#pragma section-numbers off
CategoryComputingTips > PerlCompTips

== Perl Tips ==

=== Oneliners ===

 * Use `perl -le '... print ...'` instead of `perl -e '... print ... ,"\n";'` to get newlines.  See `man perl` for the gory details about '''`-l`'''
 * Use `perl -i.bak` with `-pe` something to modify text and a list of filenames for a safe way to try your perl on files e.g. `perl -i.bak -pe 's/^bar/baz/' *`

=== Documentation ===

 * `perldoc` is actually useful:
  * perldoc -f function
  * perldoc modulek
 * You can find module documentation for the latest versions on http://search.cpan.org/

=== rename ===

`rename` is bundled with perl and installed in all good perl installs :)

It's really useful as the syntax is
{{{
Usage: rename [-v] perlexpr [filenames]
}}}

So renaming multiple files according to a pattern becomes suddenly easy.
{{{
rename 'tr/A-Z/a-z/' *

rename 's/\.foo$/.bar/' *
}}}