Perl is a programming language that is useful. By this, we mean that people don’t learn Perl just because they think they should, they learn Perl because they want to get something done.

This book is for Perl programmers who need to get things done. It’s for readers who have dabbled a little in Perl and want a single reference for all their needs. This book is part reference, part guide to the world of Perl. We cover the language itself, but also the Perl modules that are most popular—modules for CGI, database manipulation, XML processing, network programming, graphical interfaces, and Win32 integration.

In this second edition of the book, we added several new chapters, included some topics that we neglected in the first edition and new technologies that have emerged, and updated the material to Perl 5.8.