about Perl.\n\n## Sections\n\n- **NAME**\n- **VERSION**\n- **DESCRIPTION** (14 subsections)\n- **AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT**\n\nUse structuredContent.sections for detailed options, examples, and full documentation.\n" } ], "structuredContent": { "command": "perlfaq1", "section": "", "mode": "man", "summary": "perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl", "synopsis": null, "tldr_summary": null, "tldr_examples": [], "tldr_source": null, "flags": [], "examples": [], "see_also": [], "section_outline": [ { "name": "NAME", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "VERSION", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "DESCRIPTION", "lines": 2, "subsections": [ { "name": "What is Perl?", "lines": 13 }, { "name": "Who supports Perl? Who develops it? Why is it free?", "lines": 20 }, { "name": "Which version of Perl should I use?", "lines": 39 }, { "name": "What are Perl 4, Perl 5, or Raku (Perl 6)?", "lines": 17 }, { "name": "What is Raku (Perl 6)?", "lines": 16 }, { "name": "How stable is Perl?", "lines": 7 }, { "name": "How often are new versions of Perl released?", "lines": 13 }, { "name": "Is Perl difficult to learn?", "lines": 22 }, { "name": "How does Perl compare with other languages like Java, Python, REXX, Scheme, or Tcl?", "lines": 13 }, { "name": "Can I do [task] in Perl?", "lines": 19 }, { "name": "When shouldn't I program in Perl?", "lines": 8 }, { "name": "What's the difference between \"perl\" and \"Perl\"?", "lines": 6 }, { "name": "What is a JAPH?", "lines": 15 }, { "name": "How can I convince others to use Perl?", "lines": 28 } ] }, { "name": "AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT", "lines": 14, "subsections": [] } ], "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl\n", "subsections": [] }, "VERSION": { "content": "version 5.20210411\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "This section of the FAQ answers very general, high-level questions about Perl.\n", "subsections": [ { "name": "What is Perl?", "content": "Perl is a high-level programming language with an eclectic heritage written by Larry Wall and\na cast of thousands.\n\nPerl's process, file, and text manipulation facilities make it particularly well-suited for\ntasks involving quick prototyping, system utilities, software tools, system management tasks,\ndatabase access, graphical programming, networking, and web programming.\n\nPerl derives from the ubiquitous C programming language and to a lesser extent from sed, awk,\nthe Unix shell, and many other tools and languages.\n\nThese strengths make it especially popular with web developers and system administrators.\nMathematicians, geneticists, journalists, managers and many other people also use Perl.\n" }, { "name": "Who supports Perl? Who develops it? Why is it free?", "content": "The original culture of the pre-populist Internet and the deeply-held beliefs of Perl's\nauthor, Larry Wall, gave rise to the free and open distribution policy of Perl. Perl is\nsupported by its users. The core, the standard Perl library, the optional modules, and the\ndocumentation you're reading now were all written by volunteers.\n\nThe core development team (known as the Perl Porters) are a group of highly altruistic\nindividuals committed to producing better software for free than you could hope to purchase\nfor money. You may snoop on pending developments via the archives\n or you can subscribe to the mailing list\nby sending perl5-porters-subscribe@perl.org a subscription request (an empty message with no\nsubject is fine).\n\nWhile the GNU project includes Perl in its distributions, there's no such thing as \"GNU\nPerl\". Perl is not produced nor maintained by the Free Software Foundation. Perl's licensing\nterms are also more open than GNU software's tend to be.\n\nYou can get commercial support of Perl if you wish, although for most users the informal\nsupport will more than suffice. See the answer to \"Where can I buy a commercial version of\nPerl?\" for more information.\n" }, { "name": "Which version of Perl should I use?", "content": "(contributed by brian d foy with updates from others)\n\nThere is often a matter of opinion and taste, and there isn't any one answer that fits\neveryone. In general, you want to use either the current stable release, or the stable\nrelease immediately prior to that one.\n\nBeyond that, you have to consider several things and decide which is best for you.\n\n• If things aren't broken, upgrading perl may break them (or at least issue new warnings).\n\n• The latest versions of perl have more bug fixes.\n\n• The latest versions of perl may contain performance improvements and features not present\nin older versions. There have been many changes in perl since perl5 was first\nintroduced.\n\n• The Perl community is geared toward supporting the most recent releases, so you'll have\nan easier time finding help for those.\n\n• Older versions of perl may have security vulnerabilities, some of which are serious (see\nperlsec and search CVEs for more\ninformation).\n\n• The latest versions are probably the least deployed and widely tested, so you may want to\nwait a few months after their release and see what problems others have if you are risk\naverse.\n\n• The immediate, in addition to the current stable release, the previous stable release is\nmaintained. See \"MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT\" in perlpolicy for more information.\n\n• There are really two tracks of perl development: a maintenance version and an\nexperimental version. The maintenance versions are stable, and have an even number as the\nminor release (i.e. perl5.24.x, where 24 is the minor release). The experimental versions\nmay include features that don't make it into the stable versions, and have an odd number\nas the minor release (i.e. perl5.25.x, where 25 is the minor release).\n\n• You can consult releases to determine the current stable\nrelease of Perl.\n" }, { "name": "What are Perl 4, Perl 5, or Raku (Perl 6)?", "content": "In short, Perl 4 is the parent to both Perl 5 and Raku (formerly known as Perl 6). Perl 5 is\nthe older sibling, and though they are different languages, someone who knows one will spot\nmany similarities in the other.\n\nThe number after Perl (i.e. the 5 after Perl 5) is the major release of the perl interpreter\nas well as the version of the language. Each major version has significant differences that\nearlier versions cannot support.\n\nThe current major release of Perl is Perl 5, first released in 1994. It can run scripts from\nthe previous major release, Perl 4 (March 1991), but has significant differences.\n\nRaku is a reinvention of Perl, a language in the same lineage but not compatible. The two are\ncomplementary, not mutually exclusive. Raku is not meant to replace Perl, and vice versa. See\n\"What is Raku (Perl 6)?\" below to find out more.\n\nSee perlhist for a history of Perl revisions.\n" }, { "name": "What is Raku (Perl 6)?", "content": "Raku (formerly known as Perl 6) was originally described as the community's rewrite of Perl,\nhowever as the language evolved, it became clear that it is a separate language, but in the\nsame language family as Perl.\n\nRaku is not intended primarily as a replacement for Perl, but as its own thing - and\nlibraries exist to allow you to call Perl code from Raku programs and vice versa.\n\nContrary to popular belief, Raku and Perl peacefully coexist with one another. Raku has\nproven to be a fascinating source of ideas for those using Perl (the Moose object system is a\nwell-known example). There is overlap in the communities, and this overlap fosters the\ntradition of sharing and borrowing that have been instrumental to Perl's success.\n\nFor more about Raku see .\n\n\"We're really serious about reinventing everything that needs reinventing.\" --Larry Wall\n" }, { "name": "How stable is Perl?", "content": "Production releases, which incorporate bug fixes and new functionality, are widely tested\nbefore release. Since the 5.000 release, we have averaged about one production release per\nyear.\n\nThe Perl development team occasionally make changes to the internal core of the language, but\nall possible efforts are made toward backward compatibility.\n" }, { "name": "How often are new versions of Perl released?", "content": "Recently, the plan has been to release a new version of Perl roughly every April, but getting\nthe release right is more important than sticking rigidly to a calendar date, so the release\ndate is somewhat flexible. The historical release dates can be viewed at\n.\n\nEven numbered minor versions (5.14, 5.16, 5.18) are production versions, and odd numbered\nminor versions (5.15, 5.17, 5.19) are development versions. Unless you want to try out an\nexperimental feature, you probably never want to install a development version of Perl.\n\nThe Perl development team are called Perl 5 Porters, and their organization is described at\n. The organizational rules really just boil down to\none: Larry is always right, even when he was wrong.\n" }, { "name": "Is Perl difficult to learn?", "content": "No, Perl is easy to start learning --and easy to keep learning. It\nlooks like most programming languages you're likely to have experience with, so if you've\never written a C program, an awk script, a shell script, or even a BASIC program, you're\nalready partway there.\n\nMost tasks only require a small subset of the Perl language. One of the guiding mottos for\nPerl development is \"there's more than one way to do it\" (TMTOWTDI, sometimes pronounced \"tim\ntoady\"). Perl's learning curve is therefore shallow (easy to learn) and long (there's a whole\nlot you can do if you really want).\n\nFinally, because Perl is frequently (but not always, and certainly not by definition) an\ninterpreted language, you can write your programs and test them without an intermediate\ncompilation step, allowing you to experiment and test/debug quickly and easily. This ease of\nexperimentation flattens the learning curve even more.\n\nThings that make Perl easier to learn: Unix experience, almost any kind of programming\nexperience, an understanding of regular expressions, and the ability to understand other\npeople's code. If there's something you need to do, then it's probably already been done, and\na working example is usually available for free. Don't forget Perl modules, either. They're\ndiscussed in Part 3 of this FAQ, along with CPAN , which is discussed\nin Part 2.\n" }, { "name": "How does Perl compare with other languages like Java, Python, REXX, Scheme, or Tcl?", "content": "Perl can be used for almost any coding problem, even ones which require integrating\nspecialist C code for extra speed. As with any tool it can be used well or badly. Perl has\nmany strengths, and a few weaknesses, precisely which areas are good and bad is often a\npersonal choice.\n\nWhen choosing a language you should also be influenced by the resources\n, testing culture and community\n which surrounds it.\n\nFor comparisons to a specific language it is often best to create a small project in both\nlanguages and compare the results, make sure to use all the resources \nof each language, as a language is far more than just it's syntax.\n" }, { "name": "Can I do [task] in Perl?", "content": "Perl is flexible and extensible enough for you to use on virtually any task, from one-line\nfile-processing tasks to large, elaborate systems.\n\nFor many people, Perl serves as a great replacement for shell scripting. For others, it\nserves as a convenient, high-level replacement for most of what they'd program in low-level\nlanguages like C or C++. It's ultimately up to you (and possibly your management) which tasks\nyou'll use Perl for and which you won't.\n\nIf you have a library that provides an API, you can make any component of it available as\njust another Perl function or variable using a Perl extension written in C or C++ and\ndynamically linked into your main perl interpreter. You can also go the other direction, and\nwrite your main program in C or C++, and then link in some Perl code on the fly, to create a\npowerful application. See perlembed.\n\nThat said, there will always be small, focused, special-purpose languages dedicated to a\nspecific problem domain that are simply more convenient for certain kinds of problems. Perl\ntries to be all things to all people, but nothing special to anyone. Examples of specialized\nlanguages that come to mind include prolog and matlab.\n" }, { "name": "When shouldn't I program in Perl?", "content": "One good reason is when you already have an existing application written in another language\nthat's all done (and done well), or you have an application language specifically designed\nfor a certain task (e.g. prolog, make).\n\nIf you find that you need to speed up a specific part of a Perl application (not something\nyou often need) you may want to use C, but you can access this from your Perl code with\nperlxs.\n" }, { "name": "What's the difference between \"perl\" and \"Perl\"?", "content": "\"Perl\" is the name of the language. Only the \"P\" is capitalized. The name of the interpreter\n(the program which runs the Perl script) is \"perl\" with a lowercase \"p\".\n\nYou may or may not choose to follow this usage. But never write \"PERL\", because perl is not\nan acronym.\n" }, { "name": "What is a JAPH?", "content": "(contributed by brian d foy)\n\nJAPH stands for \"Just another Perl hacker,\", which Randal Schwartz used to sign email and\nusenet messages starting in the late 1980s. He previously used the phrase with many subjects\n(\"Just another x hacker,\"), so to distinguish his JAPH, he started to write them as Perl\nprograms:\n\nprint \"Just another Perl hacker,\";\n\nOther people picked up on this and started to write clever or obfuscated programs to produce\nthe same output, spinning things quickly out of control while still providing hours of\namusement for their creators and readers.\n\nCPAN has several JAPH programs at .\n" }, { "name": "How can I convince others to use Perl?", "content": "(contributed by brian d foy)\n\nAppeal to their self interest! If Perl is new (and thus scary) to them, find something that\nPerl can do to solve one of their problems. That might mean that Perl either saves them\nsomething (time, headaches, money) or gives them something (flexibility, power, testability).\n\nIn general, the benefit of a language is closely related to the skill of the people using\nthat language. If you or your team can be faster, better, and stronger through Perl, you'll\ndeliver more value. Remember, people often respond better to what they get out of it. If you\nrun into resistance, figure out what those people get out of the other choice and how Perl\nmight satisfy that requirement.\n\nYou don't have to worry about finding or paying for Perl; it's freely available and several\npopular operating systems come with Perl. Community support in places such as Perlmonks (\n ) and the various Perl mailing lists ( )\nmeans that you can usually get quick answers to your problems.\n\nFinally, keep in mind that Perl might not be the right tool for every job. You're a much\nbetter advocate if your claims are reasonable and grounded in reality. Dogmatically\nadvocating anything tends to make people discount your message. Be honest about possible\ndisadvantages to your choice of Perl since any choice has trade-offs.\n\nYou might find these links useful:\n\n• \n\n• \n" } ] }, "AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT": { "content": "Copyright (c) 1997-2010 Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington, and other authors as noted. All\nrights reserved.\n\nThis documentation is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as\nPerl itself.\n\nIrrespective of its distribution, all code examples here are in the public domain. You are\npermitted and encouraged to use this code and any derivatives thereof in your own programs\nfor fun or for profit as you see fit. A simple comment in the code giving credit to the FAQ\nwould be courteous but is not required.\n\n\n\nperl v5.34.0 2025-07-25 PERLFAQ1(1)", "subsections": [] } } } }