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perlmodlib - constructing new Perl modules and finding existing ones
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perlmodlib - constructing new Perl modules and finding existing ones
Many modules are included the Perl distribution. These are described
below, and all end in .pm. You may discover compiled library
file (usually ending in .so) or small pieces of modules to be
autoloaded (ending in .al); these were automatically generated
by the installation process. You may also discover files in the
library directory that end in either .pl or .ph. These are
old libraries supplied so that old programs that use them still
run. The .pl files will all eventually be converted into standard
modules, and the .ph files made by h2ph will probably end up
as extension modules made by h2xs. (Some .ph values may
already be available through the POSIX, Errno, or Fcntl modules.)
The pl2pm file in the distribution may help in your conversion,
but it's just a mechanical process and therefore far from bulletproof.
They work somewhat like compiler directives (pragmata) in that they
tend to affect the compilation of your program, and thus will usually
work well only when used within a use, or no. Most of these
are lexically scoped, so an inner BLOCK may countermand them
by saying:
no integer;
no strict 'refs';
no warnings;
which lasts until the end of that BLOCK.
Some pragmas are lexically scoped--typically those that affect the
$^H hints variable. Others affect the current package instead,
like use vars and use subs, which allow you to predeclare a
variables or subroutines within a particular file rather than
just a block. Such declarations are effective for the entire file
for which they were declared. You cannot rescind them with no
vars or no subs.
The following pragmas are defined (and have their own documentation).
- attributes
-
Get/set subroutine or variable attributes
- attrs
-
Set/get attributes of a subroutine (deprecated)
- autouse
-
Postpone load of modules until a function is used
- base
-
Establish IS-A relationship with base class at compile time
- blib
-
Use MakeMaker's uninstalled version of a package
- bytes
-
Force byte semantics rather than character semantics
- charnames
-
Define character names for
\N{named} string literal escape.
- constant
-
Declare constants
- diagnostics
-
Perl compiler pragma to force verbose warning diagnostics
- fields
-
Compile-time class fields
- filetest
-
Control the filetest permission operators
- integer
-
Use integer arithmetic instead of floating point
- less
-
Request less of something from the compiler
- lib
-
Manipulate @INC at compile time
- locale
-
Use and avoid POSIX locales for built-in operations
- open
-
Set default disciplines for input and output
- ops
-
Restrict unsafe operations when compiling
- overload
-
Package for overloading perl operations
- re
-
Alter regular expression behaviour
- sigtrap
-
Enable simple signal handling
- strict
-
Restrict unsafe constructs
- subs
-
Predeclare sub names
- utf8
-
Enable/disable UTF-8 in source code
- vars
-
Predeclare global variable names (obsolete)
- warnings
-
Control optional warnings
- warnings::register
-
Warnings import function
Standard, bundled modules are all expected to behave in a well-defined
manner with respect to namespace pollution because they use the
Exporter module. See their own documentation for details.
- AnyDBM_File
-
Provide framework for multiple DBMs
- AutoLoader
-
Load subroutines only on demand
- AutoSplit
-
Split a package for autoloading
- B
-
The Perl Compiler
- B::Asmdata
-
Autogenerated data about Perl ops, used to generate bytecode
- B::Assembler
-
Assemble Perl bytecode
- B::Bblock
-
Walk basic blocks
- B::Bytecode
-
Perl compiler's bytecode backend
- B::C
-
Perl compiler's C backend
- B::CC
-
Perl compiler's optimized C translation backend
- B::Concise
-
Walk Perl syntax tree, printing concise info about ops
- B::Debug
-
Walk Perl syntax tree, printing debug info about ops
- B::Deparse
-
Perl compiler backend to produce perl code
- B::Disassembler
-
Disassemble Perl bytecode
- B::Lint
-
Perl lint
- B::Showlex
-
Show lexical variables used in functions or files
- B::Stackobj
-
Helper module for CC backend
- B::Stash
-
Show what stashes are loaded
- B::Terse
-
Walk Perl syntax tree, printing terse info about ops
- B::Xref
-
Generates cross reference reports for Perl programs
- Benchmark
-
Benchmark running times of Perl code
- ByteLoader
-
Load byte compiled perl code
- CGI
-
Simple Common Gateway Interface Class
- CGI::Apache
-
Backward compatibility module for CGI.pm
- CGI::Carp
-
CGI routines for writing to the HTTPD (or other) error log
- CGI::Cookie
-
Interface to Netscape Cookies
- CGI::Fast
-
CGI Interface for Fast CGI
- CGI::Pretty
-
Module to produce nicely formatted HTML code
- CGI::Push
-
Simple Interface to Server Push
- CGI::Switch
-
Backward compatibility module for defunct CGI::Switch
- CGI::Util
-
Internal utilities used by CGI module
- CPAN
-
Query, download and build perl modules from CPAN sites
- CPAN::FirstTime
-
Utility for CPAN::Config file Initialization
- CPAN::Nox
-
Wrapper around CPAN.pm without using any XS module
- Carp
-
Warn of errors (from perspective of caller)
- Carp::Heavy
-
Carp guts
- Class::Struct
-
Declare struct-like datatypes as Perl classes
- Cwd
-
Get pathname of current working directory
- DB
-
Programmatic interface to the Perl debugging API (draft, subject to
- DB_File
-
Perl5 access to Berkeley DB version 1.x
- Devel::SelfStubber
-
Generate stubs for a SelfLoading module
- DirHandle
-
Supply object methods for directory handles
- Dumpvalue
-
Provides screen dump of Perl data.
- English
-
Use nice English (or awk) names for ugly punctuation variables
- Env
-
Perl module that imports environment variables as scalars or arrays
- Exporter
-
Implements default import method for modules
- Exporter::Heavy
-
Exporter guts
- ExtUtils::Command
-
Utilities to replace common UNIX commands in Makefiles etc.
- ExtUtils::Embed
-
Utilities for embedding Perl in C/C++ applications
- ExtUtils::Install
-
Install files from here to there
- ExtUtils::Installed
-
Inventory management of installed modules
- ExtUtils::Liblist
-
Determine libraries to use and how to use them
- ExtUtils::MM_Cygwin
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Methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
- ExtUtils::MM_OS2
-
Methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
- ExtUtils::MM_Unix
-
Methods used by ExtUtils::MakeMaker
- ExtUtils::MM_VMS
-
Methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
- ExtUtils::MM_Win32
-
Methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
- ExtUtils::MakeMaker
-
Create an extension Makefile
- ExtUtils::Manifest
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Utilities to write and check a MANIFEST file
- ExtUtils::Mkbootstrap
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Make a bootstrap file for use by DynaLoader
- ExtUtils::Mksymlists
-
Write linker options files for dynamic extension
- ExtUtils::Packlist
-
Manage .packlist files
- ExtUtils::testlib
-
Add blib/* directories to @INC
- Fatal
-
Replace functions with equivalents which succeed or die
- Fcntl
-
Load the C Fcntl.h defines
- File::Basename
-
Split a pathname into pieces
- File::CheckTree
-
Run many filetest checks on a tree
- File::Compare
-
Compare files or filehandles
- File::Copy
-
Copy files or filehandles
- File::DosGlob
-
DOS like globbing and then some
- File::Find
-
Traverse a file tree
- File::Path
-
Create or remove directory trees
- File::Spec
-
Portably perform operations on file names
- File::Spec::Epoc
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Methods for Epoc file specs
- File::Spec::Functions
-
Portably perform operations on file names
- File::Spec::Mac
-
File::Spec for MacOS
- File::Spec::OS2
-
Methods for OS/2 file specs
- File::Spec::Unix
-
Methods used by File::Spec
- File::Spec::VMS
-
Methods for VMS file specs
- File::Spec::Win32
-
Methods for Win32 file specs
- File::Temp
-
Return name and handle of a temporary file safely
- File::stat
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in
stat() functions
- FileCache
-
Keep more files open than the system permits
- FileHandle
-
Supply object methods for filehandles
- FindBin
-
Locate directory of original perl script
- GDBM_File
-
Perl5 access to the gdbm library.
- Getopt::Long
-
Extended processing of command line options
- Getopt::Std
-
Process single-character switches with switch clustering
- I18N::Collate
-
Compare 8-bit scalar data according to the current locale
- IO
-
Load various IO modules
- IPC::Open2
-
Open a process for both reading and writing
- IPC::Open3
-
Open a process for reading, writing, and error handling
- Math::BigFloat
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Arbitrary length float math package
- Math::BigInt
-
Arbitrary size integer math package
- Math::Complex
-
Complex numbers and associated mathematical functions
- Math::Trig
-
Trigonometric functions
- Net::Ping
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Check a remote host for reachability
- Net::hostent
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in gethost*() functions
- Net::netent
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in getnet*() functions
- Net::protoent
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in getproto*() functions
- Net::servent
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in getserv*() functions
- O
-
Generic interface to Perl Compiler backends
- Opcode
-
Disable named opcodes when compiling perl code
- POSIX
-
Perl interface to IEEE Std 1003.1
- Pod::Checker
-
Check pod documents for syntax errors
- Pod::Find
-
Find POD documents in directory trees
- Pod::Html
-
Module to convert pod files to HTML
- Pod::InputObjects
-
Objects representing POD input paragraphs, commands, etc.
- Pod::LaTeX
-
Convert Pod data to formatted Latex
- Pod::Man
-
Convert POD data to formatted *roff input
- Pod::ParseUtils
-
Helpers for POD parsing and conversion
- Pod::Parser
-
Base class for creating POD filters and translators
- Pod::Plainer
-
Perl extension for converting Pod to old style Pod.
- Pod::Select
-
Extract selected sections of POD from input
- Pod::Text
-
Convert POD data to formatted ASCII text
- Pod::Text::Color
-
Convert POD data to formatted color ASCII text
- Pod::Text::Overstrike
-
Convert POD data to formatted overstrike text
- Pod::Text::Termcap
-
Convert POD data to ASCII text with format escapes
- Pod::Usage
-
Print a usage message from embedded pod documentation
- SDBM_File
-
Tied access to sdbm files
- Safe
-
Compile and execute code in restricted compartments
- Search::Dict
-
Search for key in dictionary file
- SelectSaver
-
Save and restore selected file handle
- SelfLoader
-
Load functions only on demand
- Shell
-
Run shell commands transparently within perl
- Socket
-
Load the C socket.h defines and structure manipulators
- Symbol
-
Manipulate Perl symbols and their names
- Term::ANSIColor
-
Color screen output using ANSI escape sequences
- Term::Cap
-
Perl termcap interface
- Term::Complete
-
Perl word completion module
- Term::ReadLine
-
Perl interface to various
readline packages. If
- Test
-
Provides a simple framework for writing test scripts
- Test::Harness
-
Run perl standard test scripts with statistics
- Text::Abbrev
-
Create an abbreviation table from a list
- Text::ParseWords
-
Parse text into an array of tokens or array of arrays
- Text::Soundex
-
Implementation of the Soundex Algorithm as Described by Knuth
- Text::Tabs
-
Expand and unexpand tabs per the unix
expand(1) and unexpand(1)
- Text::Wrap
-
Line wrapping to form simple paragraphs
- Thread
-
Manipulate threads in Perl (EXPERIMENTAL, subject to change)
- Thread::Queue
-
Thread-safe queues
- Thread::Semaphore
-
Thread-safe semaphores
- Thread::Signal
-
Start a thread which runs signal handlers reliably
- Thread::Specific
-
Thread-specific keys
- Tie::Array
-
Base class for tied arrays
- Tie::Handle
-
Base class definitions for tied handles
- Tie::Hash
-
Base class definitions for tied hashes
- Tie::RefHash
-
Use references as hash keys
- Tie::Scalar
-
Base class definitions for tied scalars
- Tie::SubstrHash
-
Fixed-table-size, fixed-key-length hashing
- Time::Local
-
Efficiently compute time from local and GMT time
- Time::gmtime
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in
gmtime() function
- Time::localtime
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in
localtime() function
- Time::tm
-
Internal object used by Time::gmtime and Time::localtime
- UNIVERSAL
-
Base class for ALL classes (blessed references)
- User::grent
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in getgr*() functions
- User::pwent
-
By-name interface to Perl's built-in getpw*() functions
- Win32
-
Interfaces to some Win32 API Functions
To find out all modules installed on your system, including
those without documentation or outside the standard release,
just do this:
% find `perl -e 'print "@INC"'` -name '*.pm' -print
They should all have their own documentation installed and accessible
via your system man(1) command. If you do not have a find
program, you can use the Perl find2perl program instead, which
generates Perl code as output you can run through perl. If you
have a man program but it doesn't find your modules, you'll have
to fix your manpath. See the perl manpage for details. If you have no
system man command, you might try the perldoc program.
Extension modules are written in C (or a mix of Perl and C). They
are usually dynamically loaded into Perl if and when you need them,
but may also be be linked in statically. Supported extension modules
include Socket, Fcntl, and POSIX.
Many popular C extension modules do not come bundled (at least, not
completely) due to their sizes, volatility, or simply lack of time
for adequate testing and configuration across the multitude of
platforms on which Perl was beta-tested. You are encouraged to
look for them on CPAN (described below), or using web search engines
like Alta Vista or Deja News.
CPAN stands for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network; it's a globally
replicated trove of Perl materials, including documentation, style
guides, tricks and traps, alternate ports to non-Unix systems and
occasional binary distributions for these. Search engines for
CPAN can be found at http://cpan.perl.com/ and at
http://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/mod_perl/cpan-search.pl .
Most importantly, CPAN includes around a thousand unbundled modules,
some of which require a C compiler to build. Major categories of
modules are:
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Language Extensions and Documentation Tools
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Development Support
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Operating System Interfaces
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Networking, Device Control (modems) and InterProcess Communication
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Data Types and Data Type Utilities
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Database Interfaces
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User Interfaces
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Interfaces to / Emulations of Other Programming Languages
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File Names, File Systems and File Locking (see also File Handles)
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String Processing, Language Text Processing, Parsing, and Searching
-
Option, Argument, Parameter, and Configuration File Processing
-
Internationalization and Locale
-
Authentication, Security, and Encryption
-
World Wide Web, HTML, HTTP, CGI, MIME
-
Server and Daemon Utilities
-
Archiving and Compression
-
Images, Pixmap and Bitmap Manipulation, Drawing, and Graphing
-
Mail and Usenet News
-
Control Flow Utilities (callbacks and exceptions etc)
-
File Handle and Input/Output Stream Utilities
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Miscellaneous Modules
Registered CPAN sites as of this writing include the following.
You should try to choose one close to you:
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