Course Description

This 3-day,  Perl Programming Introduction training course provides the student with a solid, hands-on introduction to the Perl programming language.  After completing this course, students will be able to create basic Perl scripts.

Pre-requisites

Some programming experience in a structured language, such as C, C++, Java, COBOL, or Visual Basic.

Who is this course for?

For Software Developers, System Administrators, Software Testers, and Users who are new to the Perl language.

Further Training

After some further on-the-job experience with the Perl language, we recommend students consider attending our
Perl Programming Intermediate course to gain higher-level skills in the usage of Perl.

Course content

Meet Perl

Origin of Perl
Where to Get Perl
Invoking Perl
Perl Resources

Handling Numbers and strings (Scalars)

Numeric Literals
Manipulating Numbers
String Literals
Manipulating Strings
Single vs. Double Quotes|
Additional Resources

Using Variables and Data Structures

Scalars Variables
Array Variables
Associative Array Variables
Special Variables
The Environment Variable
The Argument Variable
Additional Resources

Flow Control

Blocks
The if Statement
The unless Statement
The while Statement
The until Statement
The do Statement
The for Statement: Review
The foreach Statement: Review
Loop Control: last
Loop Control: next
Additional Resources

Conditional Expressions
Numeric Comparison
String Comparison
Pattern Matching
Using the Outcome of a Statement
File Test Conditions
Complex Conditional Expressions
Additional Resources

Input and Output
Reading Input
while & until Loops
Record Separator Variable
The Diamond Operator
The Default Variable
Using Parentheses
Additional Resources

Advanced Input and Output
Filehandles
The die and warn Statements
Opening and Reading from Files
Opening and Writing to Files
Reading a Block of a Filehandle
Reading a Single Character
Piping in Perl
The format Statement
Here Documents
Additional Resources

Pattern Matching

Pattern Matching vs. Wildcards
Matching, Substituting and Translation Modifiers
Regular Expressions: Metacharacters
Regular Expressions: Classes
Regular Expressions: Backreferencing
Additional Resources

Perl Utilities
split
join
substr
index
rindex
grep
srand & rand
sleep
Additional Resources

File System and Process Control
Controlling the Filesystem within Perl
Working with Directories
Working with Files
Back-Quoting
The System Statement
Additional Resources

Functions
Creating Functions
Invoking Functions
Returning Values from Functions
Passing Parameters
Scope of Variables
local() vs. my()
Additional Resources

Using Modules
What are Modules?
Loading Modules with use
Other Functions of use
Additional Resources

Debugging Perl
The –w Switch
The Perl Debugger
Debugger Commands
Additional Resources