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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Perl</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../P.html" title="P"/><link rel="previous" href="perfect-programmer-syndrome.html" title="perfect programmer syndrome"/><link rel="next" href="person-of-no-account.html" title="person of no account"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Perl</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="perfect-programmer-syndrome.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">P</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="person-of-no-account.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="Perl"/><dt xmlns="" id="Perl"><b>Perl</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="pronunciation">/perl/</span>, <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [Practical Extraction and Report Language, a.k.a. Pathologically
Eclectic Rubbish Lister] An interpreted language developed by Larry Wall,
author of
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">patch</span>(1)</span>
and
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">rn</span>(1)</span>).
Superficially resembles <a href="../A/awk.html"><i class="glossterm">awk</i></a>, but is much hairier,
including many facilities reminiscent of
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">sed</span>(1)</span>
and shells and a comprehensive Unix system-call interface. Unix sysadmins,
who are almost always incorrigible hackers, generally consider it one of
the <a href="../L/languages-of-choice.html"><i class="glossterm">languages of choice</i></a>, and it is by far the most
widely used tool for making &#8216;live&#8217; web pages via CGI. Perl has
been described, in a parody of a famous remark about
<span class="citerefentry"><span class="refentrytitle">lex</span>(1)</span>,
as the <a href="../S/Swiss-Army-chainsaw.html"><i class="glossterm">Swiss-Army chainsaw</i></a> of Unix programming.
Though Perl is very useful, it would be a stretch to describe it as pretty
or <a href="../E/elegant.html"><i class="glossterm">elegant</i></a>; people who like clean, spare design
generally prefer <a href="Python.html"><i class="glossterm">Python</i></a>. See also <a href="../C/Camel-Book.html"><i class="glossterm">Camel
Book</i></a>, <a href="../T/TMTOWTDI.html"><i class="glossterm">TMTOWTDI</i></a>.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="perfect-programmer-syndrome.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../P.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="person-of-no-account.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">perfect programmer syndrome </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> person of no account</td></tr></table></div></body></html>