(PERL) : Practical Report and Extraction Language

Practical Report and Extraction Language
(PERL)
Introduction
What is PERL?
Practical Report and Extraction Language. It is an interpreted language optimized for scanning arbitrary text files, extracting information from them, and printing reports based on that information. Very powerful string handling features. Available on all platforms.
Internet & Web Based Technology
Main Advantages
Speed of development
You can enter the program in a text file, and just run it. It is an interpretive language; no compiler is needed.
It is powerful
The regular expressions of Perl are extremely powerful. Uses sophisticated pattern matching techniques to scan large amounts of data very quickly.
Portability
Perl is a standard language and is available on all platforms. Free versions are available on the Internet.
Editing Perl programs

No sophisticated editing tool is needed. Any simple text editor like Notepad or vi will do.
Flexibility
Perl does not limit the size of your data. If memory is available, Perl can handle the whole file as a single string. Allows one to write simple programs to perform complex tasks.
How to run Perl?

Perl can be downloaded from the Internet.
Available on almost all platforms.
Assumptions:
For Windows operating system, you can run Perl programs from the command prompt. Run cmd to get command prompt window. For Unix/Linux, you can run directly from the shell prompt.
Working through an example

Recommended steps:
Create a directory/folder where you will be storing the Perl files. Using any text editor, create a file test.pl with the following content: print Good day\n; print This is my first Perl program\n; Execute the program by typing the following at the command prompt: perl test.pl
On Unix/Linux, an additional line has to be given at the beginning of every Perl program.
#!/usr/bin/perl print Good day\n; print This is my first Perl program \n;
Variables
Scalar variables
A scalar variable holds a single value. Other variable types are also available (array and associative array) to be discussed later. A $ is used before the name of a variable to indicate that it is a scalar variable. $xyz = 20;
Some examples:
$a = 10; $name=Indranil Sen Gupta; $average = 28.37; Variables do not have any fixed types. Variables can be printed as: print My name is $name, the average temperature is $average\n;
Data types:
Perl does not specify the types of variables. It is a loosely typed language. Languages like C or java are strongly typed.
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Variable Interpolation
A powerful feature
Variable names are automatically replaced by values when they appear in double-quoted strings.
An example:
$stud = Rupak; $marks = 75; print Marks obtained by $stud is $marks\n; print Marks obtained by $stud is $marks\n;
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The program will give the following output: Marks obtained by Rupak is 75 Marks obtained by $stud is $marks What do we see: If we need to do variable interpolation, use double quotes; otherwise, use single quotes.
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Another example:
$Expense = $100; print The expenditure is $Expense.\n;
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Expressions with Scalars

Illustrated through examples (syntax similar to C)
$abc = 10; $abc++; $total- -; $a = $b ** 10; # exponentiation $a = $b % 10; # modulus $balance = $balance + $deposit; $balance += $deposit;
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Operations on strings:
Concatenation: the dot (.) is used. $a = Good; $b = day; $c = \n; $total = $a.$b.$c; # concatenate the strings $a .= day\n; # add to the string $a
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Arithmetic operations on strings $a = bat; $b = $a + 1; print $a, and , $b; will print bat and bau
Operations carried out based on ASCII codes. May not always be meaningful.
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String repetition operator (x). $a = $b x3; will concatenate three copies of $b and assign it to $a. print Ba. nax2; will print the string banana.
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String as a Number
A string can be used in an arithmetic expression.
How is the value evaluated? When converting a string to a number, Perl takes any spaces, an optional minus sign, and as many digits it can find (with dot) at the beginning of the string, and ignores everything else. 23.54 123Hello25 banana evaluates to 23.54 evaluates to 123 evaluates to 0
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Escaping
The character \ is used as the escape character.
It escapes all of Perls special characters (e.g., $, @, #, etc.). $num = 20; print Value of \$num is $num\n; print The windows path is c:\\perl\\;
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Line Oriented Quoting

Perl supports specification of a string spanning multiple lines.
Use the marker <<. Follow it by a string, which is used to terminate the quoted material.
Example:
print << terminator; Hello, how are you? Good day. terminator
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Another example:
print print print print print <HTML>\n; <HEAD><TITLE>Test page </TITLE></HEAD>\n; <BODY>\n; <H2>This is a test document.<H2>\n; </BODY></HTML>;
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print << EOM; <HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>Test page </TITLE></HEAD> <BODY> <H2>This is a test document.<H2> </BODY></HTML> EOM
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Lists and Arrays
Basic Difference
List is an ordered list of scalars. Array is a variable that holds a list. Each element of an array is a scalar. The size of an array:
Lower limit: 0 Upper limit: no specific limit; depends on virtual memory.
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List Literal
Examples:
(10, 20, 50, 100) (red', blue", green") (a", 1, 2, 3, b') ($a, 12) () (10..20) (A..Z)
# empty list # list constructor function # same, for lettere\s
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Specifying Array Variable

We use the special character @.
@months # denotes an array
The individual elements of the array are scalars, and can be referred to as:
$months[0] $months[1] # first element of @months # second element of @months
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Initializing an Array
Two ways:
Specify values, separated by commas. @color = (red, green, blue, black); Use the quote words (qw) function, that uses space as the delimiter: @color = qw (red green blue black);
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Array Assignment
Assign from a list of literals @numbers = (1, 2, 3); @colors = (red, green, blue); From the contents of another array. @array1 = @array2; Using the qw function: @word = qw (Hello good morning); Combination of above: @allcolors = (white, @colors, brown);
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Some other examples: @xyz = (2..5); @xyz = (1, @xyz); @xyz = (@xyz, 6);
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Multiple Assignments
($x, $y, $y) = (10, 20, 30);
($x, $y) = ($y, $x);
# swap elements
($a, @col) = (red, green, blue); # $a gets the value red # @col gets the value (green, blue)
($first, @val, $last) = (1, 2, 3, 4); # $first gets the value 1 # @val gets the value (2, 3, 4) # $last is undefined
Internet & Web Based Technology 30
Number of Elements in Array

Two ways:
$size = scalar @colors; $size = @colors;
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Accessing Elements
@list = (1, 2, 3, 4); $first = $list[0]; $fourth = $list[3]; $list[1]++; $x = $list[5]; # array becomes (1, 3, 3, 4) # $x gets the value undef
$list[2] = Go; # array becomes (1, 2, Go, 4)
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The $# is the index of the last element of the array.

@value = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5); print $#value \n; # prints 4
An empty array has the value

$#value = -1;
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shift and unshift

They operate on the front of the array.
shift removes the first element of the array. unshift replaces the element at the start of the array.
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Example:
@color = qw (red, blue, green, black); $first = shift @color; # $first gets red, and @color becomes # (blue, green, black) unshift (@color, white); # @color becomes (white, blue, green, black)
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pop and push

They operate on the bottom of the array.
pop removes the last element of the array. push replaces the last element of the array.
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Example:
@color = qw (red, blue, green, black); $first = pop @color; # $first gets black, and @color becomes # (red, blue, green) push (@color, white); # @color becomes (red, blue, green, white)
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Reversing an Array
By using the reverse keyword.
@names = (Mina, Tina, Rina) @rev = reverse @names; # Reversed list stored in rev. @names = reverse @names; # Original array is reversed.
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Printing an Array
Example:
@colors = qw (red, green, blue); print @colors; # prints without spaces redgreenblue print @colors; # prints with spaces red green blue
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Sort the Elements of an Array

Using the sort keyword, by default we can sort the elements of an array lexicographically.
Elements considered as strings. @colors = qw (red blue green black); @sort_col = sort @colors # Array @sort_col is (black blue green red)
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Another example: @num = qw (10 2 5 22 7 15); @new = sort @num; # @new will contain (10 15 2 22 5 7) How do sort numerically? @num = qw (10 2 5 22 7 15); @new = sort {$a <=> $b} @num; # @new will contain (2 5 7 10 15 22)
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The splice function

Arguments to the splice function:
The first argument is an array. The second argument is an offset (index number of the list element to begin splicing at). Third argument is the number of elements to remove. @colors = (red, green, blue, black); @middle = splice (@colors, 1, 2); # @middle contains the elements removed
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File Handling
Interacting with the user

Read from the keyboard (standard input).
Use the file handle <STDIN>. Very simple to use. print Enter your name: ; $name = <STDIN>; # Read from keyboard print Good morning, $name. \n; $name also contains the newline character. Need to chop it off.
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The chop Function

The chop function removes the last character of whatever it is given to chop. In the following example, it chops the newline.
print Enter your name: ; chop ($name = <STDIN>); # Read from keyboard and chop newline print Good morning, $name. \n;
chop removes the last character irrespective of whether it is a newline or not.

Sometimes dangerous.
Safe chopping: chomp

The chomp function works similar to chop, with the difference that it chops off the last character only if it is a newline.
print Enter your name: ; chomp ($name = <STDIN>); # Read from keyboard and chomp newline print Good morning, $name. \n;
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File Operations
Opening a file
The open command opens a file and returns a file handle. For standard input, we have a predefined handle <STDIN>. $fname = /home/isg/report.txt; open XYZ , $fname; while (<XYZ>) { print Line number $. : $_; }
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Checking the error code: $fname = /home/isg/report.txt; open XYZ, $fname or die Error in open: $!; while (<XYZ>) { print Line number $. : $_; } $. $_ $i returns the line number (starting at 1) returns the contents of last match returns the error code/message
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Reading from a file:

The last example also illustrates file reading. The angle brackets (< >) are the line input operators. The data read goes into $_
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Writing into a file:

$out = /home/isg/out.txt; open XYZ , >$out or die Error in write: $!; for $i (1..20) { print XYZ $i :: Hello, the time is, scalar(localtime), \n; }
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Appending to a file:
$out = /home/isg/out.txt; open XYZ , >>$out or die Error in write: $!; for $i (1..20) { print XYZ $i :: Hello, the time is, scalar(localtime), \n; }
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Closing a file:
close XYZ;
where XYZ is the file handle of the file being closed.
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Printing a file:
This is very easy to do in Perl. $input = /home/isg/report.txt; open IN, $input or die Error in open: $!; while (<IN>) { print; } close IN;
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Command Line Arguments

Perl uses a special array called @ARGV.
List of arguments passed along with the script name on the command line. Example: if you invoke Perl as: perl test.pl red blue green then @ARGV will be (red blue green). Printing the command line arguments: foreach (@ARGV) { print $_ \n; }
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Standard File Handles

<STDIN>
Read from standard input (keyboard).
<STDOUT>
Print to standard output (screen).
<STDERR>
For outputting error messages.
<ARGV>
Reads the names of the files from the command line and opens them all.
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@ARGV array contains the text after the programs name in command line. <ARGV> takes each file in turn. If there is nothing specified on the command line, it reads from the standard input. Since this is very commonly used, Perl provides an abbreviation for <ARGV>, namely, < > An example is shown.
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$lineno = 1; while (< >) { print $lineno ++; print $lineno: $_; } In this program, the name of the file has to be given on the command line. perl list_lines.pl file1.txt perl list_lines.pl a.txt b.txt c.txt
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Control Structures
Introduction
There are many control constructs in Perl.
Similar to those in C. Would be illustrated through examples. The available constructs: for foreach if/elseif/else while do, etc.
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Concept of Block
A statement block is a sequence of statements enclosed in matching pair of { and }.
if (year == 2000) { print You have entered new millenium.\n; }
Blocks may be nested within other blocks.
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Definition of TRUE in Perl

In Perl, only three things are considered as FALSE:
The value 0 The empty string ( ) undef
Everything else in Perl is TRUE.
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if .. else
General syntax:
if (test expression) { # if TRUE, do this } else { # if FALSE, do this }
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Examples:
if ($name eq isg) { print Welcome Indranil. \n; } else { print You are somebody else. \n; } if ($flag == 1) { print There has been an error. \n; } # The else block is optional
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elseif
Example:
print Enter your id: ; chomp ($name = <STDIN>); if ($name eq isg) { print Welcome Indranil. \n; } elseif ($name eq bkd) { print Welcome Bimal. \n; } elseif ($name eq akm) { print Welcome Arun. \n; } else { print Sorry, I do not know you. \n; }
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while
Example: (Guessing the correct word)
$your_choice = ; $secret_word = India; while ($your_choice ne $secret_word) { print Enter your guess: \n; chomp ($your_choice = <STDIN>); } print Congratulations! Mera Bharat Mahan.
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for
Syntax same as in C. Example:
for ($i=1; $i<10; $i++) { print Iteration number $i \n; }
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foreach
Very commonly used function that iterates over a list. Example:
@colors = qw (red blue green); foreach $name (@colors) { print Color is $name. \n; }
We can use for in place of foreach.
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Example: Counting odd numbers in a list

@xyz = qw (10 15 17 28 12 77 56); $count = 0; foreach $number (@xyz) { if (($number % 2) == 1) { print $number is odd. \n; $count ++; } print Number of odd numbers is $count. \n; }
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Breaking out of a loop

The statement last, if it appears in the body of a loop, will cause Perl to immediately exit the loop.
Used with a conditional. last if (i > 10);
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Skipping to end of loop

For this we use the statement next.
When executed, the remaining statements in the loop will be skipped, and the next iteration will begin. Also used with a conditional.
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Relational Operators
The Operators Listed

Comparison Equal Not equal Greater than Less than Greater or equal Less or equal Numeric == != > < >= <= String eq ne gt lt ge le
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Logical Connectives
If $a and $b are logical expressions, then the following conjunctions are supported by Perl:
$a and $b $a or $b not $a $a && $b $a || $b ! $a
Both the above alternatives are equivalent; first one is more readable.
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String Functions
The Split Function

split is used to split a string into multiple pieces using a delimiter, and create a list out of it.
$_=Red:Blue:Green:White:255'; @details = split /:/, $_; foreach (@details) { print $_\n; }
The first parameter to split is a regular expression that specifies what to split on. The second specifies what to split.
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Another example:
$_= Indranil isg@iitkgp.ac.in 283496; ($name, $email, $phone) = split / /, $_;
By default, split breaks a string using space as delimiter.
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The Join Function

join is used to concatenate several elements into a single string, with a specified delimiter in between.
$new = join ' ', $x1, $x2, $x3, $x4, $x5, $x6; $sep = ::; $new = join $sep, $x1, $x2, $w3, @abc, $x4, $x5;
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Regular Expressions
Introduction
One of the most useful features of Perl. What is a regular expression (RegEx)?
Refers to a pattern that follows the rules of syntax. Basically specifies a chunk of text. Very powerful way to specify string patterns.
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An Example: without RegEx

$found = 0; $_ = Hello good morning everybody; $search = every; foreach $word (split) { if ($word eq $search) { $found = 1; last; } } if ($found) { print Found the word every \n; }
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Using RegEx
$_ = Hello good morning everybody; if ($_ =~ /every/) { print Found the word every \n; }
Very easy to use. The text between the forward slashes defines the regular expression. If we use !~ instead of =~, it means that the pattern is not present in the string.
The previous example illustrates literal texts as regular expressions.

Simplest form of regular expression.
Point to remember:
When performing the matching, all the characters in the string are considered to be significant, including punctuation and white spaces. For example, /every / will not match in the previous example.
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Another Simple Example

$_ = Welcome to IIT Kharagpur, students; if (/IIT K/) { print IIT K is present in the string\n; { if (/Kharagpur students/) { print This will not match\n; }
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Types of RegEx
Basically two types:
Matching Checking if a string contains a substring. The symbol m is used (optional if forward slash used as delimiter). Substitution Replacing a substring by another substring. The symbol s is used.
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Matching
The =~ Operator
Tells Perl to apply the regular expression on the right to the value on the left. The regular expression is contained within delimiters (forward slash by default).
If some other delimiter is used, then a preceding m is essential.
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Examples
$string = Good day; if ($string =~ m/day/) { print Match successful \n"; } if ($string =~ /day/) { print Match successful \n"; }
Both forms are equivalent. The m in the first form is optional.
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$string = Good day; if ($string =~ m@day@) { print Match successful \n"; } if ($string =~ m[day[ ) { print Match successful \n"; }
Both forms are equivalent. The character following m is the delimiter.
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Character Class
Use square brackets to specify any value in the list of possible values.
my $string = Some test string 1234"; if ($string =~ /[0123456789]/) { print "found a number \n"; } if ($string =~ /[aeiou]/) { print "Found a vowel \n"; } if ($string =~ /[0123456789ABCDEF]/) { print "Found a hex digit \n"; }
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Character Class Negation

Use ^ at the beginning of the character class to specify any single element that is not one of these values.
my $string = Some test string 1234"; if ($string =~ /[^aeiou]/) { print "Found a consonant\n"; }
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Pattern Abbreviations
Useful in common cases .
\d \w \s \D \W \S Anything except newline (\n) A digit, same as [0-9] A word character, [0-9a-zA-Z_] A space character (tab, space, etc) Not a digit, same as [^0-9] Not a word character Not a space character
$string = Good and bad days"; if ($string =~ /d..s/) { print "Found something like days\n"; } if ($string =~ /\w\w\w\w\s/) { print "Found a four-letter word!\n"; }
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Anchors
Three ways to define an anchor:
^ :: anchors to the beginning of string $ :: anchors to the end of the string \b :: anchors to a word boundary
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if ($string =~ /^\w/) :: does string start with a word character? if ($string =~ /\d$/) :: does string end with a digit? if ($string =~ /\bGood\b/) :: Does string contain the word Good?
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Multipliers
There are three multiplier characters.
* :: Find zero or more occurrences + :: Find one or more occurrences ? :: Find zero or one occurrence
Some example usages:

$string =~ /^\w+/; $string =~ /\d?/; $string =~ /\b\w+\s+/; $string =~ /\w+\s?$/;
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Substitution
Basic Usage
Uses the s character. Basic syntax is:
$new =~ s/pattern_to_match/new_pattern/; What this does? Looks for pattern_to_match in $new and, if found, replaces it with new_pattern. It looks for the pattern once. That is, only the first occurrence is replaced. There is a way to replace all occurrences (to be discussed shortly).
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Examples
$xyz = Rama and Lakshman went to the forest; $xyz =~ s/Lakshman/Bharat/; $xyz =~ s/R\w+a/Bharat/; $xyz =~ s/[aeiou]/i/; $abc = A year has 11 months \n; $abc =~ s/\d+/12/; $abc =~ s /\n$/ /;
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Common Modifiers
Two such modifiers are defined:
/i :: /g :: ignore case match/substitute all occurrences
$string = Ram and Shyam are very honest"; if ($string =~ /RAM/i) { print Ram is present in the string; } $string =~ s/m/j/g; # Ram -> Raj, Shyam -> Shyaj
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Use of Memory in RegEx

We can use parentheses to capture a piece of matched text for later use.
Perl memorizes the matched texts. Multiple sets of parentheses can be used.
How to recall the captured text?

Use \1, \2, \3, etc. if still in RegEx. Use $1, $2, $3 if after the RegEx.
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Examples
$string = Ram and Shyam are honest"; $string =~ /^(\w+)/; print $1, "\n"; $string =~ /(\w+)$/; print $1, "\n";
# prints Ra\n
# prints st\n
$string =~ /^(\w+)\s+(\w+)/; print "$1 $2\n"; # prints Ramnd Shyam are honest;
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$string = Ram and Shyam are very poor"; if ($string =~ /(\w)\1/) { print "found 2 in a row\n"; } if ($string =~ /(\w+).*\1/) { print "found repeat\n"; } $string =~ s/(\w+) and (\w+)/$2 and $1/;
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Example 1
validating user input
print Enter age (or 'q' to quit): "; chomp (my $age = <STDIN>); exit if ($age =~ /^q$/i); if ($age =~ /\D/) { print "$age is a non-number!\n"; }
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Example 2: validation contd.

File has 2 columns, name and age, delimited by one or more spaces. Can also have blank lines or commented lines (start with #).
open IN, $file or die "Cannot open $file: $!"; while (my $line = <IN>) { chomp $line; next if ($line =~ /^\s*$/ or $line =~ /^\s*#/); my ($name, $age) = split /\s+/, $line; print The age of $name is $age. \n"; }
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Some Special Variables
$&, $` and $
What is $&?
It represents the string matched by the last successful pattern match.
What is $`?
It represents the string preceding whatever was matched by the last successful pattern match.
What is $?
It represents the string following whatever was matched by the last successful pattern match .
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Example: $_ = 'abcdefghi'; /def/; print "$\`:$&:$'\n"; # prints abc:def:ghi
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So actually .
S` represents pre match $& represents present match $ represents post match
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Associative Arrays
Introduction
Associative arrays, also known as hashes.
Similar to a list Every list element consists of a pair, a hash key and a value. Hash keys must be unique. Accessing an element Unlike an array, an element value can be found out by specifying the hash key value. Associative search. A hash array name must begin with a %.
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Specifying Hash Array

Two ways to specify:
Specifying hash keys and values, in proper sequence. %directory = ( Rabi, 258345, Chandan, 325129, Atul, 445287, Sruti, 237221 );
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Using the => operator. %directory = ( Rabi => 258345, Chandan => 325129, Atul => 445287, Sruti => 237221 ); Whatever appears on the left hand side of => is treated as a double-quoted string.
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Conversion Array <=> Hash

An array can be converted to hash.
@list = qw (Rabi 258345 Chandan 325129 Atul 445287 Sruti 237221); %directory = @list;
A hash can be converted to an array:

@list = %directory;
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Accessing a Hash Element

Given the hash key, the value can be accessed using { }. Example:
@list = qw (Rabi 258345 Chandan 325129 Atul 445287 Sruti 237221); %directory = @list; print Atuls number is $directory{Atul} \n;
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Modifying a Value
By simple assignment:
@list = qw (Rabi 258345 Chandan 325129 Atul 445287 Sruti 237221); %directory = @list; $directory{Sruti} = 453322; $directory{Chandan} ++;
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Deleting an Entry
A (hash key, value) pair can be deleted from a hash array using the delete function.
Hash key has to be specified. @list = qw (Rabi 258345 Chandan 325129 Atul 445287 Sruti 237221); %directory = @list; delete $directory{Atul};
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Swapping Keys and Values

Why needed?
Suppose we want to search for a person, given the phone number. @list = qw (Rabi 258345 Chandan 325129 Atul 445287 Sruti 237221); %directory = @list; %revdir = reverse %directory; print $revdir{237221} \n;
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Using Functions keys, values

keys returns all the hash keys as a list. values returns all the values as a list.
@list = qw (Rabi 258345 Chandan 325129 Atul 445287 Sruti 237221); %directory = @list; @all_names = keys %directory; @all_phones = values %directory;
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An Example
List all person names and telephone numbers.
@list = qw (Rabi 258345 Chandan 325129 Atul 445287 Sruti 237221); %directory = @list; foreach $name (keys %directory) { print $name \t $directory{$name} \n; }
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Subroutines
Introduction
A subroutine ..
Is a user-defined function. Allows code reuse. Define ones, use multiple times.
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How to use?
Defining a subroutine
sub test_sub { # the body of the subroutine goes here # .. }
Calling a subroutine
Use the & prefix to call a subroutine. &test_sub; &gcd ($val1, $val2); # Two parameters However, the & is optional.
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Subroutine Return Values

Use the return statement.
This is also optional. If the keyword return is omitted, Perl functions return the last value evaluated.
A subroutine can also return a non-scalar. Some examples are given next.
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Example 1
$name = Indranil'; welcome(); welcome_namei(); exit; sub welcome { print "hi there\n"; } sub welcome_name { print "hi $name\n"; # uses global $name variable } # call the first sub # call the second sub
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Example 2
# Return a non-scalar sub return_alpha_and_beta { return ($alpha, $beta); } $alpha = 15; $beta = 25; @c = return_alpha_and_beta; # @c gets (5,6)
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Passing Arguments
All arguments are passed into a Perl function through the special array $_.
Thus, we can send as many arguments as we want.
Individual arguments can also be accessed as $_[0], $_[1], $_[2], etc.
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Example 3
# Two different ways to write a subroutine to add two numbers sub add_ver1 { ($first, $second) = @_; return ($first + $second); } sub add_ver2 { return $_[0] + $_[1]; # $_[0] and $_[1] are the first two # elements of @_ }
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Example 4
$total = find_total (5, 10, -12, 7, 40); sub find_total { # adds all numbers passed to the sub $sum = 0; for $num (@_) { $sum += $num; } return $sum; }
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my variables
We can define local variables using the my keyword.
Confines a variable to a region of code (within a block { } ). my variables storage is freed whenever the variable goes out of scope. All variables in Perl is by default global.
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Example 5
$sum = 7; $total = add_any (20, 10, -15); # $total gets 15 sub add_any { # local variable, won't interfere # with global $sum my $sum = 0; for my $num (@_ ) { $sum += $num; } return $sum; }
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Writing CGI Scripts in Perl
Introduction
Perl provides with a number of facilities to facilitate writing of CGI scripts.
Standard library modules. Included as part of the Perl distribution. No need to install them separately. #!/usr/bin/perl use CGI qw (:standard);
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Some of the functions included in the CGI.pm (.pm is optional) are:

header This prints out the Content-type header. With no arguments, the type is assumed to be text/html. start_html This prints out the <html>, <head>, <title> and <body> tags. Accepts optional arguments.
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end_html This prints out the closing HTML tags, </body>, >/html>.
Typical usages and arguments would be illustrated through examples.
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Example 1 (without using CGI.pm)

#!/usr/bin/perl print <<TO_END; Content-type: text/html <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE> Server Details </TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> Server name: $ENV{SERVER_NAME} <BR> Server port number: $ENV{SERVER_PORT} <BR> Server protocol: $ENV{SERVER_PROTOCOL} </BODY> </HTML> TO_END
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Example 2 (using CGI.pm)

#!/usr/bin/perl -wT use CGI qw(:standard); print header (text/html); print start_html ("Hello World"); print "<h2>Hello, world!</h2>\n"; print end_html;
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Example 3: Decoding Form Input

sub parse_form_data { my %form_data; my $name_value; my @nv_pairs = split /&/, $ENV{QUERY_STRING}; if ( $ENV{REQUEST_METHOD} eq POST ) { my $query = ; read (STDIN, $query, $ENV{CONTENT_LENGTH}); push @nv_pairs, split /&/, $query; }
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foreach $name_value (@nv_pairs) { my ($name, $value) = split /=/, $name_value; $name =~ tr/+/ /; $name =~ s/%([\da-f][\da-f])/chr (hex($1))/egi; $value =~ tr/+/ /; $value =~ s/%([\da-f][\da-f])/chr (hex($1))/egi; $form_data{$name} = $value; } return %form_data; }
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Using CGI.pm
The decoded form value can be directly accessed as:
$value = param (fieldname);
An equivalent Perl code as in the last example using CGI.pm

Shown in next slide.
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Example 4
#!/usr/bin/perl -wT use CGI qw(:standard); my %form_data; foreach my $name (param() ) { $form_data {$name} = param($name); }
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Example 5: sending mail

#!/usr/bin/perl -wT use CGI qw(:standard); print header; print start_html (Response to Guestbook); $ENV{PATH} = /usr/sbin; # to locate sendmail open (MAIL, | /usr/sbin/sendmail oi t); # open the pipe to sendmail my $recipient = xyz@hotmail.com; print MAIL To: $recipient\n; print MAIL From: isg\@cse.iitkgp.ac.in\n; print MAIL Subject: Submitted data\n\n;
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foreach my $xyz (param()) { print MAIL $xyz = , param($xyz), \n; } close (MAIL); print <<EOM; <h2>Thanks for the comments</h2> <p>Hope you visit again.</p> EOM print end_html;
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(PERL) : Practical Report and Extraction Language

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Practical Report and Extraction Language

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Editing Perl programs

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How to run Perl?

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Working through an example

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Expressions with Scalars

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Line Oriented Quoting

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Lists and Arrays

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# empty list # list constructor function # same, for lettere\s

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Specifying Array Variable

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($x, $y) = ($y, $x);

Number of Elements in Array

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$list[2] = Go; # array becomes (1, 2, Go, 4)

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The $# is the index of the last element of the array.

An empty array has the value

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shift and unshift

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pop and push

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Sort the Elements of an Array

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The splice function

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Interacting with the user

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The chop Function

chop removes the last character irrespective of whether it is a newline or not.

Safe chopping: chomp

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