What is Perl and what is it used for

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose programming language known for its text processing capabilities and versatility. Originally developed by Larry Wall in the late 1980s, Perl is widely used for system administration, web development, network programming, and data manipulation. Its rich set of libraries and modules, available through the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN), make it a powerful tool for developers.

Common uses of Perl include:

  • Web development (CGI scripting)
  • Text processing and manipulation
  • System administration tasks and automation
  • Database interaction and data analysis
  • Network programming

Here is a simple example of a Perl script that prints "Hello, World!" to the console:

#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use warnings; print "Hello, World!\n";

Perl programming language web development text processing system administration data analysis