summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffhomepage
path: root/perl.html.markdown
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'perl.html.markdown')
-rw-r--r--perl.html.markdown170
1 files changed, 154 insertions, 16 deletions
diff --git a/perl.html.markdown b/perl.html.markdown
index 1b86f410..3cbd2801 100644
--- a/perl.html.markdown
+++ b/perl.html.markdown
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ 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.
@@ -14,6 +15,15 @@ Perl 5 runs on over 100 platforms from portables to mainframes and is suitable f
```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
@@ -37,24 +47,56 @@ 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:
+# 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).
-# More complex data types can be constructed using references, which allow you
-# to build lists and hashes within lists and hashes.
+#### 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
@@ -105,20 +147,23 @@ for (@elements) {
# 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:
+# 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 $_ contains "foo"
-if ($a =~ /foo/) { ... } # true if $a contains "foo"
+if ($x =~ /foo/) { ... } # true if $x contains "foo"
# Simple substitution
-$a =~ s/foo/bar/; # replaces foo with bar in $a
-$a =~ s/foo/bar/g; # replaces ALL INSTANCES of foo with bar in $a
+$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
@@ -129,9 +174,10 @@ 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:
+# 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>;
@@ -151,11 +197,103 @@ sub logger {
# Now we can use the subroutine just as any other built-in function:
logger("We have a logger subroutine!");
-```
-#### Using Perl modules
+#### 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.
+```
-Perl modules provide a range of features to help you avoid reinventing the wheel, and can be downloaded from CPAN (http://www.cpan.org/). A number of popular modules are included with the Perl distribution itself.
+#### FAQ
perlfaq contains questions and answers related to many common tasks, and often provides suggestions for good CPAN modules to use.