A Practical Guide to Modern Perl 5 for Text Processing, Automation, and the Web

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Learn the Perl that people write today, from your first script to a tested command-line tool and a JSON web service.

Perl was built to make everyday programming jobs easy: pulling the important lines out of a log file, turning one text format into another, gluing programs together, and producing a report before the coffee gets cold. It still does those jobs remarkably well. Perl ships with almost every Unix-like system, its regular expressions set the standard many languages copied, and CPAN offers ready-made modules for nearly any task.

This book shows modern Perl: use v5.36 for strictness, warnings, and subroutine signatures in one line, try/catch, the new class feature, solid testing, and mature libraries for databases and the web. It teaches the language from the ground up, explains why Perl behaves the way it does (context, references, aliasing), and helps you read the older Perl you will meet in the wild with confidence.

What's inside

• Installing Perl on Windows, macOS, and Linux, perldoc, editors, scripts, and one-liners
• Scalars, numbers, strings, operators, control flow, and statement modifiers
• Lists, arrays, hashes, subroutines with signatures, and references with nested data structures
• Context, scope, my/our/local/state, modules, packages, Exporter, and @INC
• Regular expressions from first match to named captures, lookarounds, and readable /x patterns
• Files, directories, Unicode and encodings, CSV, JSON, and formatted reports
• Object-oriented Perl with bless, the modern class feature (5.38+), and Moo
• Error handling with die, eval, try/catch, exception objects, and Carp
• Sorting, closures, and List::Util; command-line tools with Getopt::Long, POD, pipelines, and the famous one-liners
• Testing with Test::More and prove; CPAN, cpanm, local::lib, cpanfile, and Carton
• Databases with DBI and SQLite, HTTP::Tiny, JSON APIs, and web services with Mojolicious
• Automation, processes, dates and times, debugging, best practices, Benchmark, and packaging a distribution

One running example, start to finish. You write the software for Driftmoor Parcels, a fictional regional courier company with three depots. It grows into a pricing module, a scan-log parser, dmtrack — a tested command-line tracking tool — and dmweb, a JSON web service backed by SQLite.

Real output. Core-Perl examples were run on Perl 5.42 while writing and show their real output, warnings, and error messages. Version-specific features are labeled, and there are no invented benchmarks. Every chapter includes Tips, Notes, Warnings, practice exercises with selected solutions, and Key Takeaways.

Format: PDF, 620 pages (A4), linked table of contents and bookmarks. English. First Edition, 2026. Published by thenexbooks. This book is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Perl Foundation.

Table of Contents

Part I — Getting Started

• Ch 1 · Why Perl? Text, Glue, and the Perl Way
• Ch 2 · Installing Perl, perldoc, Editors, and Your First Script
• Ch 3 · Scalars: Numbers, Strings, and Operators
• Ch 4 · Control Flow: Conditions, Loops, and Statement Modifiers
• Ch 5 · Lists and Arrays

Part II — Core Language

• Ch 6 · Hashes
• Ch 7 · Subroutines and Signatures
• Ch 8 · References and Nested Data Structures
• Ch 9 · Context, Scope, and Variables: my, our, local, and state
• Ch 10 · Modules and Packages: use, require, Exporter, and @INC

Part III — Text Processing

• Ch 11 · Regular Expressions I: Matching, Captures, and Substitution
• Ch 12 · Regular Expressions II: Named Captures, Modifiers, Lookarounds, and /x
• Ch 13 · Files, Directories, and I/O
• Ch 14 · Unicode and Encodings
• Ch 15 · Text Formats: CSV, JSON, and Formatted Reports

Part IV — Structured Programs

• Ch 16 · Object-Oriented Perl: Packages, bless, and Methods
• Ch 17 · Modern OO: The class Feature and Moo
• Ch 18 · Error Handling: die, eval, try/catch, Exception Objects, and Carp
• Ch 19 · Sorting, Closures, and Higher-Order Functions with List::Util
• Ch 20 · Command-Line Tools: @ARGV, Getopt::Long, POD, Pipelines, and One-Liners

Part V — Practical Perl

• Ch 21 · Testing with Test::More and prove
• Ch 22 · CPAN: cpanm, local::lib, cpanfile, and Choosing Good Modules
• Ch 23 · Databases with DBI and SQLite
• Ch 24 · HTTP and the Web: HTTP::Tiny, JSON APIs, and Mojolicious
• Ch 25 · Automation: Processes, Environment, Dates and Times, and Debugging

Part VI — Projects and Next Steps

• Ch 26 · Project: The dmtrack Scan-Log Analyzer End to End
• Ch 27 · Project: A Small JSON Web Service with Mojolicious and SQLite
• Ch 28 · Perl Best Practices, Performance, Packaging, and Where to Go Next

Appendices
A · Perl Syntax and Special Variables Cheat Sheet
B · perl Command-Line Switches and One-Liner Cookbook
C · Error and Warning Messages Field Guide
D · Glossary

Book details