Perl Installation on Linux Systems

This section describes how to verify Perl installation on Linux systems. The 'perl -v' command returns which version of Perl is installed on the Linux system.

If you are running a Linux system, Perl is already installed on the system. No need to do any extra installation work.

Here is what I did to verify the Perl installation on the Linux server of my Internet service provider in 2019:

/home/herong$ which perl
/usr/bin/perl

/home/herong$ perl -v
This is perl 5, version 26, subversion 1 (v5.26.1) built for
x86_64-linux-gnu-thread-multi (with 67 registered patches,
see perl -V for more detail)

Copyright 1987-2017, Larry Wall

Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License
or the GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5
source kit.

Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found
on this system using "man perl" or "perldoc perl".  If you have access
to the Internet, point your browser at http://www.perl.org/, the Perl
Home Page.

/home/herong$ man perl
PERL(1)           Perl Programmers Reference Guide           PERL(1)

NAME
  perl - The Perl 5 language interpreter

SYNOPSIS
  perl [ -sTtuUWX ]      [ -hv ] [ -V[:configvar] ]
       [ -cw ] [ -d[t][:debugger] ] [ -D[number/list] ]
       [ -pna ] [ -Fpattern ] [ -l[octal] ] [ -0[octal/hexadecimal] ]
       [ -Idir ] [ -m[-]module ] [ -M[-]'module...' ] [ -f ]
       [ -C [number/list] ]      [ -S ]      [ -x[dir] ]
       [ -i[extension] ]
       [ [-e|-E] 'command' ] [ -- ] [ programfile ] [ argument ]...

  For more information on these options, you can run "perldoc perlrun".

GETTING HELP
  The perldoc program gives you access to all the documentation that
  comes with Perl.  You can get more documentation, tutorials and
  community support online at <http://www.perl.org/>.
...

As you can see from the output, this Linux system has Perl 5.26.1 installed and ready to use.

Even on older versions of Linux systems, Perl was included in Linux distribution packages and installed automatically. Here is an example captured on the Linux server of my Internet service provider in 2009

/home/herong$ which perl
/usr/local/bin/perl

/home/herong$ perl -v
This is perl, v5.8.8 built for i486-linux-gnu-thread-multi

Copyright 1987-2006, Larry Wall

...

Here is another example captured on my old PC running a Linux 2.0.30 system in 1999:

/home/herong$ which perl
/usr/bin/perl

/home/herong$ perl -v
This is perl, version 5.004_03

Copyright 1987-1997, Larry Wall

...

Table of Contents

 About This Book

Perl on Linux Systems

Perl Installation on Linux Systems

 Running Perl Scripts on Linux Systems

 ActivePerl on Windows Systems

 Data Types: Values and Variables

 Expressions, Operations and Simple Statements

 User Defined Subroutines

 Perl Built-in Debugger

 Name Spaces and Perl Module Files

 Symbolic (or Soft) References

 Hard References - Addresses of Memory Objects

 Objects (or References) and Classes (or Packages)

 Typeglob and Importing Identifiers from Other Packages

 String Built-in Functions and Performance

 File Handles and Data Input/Output

 Open Files in Binary Mode

 Open Directories and Read File Names

 File System Functions and Operations

 Image and Picture Processing

 Using DBM Database Files

 Using MySQL Database Server

 Socket Communication Over the Internet

 XML::Simple Module - XML Parser and Generator

 XML Communication Model

 SOAP::Lite - SOAP Server-Client Communication Module

 Perl Programs as IIS Server CGI Scripts

 CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

 XML-RPC - Remote Procedure Call with XML and HTTP

 RPC::XML - Perl Implementation of XML-RPC

 Integrating Perl with Apache Web Server

 CGI.pm Module for Building Web Pages

 LWP::UserAgent and Web Site Testing

 Converting Perl Script to Executable Binary

 Managing Perl Engine and Modules on macOS

 Archived Tutorials

 References

 Full Version in PDF/EPUB