Contents

• Contents
• Introduction to Perl
  • What is Perl?
    • Origins
    • Similar to C?
    • Cost and Licensing
  • Installing Perl Installed
    • Getting and Installing Perl
  • Writing Perl Programs
    • Creating the Program
    • Invocation
    • Comments in Your Program
  • Further Reading/Information
• Numeric and String Literals
  • Numeric Literals
  • String Literals
    • Example: Double-Quoted Strings
• Variables
  • Scalar Variables
    • Defining Scalar Variables
    • String Scalar Variables
• Arrays
  • What is an Array?
  • Literal Arrays
  • Indexed Arrays
  • Some Useful Array Functions
  • Associative Arrays
    • Associative Array Operators
• Operators
  • The Binary Arithmetic Operators
  • The Unary Arithmetic Operators
  • The Logical Operators
  • The Bitwise Operators
    • Comparison operators for numbers and strings
  • The Range Operator (..)
  • The String Operators (. and x)
  • Order of Precedence
• Perl Statements
  • Understanding Expressions
  • Statement Blocks
  • Statement Blocks and Local Variables
  • If/Unless statement
    • The for statement
    • The while/until statement
    • The foreach statement
• Functions
  • Using the Parameter Array (@_)
  • Passing Parameters by Reference
  • Scope of Variables
  • Using a List as a Function Parameter
  • Nesting Function Calls
  • Using a Private Function
  • String Functions
  • Array Functions
  • Summary
• References
  • Reference Types
  • Passing Parameters to Functions
  • The ref() Function
  • Example: Creating a Data Record
  • Interpolating Functions Inside Double-Quoted Strings
  • Summary
• Files -- Input and Output in Perl
  • Some Files Are Standard
    • Using the Diamond Operator (<>)
  • File Test Operators
  • File Functions
    • Reading Directories
    • Reading and Writing Files
    • Binary Files
    • Getting File Statistics
    • Printing Revisited
• Regular Expressions
  • What are regular Expressions
  • Using Regular Expressions
    • Special pattern matching character operators
  • Backtracking
  • Setting the Target Operator (Binding)
  • Substitution
  • The Matching Operator (m//)
    • The Matching Options
  • The Translation Operator (tr///)
    • The Translation Options
  • The Binding Operators
  • Character Classes
  • Quantifiers
  • Pattern Memory
  • Pattern Precedence
  • Extension Syntax
  • Pattern Examples
  • Some Practical Examples
    • Using the Match Operator
    • Using the Substitution Operator
    • Example: Using the Translation Operator
    • Example: Using the Split() Function
• Reports
  • Format Statements
  • Field Lines
  • Report Headings
• Special Variables
  • What Are the Special Variables?
  • Example: Using the DATA File Handle
  • Example: Using the %ENV Variable
• Handling Errors and Signals
  • Checking for Errors
  • Using errno
  • Using the || Logical Operator
  • Using the die() Function
  • Using the warn() Function
  • Trapping Fatal Errors
    • Using the eval() Function
  • Signals
    • How to Handle a Signal
• Objects in Perl
  • What are objects?
  • Classes
  • Abtraction
  • Polymorphism:Overriding Methods
  • Encapsulation:Keeping Code and Data Together
  • Objects in Perl
    • Bless the Hash and Pass the Reference
    • Initializing Properties
    • Using Named Parameters in Constructors
    • Inheritance: Perl Style
    • Polymorphism
    • One Class Can Contain Another
  • Static Versus Regular Methods and Variables
• Perl Modules
  • Module Constructors and Destructors
    • The BEGIN Block
    • The END Block
  • Symbol Tables
  • The require Compiler Directive
  • The use Compiler Directive
  • Pragma in Perl
  • The strict Pragma
  • The Standard Modules
  • strict, my() and Modules
  • Module Examples
    • The Carp Module
    • The English Module
    • The Env Module
• Debugging Perl
  • Syntax Errors
  • Common Syntax Errors
  • Logic Errors
    • Using the -w Command-Line Option
    • Being Strict with Your Variables
    • Stepping Through Your Script
      • Displaying Information
      • Using Breakpoints
    • Creating Command Aliases
    • Using the Debugger as an Interactive Interpreter
  • Summary
• Perl Command-Line Options
  • How Are the Options Specified?
  • The Command-line Options
  • Example uses of command-line options
    • Using the -0 Option
    • Using the -n and -p Options
    • Using the -i Option
    • Using the -s Option
  • Summary
• Networking with Perl
  • Sockets
  • Clients and Servers
    • The Server Side of a Conversation
    • The Client Side of a Conversation
  • Some Network Examples
    • Using the Time Service
    • Sending Mail (SMTP)
      • The MAIL Command
      • The RCPT Command
      • The DATA Command
      • Reporting Undeliverable Mail
      • Using Perl to Send Mail
  • Receiving Mail (POP)
    • Checking for Upness (Echo)
  • Transferring Files (FTP)
    • The World Wide Web (HTTP)
• CGI Programming in Perl
  • CGI Scripting
    • What is a CGI Script?
    • Writing and Running CGI Scripts
    • Why Use Perl for CGI?
    • CGI Apps versus Java Applets
    • Should You Use CGI Modules?
  • How Does CGI Work?
  • Calling Your CGI Program
  • Beginning CGI Programming in Perl
    • CGI Script Output
    • A First Perl CGI Script
    • Exectiion of CGI Programs
    • Why Are File Permissions Important in UNIX?
  • HTTP Headers
    • CGI and Environment Variables
  • URL Encoding
  • Security
    • CGIwrap and Security
• The Other Side of CGI:Input -- HTML Forms
  • A Brief Overview of HTML
  • Server-Side Includes
  • Forms: Facilitating User Input and Interaction
    • Forms and CGI: What are they?
    • Some Example Forms
    • The FORM Tag
    • Entering Data
      • The Submit Button
      • Text Input
    • Password
    • Associating labels with text and password input
    • Radio Buttons
    • Checkboxes
    • Assigning Initial Input Values to
    • Select
    • Textarea
    • Hidden Input
    • An Example Form
    • HTML Forms as an Interface to Databases
    • Further Information
  • CGI Script Input: Accepting Input To Perl Scripts
    • Accepting Input from the Browser
    • Passing Data to a CGI Script
    • A Simple Form CGI Script Call
    • The Other Side -- receiving and processing information in CGI ( Perl) script
    • cgi-lib.pl
    • The cgi.pm module
    • A Minimal Form Response CGI Perl Script
    • Multiple argument input to a Perl CGI script
• Some Example Perl CGI Scripts
  • Red, Green and Blue to Hexadecimal Converter
  • An Address Book Search Engine
  • Creating a Guest Book
  • A Web Page Counter
• Using Perl with Web Servers
  • Server Log Files
  • Reading a Log File In Perl
  • Listing Access by Document
  • Looking at the Status Code
  • Existing Log File Analyzing Programs
  • Creating Your Own CGI Log File
• Internet Resources
  • Web Sites
  • Usenet Newsgroups
• A Quick Quide to HTML
  • Basic HTML Programming
    • HTML
    • Hypertext Terminology
    • Creating HTML Documents
    • Learning HTML
    • Anatomy of Any HTML Document
    • HTML Tags
      • Basic HTML Page Structure
    • Summary of Basic HTML Tags
    • Bare-bones example of HTML
    • Basic HTML Coding
      • Head elements
    • The Body Element
    • Headings
    • Paragraphs
    • Comments
    • Links and Anchors
      • Linking to Other Documents
    • Relative, Absolute and remote Links
      • Anchors
    • Lists
      • Unordered or Bulleted lists
      • Ordered or Numbered lists
      • Glossary or Definition Lists
      • Nesting Lists
    • Preformatted Text
    • In-Line Images
    • External Images, Sounds, Video
    • Things to remember when HTML programming
  • Text Formatting with HTML
    • Logical Character Formatting
    • Physical Character formatting
    • Special Characters
    • Horizontal rules and Line breaks
    • Fonts and Font Sizes
  • Recommended Reading