A FAQ is a Frequently Asked Questions list, with answers. FAQs are traditionally associated with Usenet newsgroups, but the term has since been adopted by web sites, technical support departments, and even health care pamphlets. In general, FAQs are written and maintained on a volunteer basis by dedicated (and generous) members of the community. The Perl FAQ is maintained by Tom Christiansen and Nathan Torkington.

The Perl FAQ was created to minimize traffic on the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup when it became clear that the same questions were being asked over and over again. However, the FAQ has transcended into a general-purpose starting point for learning anything about Perl.

The FAQ is distributed in several different formats, including HTML, PostScript, and plain ASCII text. The main FAQ source is located at http://www.perl.com/pub/q/faqs. You can also find it at http://perlfaq.cpan.org/, and the latest version of the FAQ is posted on a semi-regular basis on comp.lang.perl.misc.

In addition to the general Perl FAQ, there are also several niche FAQs that are Perl-related. They are:

By no means should you consider this to be an exhaustive list. Also check out appropriate mailing lists (see Section 1.4.3); you’ll find that many mailing lists also maintain their own FAQs.