Introduction to Perl Scripting (TTEP100)

1. Language Overview

• Perl Overview
• The Perl Interpreter
• Running a Perl Application
• The Perl Help System
• Our First Perl Statement

2. Language Basics

• Language Basics
• Basic Language Rules
• Comments
• Scalar Variables
• Printing Scalar Variables
• Quoting Scalar Variables
• <STDIN> as a Scalar
• Cleaning up after Scalars
• "Special" Scalars
• Safe Coding with Scalars
• Scalar Operators

3. Arrays and List Data

• Arrays and List Data
• What is a List?
• Representing a List
• List Variables
• Assignment
• Retrieving List Values
• List Slices
• Special List Variables
• <STDIN> as a List
• Built-In List Functions
• The reverse Function
• The sort Function
• The push and pop Functions
• The shift and unshift Functions

4. Control Structures and Looping

• Control Structures and Looping
• Statement Blocks
• The if Statement
• The Truth in Perl
• The unless Statement
• The if/unless modifiers
• The while Statement
• The until Statement
• The do {} while/until Construct
• The for Statement
• The foreach Statement
• Modifying Looping Behavior
• The last Statement
• The next Statement
• The redo Statement

5. Hash Data

• Hash Data
• What is a Hash?
• Hash Variables
• Built-in Hash Variables
• Built-in Hash Functions
• The keys Function
• The values Function
• The each Function
• The defined Function
• The exists Function
• The delete Function

6. Input/Output

• Input/Output
• STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR
• More on STDOUT
• Formatted Output Using printf
• Format Control Strings
• Here Documents
• Using the <> (Diamond) Operator
• Creating Data Streams

About half of the course is devoted to hands-on labs.