Learn Perl in 1 Hour

By Xah Lee. Date: 2013-01-15. Last updated: 2015-11-15.

This is a basic Perl tutorial. The goal is to get a quick working understanding of the language. Examples on this page are based on Perl 5.14.2. (released on 2011-09-26)

Perl variable prefix: sigil

in Perl, every variable name must start with one of {$ @ %}.

$ means the VALUE of the variable is a “scalar”. i.e. string, number.
@ means the VALUE of the variable is a array.
% means the VALUE of the variable is a hash table (aka dictionary, associative list.).

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;               # for printing array and hash
$Data::Dumper::Indent = 0;      # set to print compact

$aa = 4;                         # scalar
@aa = (1, 2, 3);                 # array
%aa = ('e' => 4, 'f' => 5, 'g' => 6); # hash

print $aa, "\n";                 # 4
print Dumper(\@aa), "\n";        # $VAR1 = [1,2,3];
print Dumper(\%aa), "\n";        # $VAR1 = {'e' => 4,'g' => 6,'f' => 5};

Strings

quoting string

Use single quote for literal string.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

# use single quote for literal string
$a = 'this and
 that';
print $a; # prints 2 lines

To have characters \n for newline and \t for tab, use double quote.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

$a = "this\nand that";
print $a; # prints 2 lines

When double quote is used, variables inside the string will be evaluated.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

$a = 4;
$b = "this is $a";
print $b;                       # this is 4

Summary: 2 major ways to quote strings strings: single quote and double quote.

'single quote' → everything is literal.
"double quote" → ① Backslash is char escape. ② Variables will be evaluated.

Quoting String q[] qq[]

You can also use the syntax q(this n that), which is equivalent to 'this n that'.

The parenthesis can be curly brackets {} or square brackets []. It can also be / \ | @ and most others ASCII symbols.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

# the following are all same
$a = q(this 'n' that);
$b = q[this 'n' that];
$c = q{this 'n' that};
$d = q|this 'n' that|;
$e =  "this 'n' that";
$f =  'this \'n\' that';

Similarly, "…" is same as qq(…).

Substring

substr(string, offset, number of chars to extract).

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

# get substring

print substr('012345', 2, 2); # prints 23

String Length

Length of string is length(string).

print length('abc');

String Join and Repetition

use dot to join string.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

$s = "a" . "b";

print $s;                       # ab

String repetition is done with the operator x.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

print 'abc' x 2;                # abcabc

True and False

Perl does not have a boolean type. Basically, anything that seems should be false, is false. (of course, it can be tricky). The following are false:

0
undef
"" empty string
empty array
empty hash

Everything else is true.

Perl does automatic conversion between number and string, so '0' is false in some contexts because it converts to 0. But '0.0' is true, because it remains a string, and is not empty string.

The value of Perl's {array, list, hash}, depends on context (what's adjacent to it), and is not very intuitive.

The best thing is to test what you need exactly. For example, check if the length of a list is 0, or whether a var has value 0, or whether it is undef.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use strict;

if (0) { print "yes"} else { print "no"}     # ⇒ no
if (0.0) { print "yes"} else { print "no"}   # ⇒ no
if ("0") { print "yes"} else { print "no"}   # ⇒ no
if ("") { print "yes"} else { print "no"}    # ⇒ no
if (undef) { print "yes"} else { print "no"} # ⇒ no

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use strict;
# empty array is false

my @myArray = ();
if (@myArray) { print "yes"} else { print "no"} # ⇒ no

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use strict;
# empty hash is false

my %myHash = ();
if (%myHash) { print "yes"} else { print "no"} # ⇒ no

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use strict;

if (1) { print "yes"} else { print "no"}     # ⇒ yes
if ("0.0") { print "yes"} else { print "no"} # ⇒ yes
if (".0") { print "yes"} else { print "no"}  # ⇒ yes

Explicit Testing

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use strict;
# examples of explicit testing

my $x = 5;
my $y;
if (defined($x)) { print "yes"} else { print "no"} # ⇒ yes
if (defined($y)) { print "yes"} else { print "no"} # ⇒ no
if ($x == 0) { print "yes"} else { print "no"} # ⇒ no

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use strict;
# testing array length

my @myArray = ();
my $myArrayLength = scalar @myArray;
if ($myArrayLength == 0) { print "yes"} else { print "no"} # ⇒ yes

Conditional: if then else

#-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

# Examples of if

$x = 1;
if ($x == 1) {
  print "x yes\n";
}

$y = 2;
if ($y == 1) {
  print "y yes\n";
} else {
  print "y no\n";
}

$z = 2;
if ($z < 0) {
  print 'z neg';
} elsif ($z == 0) {
  print 'z zero';
} elsif ($z == 1) {
  print 'z one';
} else {
  print 'z other';
}

perldoc perlsyn

Loop, Iteration

#-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

@aa = (1..9); # creates a array 1 to 9
for $xx (@aa) {
  print $xx
}                               # ⇒ 123456789

Note: Perl also supports loop controls “next”, “last”, “goto” and few others.

#-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

for $xx (1..9) {
  print $xx;
  if ($xx == 4) {
    last;                       # break
  }
}                               # ⇒ 1234

#-*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

$x = 1;
while ($x <= 9) {
  print $x, "\n";
  $x++;
}

List

Creating a List

List is enclosed by parenthesis “()”.
To assign a list to a variable, the variable must have a “@” sign in front.
To print a list, use the “Dumper” function in the package “Data::Dumper”.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

@a = (0, 1, 2, 'three', 4, 5, 6, 7); # assigns a list to @a.

use Data::Dumper;               # loads the list-printing module

print '@a is:', Dumper(\@a);

The backslash in front of @a is necessary. It returns the “reference” of the array @a, and the argument to Dumper must be a reference. Once a list is assigned to a variable, it's called array.

Perl's concept of “list” and “array” is a bit complex. Basically, when a list is assigned to a variable, it's a array. For detail, see: Perl: Difference Between List and Array

Counting Elements

To find the number of elements in a list, use “scalar”.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

@a = (4, 5, 6);                 # a list

print scalar(@a);               # prints 3. The length.

print @a + 0;               # prints 3. The + forces a scalar context.

Perl has a “list context” and “scalar context”. How things are evaluated depends on whether the thing is in list or scalar context. When a list/array is in a scalar context, it returns its length. The function scalar forces things in a scalar context.

Adding Elements

To add a element, or join two lists, use push(array, new_item).

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@b = (1, 9);
push(@b, 3);                    # add a element to @b, at the end

print Dumper(\@b);              # [1, 9, 3]

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@a = (1, 9);
@b = (3, 4);
@c = ();

push(@c, @a, @b);               # @c is the joined list of @a and @b

print Dumper(\@c);              # [1, 9, 3, 4]

Nested List

Perl automatically flatten array/lists, even if the new item added to list is a list. To force creating a nested list, you have to use square brackets, like this:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@a = (1, 9);
@b = (5, 6);

# create nested list
push(@a, [@b]);

print Dumper(\@a);              # [1, 9, [3, 4]]

Square brackets actually creates a reference to a array.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@a = (1, 8);                    # array
$b = [1, 8];                    # reference to array

print Dumper(\@a);              # [1, 8]
print Dumper($b);               # [1, 8]

Getting Elements

To extract list element, append with [index]. The index can be several integers separated by comma, for getting multiple elements.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@a = (0, 1, 2, 'three', 4, 5, 6, 7);
@b = @a[3, 1, 5];               # ['three', 1, 5]
$c = @a[2];                     # gets 2

print Dumper \@b;               # ['three', 1, 5]

print $c, "\n";                 # 2

Here a example of extracting sublist (aka slice).

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@a = (0, 1, 2, 'three', 4, 5, 6, 7);
@b = @a[1..4];      # the 1..4 creates a range

print Dumper \@b;               # [1, 2, 'three', 4]

Changing Elements

To replace parts, just assign them. For example, $myArray[3] = "heart";.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@a = (0, 1, 2, 'three', 4);
$a[3] = 'new';

print Dumper(\@a);              # [ 0, 1, 2, 'new', 4 ]

Note the dollar sign $ above. This tells Perl that this data is a “scalar” as opposed to a “multiple”. In Perl, a variable of “scalar” type (such as numbers and strings) starts with a $. A variable for array (aka list) starts with the sign @. A variable for harshes/dictionaries starts with %. All Perl variables must start with one of {$ @ %}. (this is a simplified story)

Nested List

To create a nested list, use square brackets for the inner list.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@b = (4, 5, [1, 2, [9, 8]], 7); # nested list

print Dumper \@b;               # [ 4, 5, [ 1, 2, [ 9, 8 ] ], 7 ]

You can embed a array as a nested list into another array. For example, @b = (4, 5, \@myarray, 7).

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@a=(1, 2, 3);
@b = (4, 5, \@a, 7);            # embed @a as sublist.

print '@b', Dumper \@b;     # [ 4, 5, [ 1, 2, 3 ], 7 ]

To extract element from nested list, use this form: $array_name[first_level_index]->[2nd_level_index]->[3rd_level_index]….

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

@b = (1, 2, ['x', 'y'], 3);
$c = $b[2]->[1];
print $c;                       # 'y'

@b = (1, 2, ['x', [4, 5], 7], 3);
$c = $b[2]->[1]->[1];
print $c;                       # 5

perldoc perldata

Keyed List (dictionary; hash table; associative list)

In Perl, keyed-list is called hash table, or just hash. It is done like this:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper qw(Dumper);    # load the Dumper function for printing array/hash

$Data::Dumper::Indent = 0;      # make it print in compact style

# hash table
%hh = ('john'=>3, 'mary'=> 4, 'jane'=> 5, 'vicky'=>7);

print Dumper \%hh;               # {'jane' => 5,'john' => 3,'vicky' => 7,'mary' => 4}

The line use Data::Dumper qw(Dumper); loads the function “Dumper” from the package “Data::Dumper”. The purpose of Dumper is to print array and hash.

Variable of hash datatype must begin with % in their name.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper qw(Dumper); # for printing list or hash

%hh = ('john' =>3, 'mary' => 4, 'jane' => 5, 'vicky' => 7);
print Dumper \%hh;

# get value from a key
print $hh{'mary'};              # 4

# delete a entry
delete $hh{'vicky'};
print Dumper \%hh;              # { 'jane' => 5, 'john' => 3, 'mary' => 4 }

# get all keys
print Dumper [keys %hh];        # [ 'jane', 'john', 'mary' ]

# get all values (Perl 5.12. released in 2010)
print Dumper [values %hh];      # [ 5, 3, 4]

# check if a key exists
print exists $hh{'mary'};       # returns 1, meaning true.

If you are going to get values of a hash, you use $ in front of the hash variable. For example, $b{'mary'}.

The Dumper function's argument needs to be a “reference” to the hash. So, you can use it like this: Dumper(\%b) or Dumper([%b]). (parenthesis is usually optional)

Looping Thru a List

Removing Elements in a List

Use “grep” to remove elements in a list. The form is one of:

grep {true/false function name $_} array
grep {expression on $_ ;} array

Example:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

sub ff {return $_[0] % 2 == 0}; # return true if divisible by 2

print Dumper[ grep {ff $_} (0..10)]; # ⇒  [ 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 ]

@_ → a builtin variable that's all the arguments passed to a subroutine, as array. So, $_[0] is the first argument passed.
$_ → a builtin variable that's the default input for regex to match, and in general represents a default argument.

The (0..10) generate a list from 0 to 10.

The % above is the operator for computing remainder of a division.

The Data::Dumper module is to import the “Dumper” function for printing list.

Applying a Function to a List

Use “map” to apply a function to a list. The basic form is map {function_name($_)} list. It returns a list.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper; $Data::Dumper::Indent=0;

sub ff {return ($_[0])**2;};    # square a number

print Dumper [ map { ff($_)} (0..10)];
# ⇒ $VAR1 = ['0','1','4',9,'16',25,36,49,'64',81,100];

The ** is the exponential operator.

Using Library

In Perl, a library is called a module. The standard filename suffix is “.pm”.

For a script, the filename suffix is “.pl”.

List Available Modules

To get a list of standard module that are bundled with Perl (but not necessarily installed). perldoc perlmodlib..

To load a package, call use package_name;. It will import all functions in that package. Example:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

# loading some commonly used packages
use Data::Dumper; # for printing list and hash
use File::Find; # for traversing directories

To find out what functions are available in a module, read its documentation, for example perldoc Data::Dumper.

Module Load Path

Here is a example showing module paths and loaded modules:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;

print Dumper \@INC; # prints all module searching paths

print Dumper \%INC; # prints all loaded modules

__END__

sample output:

$VAR1 = [
          '/etc/perl',
          '/usr/local/lib/perl/5.12.4',
          '/usr/local/share/perl/5.12.4',
          '/usr/lib/perl5',
          '/usr/share/perl5',
          '/usr/lib/perl/5.12',
          '/usr/share/perl/5.12',
          '/usr/local/lib/site_perl',
          '.'
        ];
$VAR1 = {
          'warnings/register.pm' => '/usr/share/perl/5.12/warnings/register.pm',
          'bytes.pm' => '/usr/share/perl/5.12/bytes.pm',
          'XSLoader.pm' => '/usr/share/perl/5.12/XSLoader.pm',
          'Carp.pm' => '/usr/share/perl/5.12/Carp.pm',
          'Exporter.pm' => '/usr/share/perl/5.12/Exporter.pm',
          'strict.pm' => '/usr/share/perl/5.12/strict.pm',
          'warnings.pm' => '/usr/share/perl/5.12/warnings.pm',
          'overload.pm' => '/usr/share/perl/5.12/overload.pm',
          'Data/Dumper.pm' => '/usr/lib/perl/5.12/Data/Dumper.pm'
        };

For more info about the predefined variables @INC and %INC. perldoc perlvar

Perl: List Available Modules, List Module Search Paths

Defining a Function

Here is a example of defining a function.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use Data::Dumper;
$Data::Dumper::Indent = 0;      # print in compact style

# define a function
sub ff {
  $a = $_[0]; # get first arg
  $b = $_[1]; # get second arg

  # arguments are automatically assigned to array @_
  print Dumper(\@_);            # prints the array @_

  # use “return” to return value and exit the function
  return $a + $b;
}

ff(3, 4, "rabbit");             # $VAR1 = [3,4,'rabbit'];

Note: Unlike most other languages, subroutine's parameters are USUALLY not declared.

Arguments are automatically assigned to the array @_. So, $_[0] is the first element of the array @_. The @_ a builtin variable.

Optional Parameters

To define a function with optional parameters, just use defined($_[n]) to check if the argument is given.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

# myFun(x,y) returns x+y. y is optional and default to 1.
sub myFun {
  $x = $_[0];

  if (defined $_[1]) {
    $y = $_[1];
  } else {
    $y = 1;
  }

  return $x+$y;
}

print myFun(3);                 # 4

perldoc perlsub

[see Perl: Function Optional Parameter]

Classes and Objects

Writing a Module

In the following, i show you how to write a library in Perl by a example.

Save the following 3 lines in a file and name it mymodule.pm.

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

package mymodule;    # declaring the module
sub f1($){$_[0]+1}   # module body
1                    # module must return a true value

Then, call it like the following way:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# perl

use mymodule;            # import the module
print mymodule::f1(5);   # call the function

This is the simplest illustration of writing a package in Perl and calling its function.

In Perl, there are 2 different concepts for a set of code that resides in a file: “module” and “package”.

A “module” is simply a file of Perl code. To load a module, use require file_name. It is similar to “include” in C and PHP. A module file normally has suffix “.pl”.

A “package” in Perl is more modern meaning of a library. It is a mechanism of importing functions defined in a external file, using name spaces. Package files has “.pm” as suffix. A package file needs to start with package filename; and must return a value true (any number, string, as the last line will do).

Perl's module was there before it had a real library system. You should just write packages.

Perl: How to Write a Module

If you have a question, put $5 at patreon and message me.