Editing Perl (section)

{{Short description|Interpreted programming language first released in 1987}}
{{Other uses|Perl (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|PEARL (programming language)|Peril}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox programming language
| name = Perl
| logo = perl-logo.svg
| paradigm = [[Multi-paradigm]]
| designer = [[Larry Wall]]
| developer = Larry Wall
| typing = [[Dynamic typing|Dynamic]]
| influenced = [[CoffeeScript]],{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} [[Groovy (programming language)|Groovy]],{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} [[JavaScript]], [[Julia (programming language)|Julia]], [[LPC (programming language)|LPC]], [[PHP]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Raku (programming language)|Raku]], [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]], [[PowerShell]]
| license = [[Artistic License|Artistic]] 1.0<ref name="artistic-1.0"/><ref name="artistic-1.0-git"/> or [[GNU General Public License]] version 1 or any later version<ref name="licensing"/>
| website = {{URL|https://www.perl.org/|perl.org}}
| wikibooks = Perl Programming
| released = {{Start date and age|1987|12|18}}<ref name="perltimeline"/>
| latest release version = {{Unbulleted list

|5.40.0<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2025/01/msg269454.html |title=Perl v5.40.1 is now available |access-date=2025-01-19 |publisher=www.nntp.perl.org}}</ref> / {{Start date and age|2025|01|18|df=yes}}

|5.38.3<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2025/01/msg269453.html |title=Perl 5.38.3 is now available |access-date=2025-01-19 |publisher=www.nntp.perl.org}}</ref> / {{Start date and age|2025|01|18|df=yes}}
}}

| latest preview version=5.41.13<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2025/05/msg269950.html |title=Release announcement for perl v5.41.13 |access-date=2025-05-31 |publisher=www.nntp.perl.org}}</ref> / {{Start date and age|2025|05|29|df=yes}}

<!-- | latest preview date=;<br/> alpha-02 of {{nowrap|Perl 7}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Releases · atoomic/perl|url=https://github.com/atoomic/perl/releases|access-date=2021-02-05|website=GitHub|language=en|archive-date=September 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907173355/https://github.com/atoomic/perl/releases|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Announcing Perl 7 - nntp.perl.org|url=https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2020/06/msg257565.html|last1=X|first1=Sawyer|date=June 24, 2020|quote=We intend to release 7.0.0 within a year. However, I am setting the goal of releasing it before the end of this year [2020].|access-date=2021-02-05|website=www.nntp.perl.org|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125230437/https://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2020/06/msg257565.html|url-status=live}}</ref> / {{Start date and age|2020|09|24}} -->

| influenced by=[[AWK]], [[BASIC]], [[C (programming language)|C]], [[C++]], [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]], [[sed]], [[Unix shell]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Programming is Hard, Let's Go Scripting...|last1=Wall|first1=Larry|author1-link=Larry Wall|date=December 12, 2007|url=https://www.perl.com/pub/2007/12/06/soto-11.html/|quote=All language designers have their occasional idiosyncracies. I’m just better at it than most.|access-date=April 14, 2019|archive-date=July 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728023959/http://www.perl.com/pub/2007/12/06/soto-11.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| programming language=[[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system=[[Cross-platform software|Cross-platform]]
| file ext=.plx, .pls, .pl, .pm, .xs, .t, .pod, .cgi, .psgi
}}

'''Perl''' is a [[High-level programming language|high-level]], [[General-purpose programming language|general-purpose]], [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreted]], [[dynamic programming language]]. Though Perl is not officially an acronym,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://learn.perl.org/faq/perlfaq1.html#Whats-the-difference-between-perl-and-Perl |title=General Questions About Perl |last=Lapworth |first=Leo |publisher=Perl.org |work=Perl FAQ |access-date=February 24, 2012 |archive-date=May 28, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528001715/http://learn.perl.org/faq/perlfaq1.html#Whats-the-difference-between-perl-and-Perl |url-status=live}}</ref> there are various [[backronym]]s in use, including "Practical Extraction and Reporting Language".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://linux.die.net/man/1/perl |title=perl(1): Practical Extraction/Report Language - Linux man page |publisher=Linux.die.net |access-date=2013-07-23 |archive-date=June 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603152544/http://linux.die.net/man/1/perl |url-status=live}}</ref>

Perl was developed by [[Larry Wall]] in 1987<ref name="long"/> as a general-purpose [[Unix]] [[scripting language]] to make report processing easier.<ref name="sheppard00">{{cite web |url=http://www.perl.com/pub/2000/10/begperl1.html |title=Beginner's Introduction to Perl |last=Sheppard |first=Doug |date=2000-10-16 |publisher=dev.perl.org |access-date=2011-01-08 |archive-date=June 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605130400/http://www.perl.com/pub/2000/10/begperl1.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="long"/><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Larry Wall, the Guru of Perl |url=https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/3394 |access-date=2023-08-30 |website=Linux Journal}}</ref> Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions. Perl originally was not capitalized and the name was changed to being capitalized by the time Perl 4 was released.<ref name=":0"/> The latest release is Perl 5, first released in 1994. From 2000 to October 2019 a sixth version of Perl was in development; the sixth version's name was changed to [[Raku (programming language)|Raku]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.perl.org/about.html |title=About Perl |publisher=perl.org |quote="Perl" is a family of languages, "Perl 6" is part of the family, but it is a separate language that has its own development team. Its existence has no significant impact on the continuing development of "Perl 5". |access-date=2013-04-20 |archive-date=November 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106051931/https://www.perl.org/about.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://github.com/Raku/problem-solving/blob/master/solutions/language/Path-to-Raku.md |title=Path to Raku |publisher=GitHub |quote=This document describes the steps to be taken to effectuate a rename of Perl 6 to Raku |access-date=2021-01-14 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112035821/https://github.com/Raku/problem-solving/blob/master/solutions/language/Path-to-Raku.md |url-status=live}}</ref> Both languages continue to be developed independently by different development teams which liberally borrow ideas from each other.

Perl borrows features from other programming languages including [[C (programming language)|C]], [[Unix shell|sh]], [[AWK]], and [[sed]].<ref name="perltimeline">{{cite web |url=http://history.perl.org/PerlTimeline.html |title=The Timeline of Perl and its Culture (v3.0_0505) |last1=Ashton |first1=Elaine |year=1999 |access-date=March 12, 2004 |archive-date=January 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130111100906/http://history.perl.org/PerlTimeline.html |url-status=live}}</ref> It provides text processing facilities without the arbitrary data-length limits of many contemporary [[List of Unix commands|Unix command line tools]].<ref name="programmingperl2">{{cite book |title=Programming Perl, Third Edition |date=July 2000 |publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]] |isbn=978-0-596-00027-1 |last1=Wall|first1=Larry|author-link1=Larry Wall|last2= Christiansen|first2=Tom|last3=Orwant|first3=Jon}}</ref> Perl is a highly [[Expressive power (computer science)|expressive]] programming language: source code for a given algorithm can be short and highly compressible.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How programs are measured |url=https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/how-programs-are-measured.html#source-code|access-date=2020-10-05|website=Computer Language Benchmarks Game, Debian.net|archive-date=July 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200712000728/https://benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.net/benchmarksgame/how-programs-are-measured.html#source-code|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=RSA in 3 lines of perl - Everything2.com|url=https://everything2.com/title/RSA+in+3+lines+of+perl|access-date=2020-10-05|website=everything2.com|archive-date=October 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008120935/https://everything2.com/title/RSA+in+3+lines+of+perl|url-status=live}}</ref>

Perl gained widespread popularity in the mid-1990s as a [[Common Gateway Interface|CGI scripting]] language, in part due to its powerful [[regular expression]] and [[String (computing)|string]] [[parsing]] abilities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch14s04.html#perl |title=Language Evaluations |quote=Perl's strongest point is its extremely powerful built-in facilities for pattern-directed processing of textual, line-oriented data formats; it is unsurpassed at this. |access-date=January 30, 2015 |archive-date=March 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310123855/http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/ch14s04.html#perl |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cio.com/article/2437271/developer/you-used-perl-to-write-what--.html |title=You Used Perl to Write WHAT?! |date=January 24, 2008 |quote=perl has always been the go-to language for any task that involves pattern-matching input |access-date=February 4, 2015 |archive-date=February 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204175543/http://www.cio.com/article/2437271/developer/you-used-perl-to-write-what--.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/perl/news/importance_0498.html |title=The Importance of Perl |quote=Perl's unparalleled ability to process text... |access-date=February 4, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202010003/http://archive.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/perl/news/importance_0498.html |archive-date=February 2, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="roderick02">{{cite book |title=Advanced Linux Networking |url=https://archive.org/details/linux00libg_999 |url-access=limited |date=June 21, 2002 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional |isbn=978-0-201-77423-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/linux00libg_999/page/n595 594] |last1=Smith |first1=Roderick W.}}</ref> In addition to CGI, Perl 5 is used for [[System administrator|system administration]], [[Computer network programming|network programming]], finance, [[bioinformatics]], and other applications, such as for [[graphical user interface]]s (GUIs). It has been nicknamed "the Swiss Army chainsaw<!-- WARNING: This should read *chainsaw*, not knife. See the reference. --> of scripting languages" because of its flexibility and power.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2000/10/begperl1.html |title=Beginner's Introduction to Perl |last=Sheppard |first=Doug |date=2000-10-16 |publisher=[[O'Reilly Media]] |access-date=2008-07-27 |archive-date=June 4, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604140740/http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2000/10/begperl1.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1998, it was also referred to as the "[[duct tape]] that holds the [[Internet]] together", in reference to both its ubiquitous use as a [[glue language]] and its perceived inelegance.<ref name="leonard98">{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/1998/10/13/feature_269/ |title=The joy of Perl |last=Leonard |first=Andrew |work=[[Salon.com]] |access-date=2012-06-05 |archive-date=July 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120706094345/http://www.salon.com/1998/10/13/feature_269/ |url-status=live}}</ref>