Perl 5 Handout.pdfVIP

Perl 5 Handout CS 4173 Winter 2006 1 Basic Program Template #!/opt/bin/perl -w # -w turns on some error checking use diagnostics; # turns on verbose error messages use strict; # stops us from making simple mistakes my $var; # declare scalar variable Tips • $\ = \n; will append \n to all output • perl -Tc script.pl will check your script for syntax errors • declare all variables with my • have the Perl Pocket Reference nearby • use the built-in warn() or carp() functions for non-fatal error messages • use the built-in die() or croak() functions for fatal errors 2 Useful Documentation • Perl resources subsection of the CS 4173 website • Perl documentation (at ) • CGI.pm documentation (at ) 1 CS4173 Perl 5 Handout Winter 2006 3 Beware of Perl 4 Code Perl 4 is a different language than perl 5. Perl 4 is unsupported and highly unsafe. Do not use it. There used to be lots of perl 4 code on the ’net and in books. Be on the lookout for these indications of perl 4: • using include instead of use to specify modules that are referenced This is a sure sign on perl 4 • using cgi-lib.pl The perl 4 only module cgi-lib.pl was replaced by CGI.pm • using local instead of my to declare variables There are some rare cases where local is still needed, but we mostly use my now. Local variables should be declared with my not local. • calling functions using function This is legal in perl 5 (your textbook does it) but not very common with perl 5 4 Using CGI With Perl 5 Program Template #!/opt/bin/perl -Tw