Using Perl

The perl documentation system:

• perldoc perl (info about perl), perldoc perldata ((perl datastructures), perldoc perlfaq1 (1-3+ faqs)
• perldoc -q “send mail” (search the FAQs for ‘send mail’)
• perldoc -f sort (lookup sort function in perl)
• perldoc CGI (some modules have built in documentation)
• perldoc MP3::Info (read documentatio on the MP3::Info module)

Need to run commands as owner of perl files, usually root

• perl -MCPAN -e shell ‘install “MP3::Info”’

1. perl -MCPAN -e shell (or a small script called cpan)
2. [force] install MP3::Info (sample way to install a module)
3. quit

A few other useful commands in the CPAN shell are

  i /mp3/        - search for all modules with /mp3/ in the name
  i MP3::Info    - show information about this module
  look MP3::Info - download a module and start a subshell where you
                   can look around before installing
  readme MP3::Info - show the readme file for the module
  ?              - show command summary

• http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_install_private
• http://www.cpan.org/misc/cpan-faq.html#How_use_private

There are several ways to use modules installed in private directories:

• setenv PERL5LIB /path/to/module
  • sets the environment variable PERL5LIB.

• use lib qw(/path/to/module);
  • used at the top of your script tells perl where to find your module.

• perl -I/path/to/module

All of these will append /path/to/module to @INC.