learnxinyminutes-docs/perl.html.markdown

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---
name: perl
category: language
language: perl
filename: learnperl.pl
contributors:
- ["Korjavin Ivan", "http://github.com/korjavin"]
- ["Dan Book", "http://github.com/Grinnz"]
---
Perl 5 is a highly capable, feature-rich programming language with over 25 years of development.
Perl 5 runs on over 100 platforms from portables to mainframes and is suitable for both rapid prototyping and large scale development projects.
```perl
# Single line comments start with a number sign.
#### Strict and warnings
use strict;
use warnings;
# All perl scripts and modules should include these lines. Strict causes
# compilation to fail in cases like misspelled variable names, and
# warnings will print warning messages in case of common pitfalls like
# concatenating to an undefined value.
#### Perl variable types
# Variables begin with a sigil, which is a symbol showing the type.
# A valid variable name starts with a letter or underscore,
# followed by any number of letters, numbers, or underscores.
### Perl has three main variable types: $scalar, @array, and %hash.
## Scalars
# A scalar represents a single value:
my $animal = "camel";
my $answer = 42;
# Scalar values can be strings, integers or floating point numbers, and
# Perl will automatically convert between them as required.
## Arrays
# An array represents a list of values:
my @animals = ("camel", "llama", "owl");
my @numbers = (23, 42, 69);
my @mixed = ("camel", 42, 1.23);
# Array elements are accessed using square brackets, with a $ to
# indicate one value will be returned.
my $second = $animals[1];
## Hashes
# A hash represents a set of key/value pairs:
my %fruit_color = ("apple", "red", "banana", "yellow");
# You can use whitespace and the "=>" operator to lay them out more
# nicely:
my %fruit_color = (
apple => "red",
banana => "yellow",
);
# Hash elements are accessed using curly braces, again with the $ sigil.
my $color = $fruit_color{apple};
# Scalars, arrays and hashes are documented more fully in perldata.
# (perldoc perldata).
#### References
# More complex data types can be constructed using references, which
# allow you to build arrays and hashes within arrays and hashes.
my $array_ref = \@array;
my $hash_ref = \%hash;
my @array_of_arrays = (\@array1, \@array2, \@array3);
# You can also create anonymous arrays or hashes, returning a reference:
my $fruits = ["apple", "banana"];
my $colors = {apple => "red", banana => "yellow"};
# References can be dereferenced by prefixing the appropriate sigil.
my @fruits_array = @$fruits;
my %colors_hash = %$colors;
# As a shortcut, the arrow operator can be used to dereference and
# access a single value.
my $first = $array_ref->[0];
my $value = $hash_ref->{banana};
# See perlreftut and perlref for more in-depth documentation on
# references.
#### Conditional and looping constructs
# Perl has most of the usual conditional and looping constructs.
if ($var) {
...
} elsif ($var eq 'bar') {
...
} else {
...
}
unless (condition) {
...
}
# This is provided as a more readable version of "if (!condition)"
# the Perlish post-condition way
print "Yow!" if $zippy;
print "We have no bananas" unless $bananas;
# while
while (condition) {
...
}
# for loops and iteration
for (my $i = 0; $i < $max; $i++) {
print "index is $i";
}
for (my $i = 0; $i < @elements; $i++) {
print "Current element is " . $elements[$i];
}
for my $element (@elements) {
print $element;
}
# implicitly
for (@elements) {
print;
}
# the Perlish post-condition way again
print for @elements;
# iterating through the keys and values of a referenced hash
print $hash_ref->{$_} for keys %$hash_ref;
#### Regular expressions
# Perl's regular expression support is both broad and deep, and is the
# subject of lengthy documentation in perlrequick, perlretut, and
# elsewhere. However, in short:
# Simple matching
if (/foo/) { ... } # true if $_ contains "foo"
if ($x =~ /foo/) { ... } # true if $x contains "foo"
# Simple substitution
$x =~ s/foo/bar/; # replaces foo with bar in $x
$x =~ s/foo/bar/g; # replaces ALL INSTANCES of foo with bar in $x
#### Files and I/O
# You can open a file for input or output using the "open()" function.
open(my $in, "<", "input.txt") or die "Can't open input.txt: $!";
open(my $out, ">", "output.txt") or die "Can't open output.txt: $!";
open(my $log, ">>", "my.log") or die "Can't open my.log: $!";
# You can read from an open filehandle using the "<>" operator. In
# scalar context it reads a single line from the filehandle, and in list
# context it reads the whole file in, assigning each line to an element
# of the list:
my $line = <$in>;
my @lines = <$in>;
#### Writing subroutines
# Writing subroutines is easy:
sub logger {
my $logmessage = shift;
open my $logfile, ">>", "my.log" or die "Could not open my.log: $!";
print $logfile $logmessage;
}
# Now we can use the subroutine just as any other built-in function:
logger("We have a logger subroutine!");
#### Modules
# A module is a set of Perl code, usually subroutines, which can be used
# in other Perl code. It is usually stored in a file with the extension
# .pm so that Perl can find it.
package MyModule;
use strict;
use warnings;
sub trim {
my $string = shift;
$string =~ s/^\s+//;
$string =~ s/\s+$//;
return $string;
}
1;
# From elsewhere:
use MyModule;
MyModule::trim($string);
# The Exporter module can help with making subroutines exportable, so
# they can be used like this:
use MyModule 'trim';
trim($string);
# Many Perl modules can be downloaded from CPAN (http://www.cpan.org/)
# and provide a range of features to help you avoid reinventing the
# wheel. A number of popular modules like Exporter are included with
# the Perl distribution itself. See perlmod for more details on modules
# in Perl.
#### Objects
# Objects in Perl are just references that know which class (package)
# they belong to, so that methods (subroutines) called on it can be
# found there. The bless function is used in constructors (usually new)
# to set this up. However, you never need to call it yourself if you use
# a module like Moose or Moo (see below).
package MyCounter;
use strict;
use warnings;
sub new {
my $class = shift;
my $self = {count => 0};
return bless $self, $class;
}
sub count {
my $self = shift;
return $self->{count};
}
sub increment {
my $self = shift;
$self->{count}++;
}
1;
# Methods can be called on a class or object instance with the arrow
# operator.
use MyCounter;
my $counter = MyCounter->new;
print $counter->count, "\n"; # 0
$counter->increment;
print $counter->count, "\n"; # 1
# The modules Moose and Moo from CPAN can help you set up your object
# classes. They provide a constructor and simple syntax for declaring
# attributes. This class can be used equivalently to the one above.
package MyCounter;
use Moo; # imports strict and warnings
has 'count' => (is => 'rwp', default => 0, init_arg => undef);
sub increment {
my $self = shift;
$self->_set_count($self->count + 1);
}
1;
# Object-oriented programming is covered more thoroughly in perlootut,
# and its low-level implementation in Perl is covered in perlobj.
```
#### FAQ
perlfaq contains questions and answers related to many common tasks, and often provides suggestions for good CPAN modules to use.
#### Further Reading
- [perl-tutorial](http://perl-tutorial.org/)
- [Learn at www.perl.com](http://www.perl.org/learn.html)
- [perldoc](http://perldoc.perl.org/)
- and perl built-in : `perldoc perlintro`