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Annotated edit history of perlfaq(1) version 2, including all changes. View license author blame.

Rev	Author	#	Line
1	perry	1	PERLFAQ
		2	!!!PERLFAQ
		3	NAME
		4	DESCRIPTION
		5	About the perlfaq documents
		6	Credits
		7	Author and Copyright Information
		8	Changes
		9	----
		10	!!NAME
		11
		12
		13	perlfaq - frequently asked questions about Perl ($Date: 1999/05/23 20:38:02 $)
		14	!!DESCRIPTION
		15
		16
		17	The perlfaq is structured into the following
		18	documents:
		19
		20
		21	__perlfaq: Structural overview of the FAQ
		22	.__
		23
		24
		25	This document.
		26
		27
		28	__perlfaq1: General Questions About Perl__
		29
		30
		31	Very general, high-level information about
		32	Perl.
		33
		34
		35	What is Perl?
		36
		37
		38	Who supports Perl? Who develops it? Why is it
		39	free?
		40
		41
		42	Which version of Perl should I use?
		43
		44
		45	What are perl4 and perl5?
		46
		47
		48	What is perl6?
		49
		50
		51	How stable is Perl?
		52
		53
		54	Is Perl difficult to learn?
		55
		56
		57	How does Perl compare with other languages like Java,
		58	Python, REXX , Scheme, or Tcl?
		59
		60
		61	Can I do [[task] in Perl?
		62
		63
		64	When shouldn't I program in Perl?
		65
		66
		67	What's the difference between ``perl'' and
		68	``Perl''?
		69
		70
		71	Is it a Perl program or a Perl script?
		72
		73
		74	What is a JAPH ?
		75
		76
		77	Where can I get a list of Larry Wall
		78	witticisms?
		79
		80
		81	How can I convince my sysadmin/supervisor/employees to use
		82	version 5/5.005/Perl instead of some other
		83	language?
		84
		85
		86	__perlfaq2: Obtaining and Learning about
		87	Perl__
		88
		89
		90	Where to find source and documentation to Perl, support, and
		91	related matters.
		92
		93
		94	What machines support Perl? Where do I get it?
		95
		96
		97	How can I get a binary version of Perl?
		98
		99
		100	I don't have a C compiler on my system. How can I compile
		101	perl?
		102
		103
		104	I copied the Perl binary from one machine to another, but
		105	scripts don't work.
		106
		107
		108	I grabbed the sources and tried to compile but gdbm/dynamic
		109	loading/malloc/linking/... failed. How do I make it
		110	work?
		111
		112
		113	What modules and extensions are available for Perl? What is
		114	CPAN ? What does CPAN/src/...
		115	mean?
		116
		117
		118	Is there an ISO or ANSI
		119	certified version of Perl?
		120
		121
		122	Where can I get information on Perl?
		123
		124
		125	What are the Perl newsgroups on Usenet? Where do I post
		126	questions?
		127
		128
		129	Where should I post source code?
		130
		131
		132	Perl Books
		133
		134
		135	Perl in Magazines
		136
		137
		138	Perl on the Net: FTP and WWW
		139	Access
		140
		141
		142	What mailing lists are there for Perl?
		143
		144
		145	Archives of comp.lang.perl.misc
		146
		147
		148	Where can I buy a commercial version of Perl?
		149
		150
		151	Where do I send bug reports?
		152
		153
		154	What is perl.com? Perl Mongers? pm.org?
		155	perl.org?
		156
		157
		158	__perlfaq3: Programming Tools__
		159
		160
		161	Programmer tools and programming support.
		162
		163
		164	How do I do (anything)?
		165
		166
		167	How can I use Perl interactively?
		168
		169
		170	Is there a Perl shell?
		171
		172
		173	How do I debug my Perl programs?
		174
		175
		176	How do I profile my Perl programs?
		177
		178
		179	How do I cross-reference my Perl programs?
		180
		181
		182	Is there a pretty-printer (formatter) for Perl?
		183
		184
		185	Is there a ctags for Perl?
		186
		187
		188	Is there an IDE or Windows Perl
		189	Editor?
		190
		191
		192	Where can I get Perl macros for vi?
		193
		194
		195	Where can I get perl-mode for emacs?
		196
		197
		198	How can I use curses with Perl?
		199
		200
		201	How can I use X or Tk with Perl?
		202
		203
		204	How can I generate simple menus without using
		205	CGI or Tk?
		206
		207
		208	What is undump?
		209
		210
		211	How can I make my Perl program run faster?
		212
		213
		214	How can I make my Perl program take less
		215	memory?
		216
		217
		218	Is it unsafe to return a pointer to local data?
		219
		220
		221	How can I free an array or hash so my program
		222	shrinks?
		223
		224
		225	How can I make my CGI script more
		226	efficient?
		227
		228
		229	How can I hide the source for my Perl program?
		230
		231
		232	How can I compile my Perl program into byte code or
		233	C?
		234
		235
		236	How can I compile Perl into Java?
		237
		238
		239	How can I get #!perl to work on [[
		240	MS-DOS ,NT,...]?
		241
		242
		243	Can I write useful Perl programs on the command
		244	line?
		245
		246
		247	Why don't Perl one-liners work on my DOS/Mac/VMS
		248	system?
		249
		250
		251	Where can I learn about CGI or Web
		252	programming in Perl?
		253
		254
		255	Where can I learn about object-oriented Perl
		256	programming?
		257
		258
		259	Where can I learn about linking C with Perl? [[h2xs,
		260	xsubpp]
		261
		262
		263	I've read perlembed, perlguts, etc., but I can't embed perl
		264	in my C program; what am I doing wrong?
		265
		266
		267	When I tried to run my script, I got this message. What does
		268	it mean?
		269
		270
2	perry	271	What's !MakeMaker?
1	perry	272
		273
		274	__perlfaq4: Data Manipulation__
		275
		276
		277	Manipulating numbers, dates, strings, arrays, hashes, and
		278	miscellaneous data issues.
		279
		280
		281	Why am I getting long decimals (eg, 19.9499999999999)
		282	instead of the numbers I should be getting (eg,
		283	19.95)?
		284
		285
		286	Why isn't my octal data interpreted correctly?
		287
		288
		289	Does Perl have a ''round()'' function? What about
		290	''ceil()'' and ''floor()''? Trig
		291	functions?
		292
		293
		294	How do I convert bits into ints?
		295
		296
		297	Why doesn't
		298
		299
		300	How do I multiply matrices?
		301
		302
		303	How do I perform an operation on a series of
		304	integers?
		305
		306
		307	How can I output Roman numerals?
		308
		309
		310	Why aren't my random numbers random?
		311
		312
		313	How do I find the
		314	week-of-the-year/day-of-the-year?
		315
		316
		317	How do I find the current century or
		318	millennium?
		319
		320
		321	How can I compare two dates and find the
		322	difference?
		323
		324
		325	How can I take a string and turn it into epoch
		326	seconds?
		327
		328
		329	How can I find the Julian Day?
		330
		331
		332	How do I find yesterday's date?
		333
		334
		335	Does Perl have a Year 2000 problem? Is Perl Y2K
		336	compliant?
		337
		338
		339	How do I validate input?
		340
		341
		342	How do I unescape a string?
		343
		344
		345	How do I remove consecutive pairs of
		346	characters?
		347
		348
		349	How do I expand function calls in a string?
		350
		351
		352	How do I find matching/nesting anything?
		353
		354
		355	How do I reverse a string?
		356
		357
		358	How do I expand tabs in a string?
		359
		360
		361	How do I reformat a paragraph?
		362
		363
		364	How can I access/change the first N letters of a
		365	string?
		366
		367
		368	How do I change the Nth occurrence of
		369	something?
		370
		371
		372	How can I count the number of occurrences of a substring
		373	within a string?
		374
		375
		376	How do I capitalize all the words on one line?
		377
		378
		379	How can I split a [[character] delimited string except when
		380	inside [[character]? (Comma-separated files)
		381
		382
		383	How do I strip blank space from the beginning/end of a
		384	string?
		385
		386
		387	How do I pad a string with blanks or pad a number with
		388	zeroes?
		389
		390
		391	How do I extract selected columns from a
		392	string?
		393
		394
		395	How do I find the soundex value of a string?
		396
		397
		398	How can I expand variables in text strings?
		399
		400
		401	What's wrong with always quoting ``$vars''?
		402
		403
		404	Why don't my HERE documents
		405	work?
		406
		407
		408	What is the difference between a list and an
		409	array?
		410
		411
		412	What is the difference between $array[[1] and
		413	@array[[1]?
		414
		415
		416	How can I remove duplicate elements from a list or
		417	array?
		418
		419
		420	How can I tell whether a list or array contains a certain
		421	element?
		422
		423
		424	How do I compute the difference of two arrays? How do I
		425	compute the intersection of two arrays?
		426
		427
		428	How do I test whether two arrays or hashes are
		429	equal?
		430
		431
		432	How do I find the first array element for which a condition
		433	is true?
		434
		435
		436	How do I handle linked lists?
		437
		438
		439	How do I handle circular lists?
		440
		441
		442	How do I shuffle an array randomly?
		443
		444
		445	How do I process/modify each element of an
		446	array?
		447
		448
		449	How do I select a random element from an array?
		450
		451
		452	How do I permute N elements of a list?
		453
		454
		455	How do I sort an array by (anything)?
		456
		457
		458	How do I manipulate arrays of bits?
		459
		460
		461	Why does ''defined()'' return true on empty arrays and
		462	hashes?
		463
		464
		465	How do I process an entire hash?
		466
		467
		468	What happens if I add or remove keys from a hash while
		469	iterating over it?
		470
		471
		472	How do I look up a hash element by value?
		473
		474
		475	How can I know how many entries are in a hash?
		476
		477
		478	How do I sort a hash (optionally by value instead of
		479	key)?
		480
		481
		482	How can I always keep my hash sorted?
		483
		484
		485	What's the difference between ``delete'' and ``undef'' with
		486	hashes?
		487
		488
		489	Why don't my tied hashes make the defined/exists
		490	distinction?
		491
		492
		493	How do I reset an ''each()'' operation part-way
		494	through?
		495
		496
		497	How can I get the unique keys from two hashes?
		498
		499
		500	How can I store a multidimensional array in a
		501	DBM file?
		502
		503
		504	How can I make my hash remember the order I put elements
		505	into it?
		506
		507
		508	Why does passing a subroutine an undefined element in a hash
		509	create it?
		510
		511
		512	How can I make the Perl equivalent of a C structure/C
		513	++ class/hash or array of hashes or
		514	arrays?
		515
		516
		517	How can I use a reference as a hash key?
		518
		519
		520	How do I handle binary data correctly?
		521
		522
		523	How do I determine whether a scalar is a
		524	number/whole/integer/float?
		525
		526
		527	How do I keep persistent data across program
		528	calls?
		529
		530
		531	How do I print out or copy a recursive data
		532	structure?
		533
		534
		535	How do I define methods for every class/object?
		536
		537
		538	How do I verify a credit card checksum?
		539
		540
		541	How do I pack arrays of doubles or floats for
		542	XS code?
		543
		544
		545	__perlfaq5: Files and Formats__
		546
		547
		548	I/O and the ``f'' issues: filehandles, flushing, formats and
		549	footers.
		550
		551
		552	How do I flush/unbuffer an output filehandle? Why must I do
		553	this?
		554
		555
		556	How do I change one line in a file/delete a line in a
		557	file/insert a line in the middle of a file/append to the
		558	beginning of a file?
		559
		560
		561	How do I count the number of lines in a file?
		562
		563
		564	How do I make a temporary file name?
		565
		566
		567	How can I manipulate fixed-record-length files?
		568
		569
		570	How can I make a filehandle local to a subroutine? How do I
		571	pass filehandles between subroutines? How do I make an array
		572	of filehandles?
		573
		574
		575	How can I use a filehandle indirectly?
		576
		577
		578	How can I set up a footer format to be used with
		579	''write()''?
		580
		581
		582	How can I ''write()'' into a string?
		583
		584
		585	How can I output my numbers with commas added?
		586
		587
		588	How can I translate tildes (~) in a filename?
		589
		590
		591	How come when I open a file read-write it wipes it
		592	out?
		593
		594
		595	Why do I sometimes get an ``Argument list too long'' when I
		596	use
		597
		598
		599	Is there a leak/bug in ''glob()''?
		600
		601
		602	How can I open a file with a leading ``
		603
		604
		605	How can I reliably rename a file?
		606
		607
		608	How can I lock a file?
		609
		610
		611	Why can't I just open( FH ,
		612	``
		613
		614
		615	I still don't get locking. I just want to increment the
		616	number in the file. How can I do this?
		617
		618
		619	How do I randomly update a binary file?
		620
		621
		622	How do I get a file's timestamp in perl?
		623
		624
		625	How do I set a file's timestamp in perl?
		626
		627
		628	How do I print to more than one file at once?
		629
		630
		631	How can I read in an entire file all at once?
		632
		633
		634	How can I read in a file by paragraphs?
		635
		636
		637	How can I read a single character from a file? From the
		638	keyboard?
		639
		640
		641	How can I tell whether there's a character waiting on a
		642	filehandle?
		643
		644
		645	How do I do a tail -f in perl?
		646
		647
		648	How do I ''dup()'' a filehandle in Perl?
		649
		650
		651	How do I close a file descriptor by number?
		652
		653
		654	Why can't I use ``C:tempfoo'' in DOS paths?
		655	What doesn't `C:tempfoo.exe` work?
		656
		657
		658	Why doesn't glob(``*.*'') get all the files?
		659
		660
		661	Why does Perl let me delete read-only files? Why does
		662	-i clobber protected files? Isn't this a bug in
		663	Perl?
		664
		665
		666	How do I select a random line from a file?
		667
		668
		669	Why do I get weird spaces when I print an array of
		670	lines?
		671
		672
		673	__perlfaq6: Regexps__
		674
		675
		676	Pattern matching and regular expressions.
		677
		678
		679	How can I hope to use regular expressions without creating
		680	illegible and unmaintainable code?
		681
		682
		683	I'm having trouble matching over more than one line. What's
		684	wrong?
		685
		686
		687	How can I pull out lines between two patterns that are
		688	themselves on different lines?
		689
		690
		691	I put a regular expression into $/ but it didn't work.
		692	What's wrong?
		693
		694
		695	How do I substitute case insensitively on the
		696	LHS while preserving case on the
		697	RHS ?
		698
		699
		700	How can I make w match national character
		701	sets?
		702
		703
		704	How can I match a locale-smart version of
		705	/[[a-zA-Z]/?
		706
		707
		708	How can I quote a variable to use in a regex?
		709
		710
		711	What is /o really for?
		712
		713
		714	How do I use a regular expression to strip C style comments
		715	from a file?
		716
		717
		718	Can I use Perl regular expressions to match balanced
		719	text?
		720
		721
		722	What does it mean that regexes are greedy? How can I get
		723	around it?
		724
		725
		726	How do I process each word on each line?
		727
		728
		729	How can I print out a word-frequency or line-frequency
		730	summary?
		731
		732
		733	How can I do approximate matching?
		734
		735
		736	How do I efficiently match many regular expressions at
		737	once?
		738
		739
		740	Why don't word-boundary searches with b work for
		741	me?
		742
		743
		744	Why does using $
		745
		746
		747	What good is G in a regular
		748	expression?
		749
		750
		751	Are Perl regexes DFAs or NFAs? Are they POSIX
		752	compliant?
		753
		754
		755	What's wrong with using grep or map in a void
		756	context?
		757
		758
		759	How can I match strings with multibyte
		760	characters?
		761
		762
		763	How do I match a pattern that is supplied by the
		764	user?
		765
		766
		767	__perlfaq7: General Perl Language Issues__
		768
		769
		770	General Perl language issues that don't clearly fit into any
		771	of the other sections.
		772
		773
		774	Can I get a BNF/yacc/RE for the Perl language?
		775
		776
		777	What are all these $@%
		778
		779
		780	Do I always/never have to quote my strings or use semicolons
		781	and commas?
		782
		783
		784	How do I skip some return values?
		785
		786
		787	How do I temporarily block warnings?
		788
		789
		790	What's an extension?
		791
		792
		793	Why do Perl operators have different precedence than C
		794	operators?
		795
		796
		797	How do I declare/create a structure?
		798
		799
		800	How do I create a module?
		801
		802
		803	How do I create a class?
		804
		805
		806	How can I tell if a variable is tainted?
		807
		808
		809	What's a closure?
		810
		811
		812	What is variable suicide and how can I prevent
		813	it?
		814
		815
2	perry	816	How can I pass/return a {Function, !FileHandle, Array, Hash,
1	perry	817	Method, Regex}?
		818
		819
		820	How do I create a static variable?
		821
		822
		823	What's the difference between dynamic and lexical (static)
		824	scoping? Between ''local()'' and
		825	''my()''?
		826
		827
		828	How can I access a dynamic variable while a similarly named
		829	lexical is in scope?
		830
		831
		832	What's the difference between deep and shallow
		833	binding?
		834
		835
		836	Why doesn't ``my($foo) = FILE
		837
		838
		839	How do I redefine a builtin function, operator, or
		840	method?
		841
		842
		843	What's the difference between calling a function as
		844	foo()''?
		845
		846
		847	How do I create a switch or case statement?
		848
		849
		850	How can I catch accesses to undefined
		851	variables/functions/methods?
		852
		853
		854	Why can't a method included in this same file be
		855	found?
		856
		857
		858	How can I find out my current package?
		859
		860
		861	How can I comment out a large block of perl
		862	code?
		863
		864
		865	How do I clear a package?
		866
		867
		868	How can I use a variable as a variable name?
		869
		870
		871	__perlfaq8: System Interaction__
		872
		873
		874	Interprocess communication ( IPC ), control
		875	over the user-interface (keyboard, screen and pointing
		876	devices).
		877
		878
		879	How do I find out which operating system I'm running
		880	under?
		881
		882
		883	How come ''exec()'' doesn't return?
		884
		885
		886	How do I do fancy stuff with the
		887	keyboard/screen/mouse?
		888
		889
		890	How do I print something out in color?
		891
		892
		893	How do I read just one key without waiting for a return
		894	key?
		895
		896
		897	How do I check whether input is ready on the
		898	keyboard?
		899
		900
		901	How do I clear the screen?
		902
		903
		904	How do I get the screen size?
		905
		906
		907	How do I ask the user for a password?
		908
		909
		910	How do I read and write the serial port?
		911
		912
		913	How do I decode encrypted password files?
		914
		915
		916	How do I start a process in the background?
		917
		918
		919	How do I trap control characters/signals?
		920
		921
		922	How do I modify the shadow password file on a Unix
		923	system?
		924
		925
		926	How do I set the time and date?
		927
		928
		929	How can I ''sleep()'' or ''alarm()'' for under a
		930	second?
		931
		932
		933	How can I measure time under a second?
		934
		935
		936	How can I do an ''atexit()'' or
		937	''setjmp()''/''longjmp()''? (Exception
		938	handling)
		939
		940
		941	Why doesn't my sockets program work under System V
		942	(Solaris)? What does the error message ``Protocol not
		943	supported'' mean?
		944
		945
		946	How can I call my system's unique C functions from
		947	Perl?
		948
		949
		950	Where do I get the include files to do ''ioctl()'' or
		951	''syscall()''?
		952
		953
		954	Why do setuid perl scripts complain about kernel
		955	problems?
		956
		957
		958	How can I open a pipe both to and from a
		959	command?
		960
		961
		962	Why can't I get the output of a command with
		963	''system()''?
		964
		965
		966	How can I capture STDERR from an external
		967	command?
		968
		969
		970	Why doesn't ''open()'' return an error when a pipe open
		971	fails?
		972
		973
		974	What's wrong with using backticks in a void
		975	context?
		976
		977
		978	How can I call backticks without shell
		979	processing?
		980
		981
		982	Why can't my script read from STDIN after I
		983	gave it EOF (^D on Unix, ^Z on
		984	MS-DOS )?
		985
		986
		987	How can I convert my shell script to perl?
		988
		989
		990	Can I use perl to run a telnet or ftp session?
		991
		992
		993	How can I write expect in Perl?
		994
		995
		996	Is there a way to hide perl's command line from programs
		997	such as ``ps''?
		998
		999
		1000	I {changed directory, modified my environment} in a perl
		1001	script. How come the change disappeared when I exited the
		1002	script? How do I get my changes to be visible?
		1003
		1004
		1005	How do I close a process's filehandle without waiting for it
		1006	to complete?
		1007
		1008
		1009	How do I fork a daemon process?
		1010
		1011
		1012	How do I find out if I'm running interactively or
		1013	not?
		1014
		1015
		1016	How do I timeout a slow event?
		1017
		1018
		1019	How do I set CPU limits?
		1020
		1021
		1022	How do I avoid zombies on a Unix system?
		1023
		1024
		1025	How do I use an SQL database?
		1026
		1027
		1028	How do I make a ''system()'' exit on
		1029	control-C?
		1030
		1031
		1032	How do I open a file without blocking?
		1033
		1034
		1035	How do I install a module from CPAN
		1036	?
		1037
		1038
		1039	What's the difference between require and use?
		1040
		1041
		1042	How do I keep my own module/library directory?
		1043
		1044
		1045	How do I add the directory my program lives in to the
		1046	module/library search path?
		1047
		1048
		1049	How do I add a directory to my include path at
		1050	runtime?
		1051
		1052
		1053	What is socket.ph and where do I get it?
		1054
		1055
		1056	__perlfaq9: Networking__
		1057
		1058
		1059	Networking, the Internet, and a few on the web.
		1060
		1061
		1062	My CGI script runs from the command line but
		1063	not the browser. (500 Server Error)
		1064
		1065
		1066	How can I get better error messages from a
		1067	CGI program?
		1068
		1069
		1070	How do I remove HTML from a
		1071	string?
		1072
		1073
		1074	How do I extract URLs?
		1075
		1076
		1077	How do I download a file from the user's machine? How do I
		1078	open a file on another machine?
		1079
		1080
		1081	How do I make a pop-up menu in HTML
		1082	?
		1083
		1084
		1085	How do I fetch an HTML file?
		1086
		1087
		1088	How do I automate an HTML form
		1089	submission?
		1090
		1091
		1092	How do I decode or create those %-encodings on the
		1093	web?
		1094
		1095
		1096	How do I redirect to another page?
		1097
		1098
		1099	How do I put a password on my web pages?
		1100
		1101
		1102	How do I edit my .htpasswd and .htgroup files with
		1103	Perl?
		1104
		1105
		1106	How do I make sure users can't enter values into a form that
		1107	cause my CGI script to do bad
		1108	things?
		1109
		1110
		1111	How do I parse a mail header?
		1112
		1113
		1114	How do I decode a CGI form?
		1115
		1116
		1117	How do I check a valid mail address?
		1118
		1119
		1120	How do I decode a MIME/BASE64
		1121	string?
		1122
		1123
		1124	How do I return the user's mail address?
		1125
		1126
		1127	How do I send mail?
		1128
		1129
		1130	How do I read mail?
		1131
		1132
		1133	How do I find out my hostname/domainname/IP
		1134	address?
		1135
		1136
		1137	How do I fetch a news article or the active
		1138	newsgroups?
		1139
		1140
		1141	How do I fetch/put an FTP file?
		1142
		1143
		1144	How can I do RPC in Perl?
		1145	!!About the perlfaq documents
		1146
		1147
		1148	__Where to get the perlfaq__
		1149
		1150
		1151	This document is posted regularly to comp.lang.perl.announce
		1152	and several other related newsgroups. It is available in a
		1153	variety of formats from CPAN in the
		1154	/CPAN/doc/FAQs/FAQ/ directory or on the web at
		1155	http://www.perl.com/perl/faq/ .
		1156
		1157
		1158	__How to contribute to the perlfaq__
		1159
		1160
		1161	You may mail corrections, additions, and suggestions to
		1162	perlfaq-suggestions@perl.com . This alias should not be used
		1163	to ''ask'' FAQs. It's for fixing the current
		1164	FAQ . Send questions to the
		1165	comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup.
		1166
		1167
		1168	__What will happen if you mail your Perl programming
		1169	problems to the authors__
		1170
		1171
		1172	Your questions will probably go unread, unless they're
		1173	suggestions of new questions to add to the
		1174	FAQ , in which case they should have gone to
		1175	the perlfaq-suggestions@perl.com instead.
		1176
		1177
		1178	You should have read section 2 of this faq. There you would
		1179	have learned that comp.lang.perl.misc is the appropriate
		1180	place to go for free advice. If your question is really
		1181	important and you require a prompt and correct answer, you
		1182	should hire a consultant.
		1183	!!Credits
		1184
		1185
		1186	When I first began the Perl FAQ in the late
		1187	80s, I never realized it would have grown to over a hundred
		1188	pages, nor that Perl would ever become so popular and
		1189	widespread. This document could not have been written
		1190	without the tremendous help provided by Larry Wall and the
		1191	rest of the Perl Porters.
		1192	!!Author and Copyright Information
		1193
		1194
		1195	Copyright (c) 1997-1999 Tom Christiansen and Nathan
		1196	Torkington. All rights reserved.
		1197
		1198
		1199	__Bundled Distributions__
		1200
		1201
		1202	When included as part of the Standard Version of Perl or as
		1203	part of its complete documentation whether printed or
		1204	otherwise, this work may be distributed only under the terms
		1205	of Perl's Artistic License. Any distribution of this file or
		1206	derivatives thereof ''outside'' of that package requires
		1207	that special arrangements be made with copyright
		1208	holder.
		1209
		1210
		1211	Irrespective of its distribution, all code examples in these
		1212	files are hereby placed into the public domain. You are
		1213	permitted and encouraged to use this code in your own
		1214	programs for fun or for profit as you see fit. A simple
		1215	comment in the code giving credit would be courteous but is
		1216	not required.
		1217
		1218
		1219	__Disclaimer__
		1220
		1221
		1222	This information is offered in good faith and in the hope
		1223	that it may be of use, but is not guaranteed to be correct,
		1224	up to date, or suitable for any particular purpose
		1225	whatsoever. The authors accept no liability in respect of
		1226	this information or its use.
		1227	!!Changes
		1228
		1229
		1230	1/November/2000
		1231
		1232
		1233	A few grammatical fixes and updates implemented by John
		1234	Borwick.
		1235
		1236
		1237	23/May/99
		1238
		1239
		1240	Extensive updates from the net in preparation for 5.6
		1241	release.
		1242
		1243
		1244	13/April/99
		1245
		1246
		1247	More minor touch-ups. Added new question at the end of
		1248	perlfaq7 on variable names within variables.
		1249
		1250
		1251	7/January/99
		1252
		1253
		1254	Small touchups here and there. Added all questions in this
		1255	document as a sort of table of contents.
		1256
		1257
		1258	22/June/98
		1259
		1260
		1261	Significant changes throughout in preparation for the 5.005
		1262	release.
		1263
		1264
		1265	24/April/97
		1266
		1267
		1268	Style and whitespace changes from Chip, new question on
		1269	reading one character at a time from a terminal using
		1270	POSIX from Tom.
		1271
		1272
		1273	23/April/97
		1274
		1275
		1276	Added http://www.oasis.leo.org/perl/ to perlfaq2. Style fix
		1277	to perlfaq3. Added floating point precision, fixed complex
		1278	number arithmetic, cross-references, caveat for Text::Wrap,
		1279	alternative answer for initial capitalizing, fixed incorrect
2	perry	1280	regexp, added example of Tie::!IxHash to perlfaq4. Added
1	perry	1281	example of passing and storing filehandles, added commify to
		1282	perlfaq5. Restored variable suicide, and added mass
		1283	commenting to perlfaq7. Added Net::Telnet, fixed backticks,
2	perry	1284	added reader/writer pair to telnet question, added !FindBin,
1	perry	1285	grouped module questions together in perlfaq8. Expanded
		1286	caveats for the simple URL extractor, gave
		1287	LWP example, added CGI
		1288	security question, expanded on the mail address answer in
		1289	perlfaq9.
		1290
		1291
		1292	25/March/97
		1293
		1294
		1295	Added more info to the binary distribution section of
		1296	perlfaq2. Added Net::Telnet to perlfaq6. Fixed typos in
		1297	perlfaq8. Added mail sending example to perlfaq9. Added
		1298	Merlyn's columns to perlfaq2.
		1299
		1300
		1301	18/March/97
		1302
		1303
		1304	Added the DATE to the NAME
		1305	section, indicating which sections have
		1306	changed.
		1307
		1308
		1309	Mentioned SIGPIPE and perlipc in the forking
		1310	open answer in perlfaq8.
		1311
		1312
		1313	Fixed description of a regular expression in
		1314	perlfaq4.
		1315
		1316
		1317	17/March/97 Version
		1318
		1319
		1320	Various typos fixed throughout.
		1321
		1322
		1323	Added new question on Perl BNF on
		1324	perlfaq7.
		1325
		1326
		1327	Initial Release: 11/March/97
		1328
		1329
		1330	This is the initial release of version 3 of the
		1331	FAQ ; consequently there have been no changes
		1332	since its initial release.
		1333	----