Who Should Attend

This course is designed for the individual who has a programming background. This background should include having written some substantial programs. This course, however, is not designed to have any particular language as a prerequisite.

Prerequisites

A solid computer programming background.

What you will learn

The course starts with an introduction to Perl and a little history behind its creation. The three major data types are introduced along with their associated operators and built-in functions. Input/Output, string manipulation, functions, formats, and operating system interface are also covered.

After completing the course, participants will be able to do the following:

• Understand the history of Perl
• Understand Perl's basic data types
• Develop programs to do efficient text processing
• Use Perl to work with files and the operating system
• Understand Perl version 5 enhancements

Course Outline

1. Introduction
• The history of Perl
• Why use Perl?
• Why not to use Perl?
2. Scalar data type
• Syntax
• Operators
• Built-in functions
3. Array data type
• Syntax
• Operators
• Built-in functions
4. Control flow constructs
• Conditional constructs (if/unless)
• Iterative constructs (while/until/for/foreach)
• Loop control constructs
• Expression modifiers
5. Standard input/output
• reading from standard input
• the <> operator and @ARGV
• print() and printf()
6. Associative array data type
• Syntax
• Operators
• Built-in functions
7. Regular expressions
• Rules
• Matching
• Substitution
• split(), join()
8. Functions/Subroutines
• Creating and invoking functions
• Return values
• Function arguments
• local() and my() variables
9. String manipulation
• Finding substrings with index() and rindex()
• Extracting and replacing substrings with substr()
• Translating text with tr()
10. Filehandles
• Opening and closing filehandles
• die()
• Reading from and writing to filehandles
• Opening pipes
• File tests and stat()
11. Formats
• Creating formats
• Invoking formats
• Fieldholders
• Top of page formats
12. Interfacing to the operating system
• Directory and file functions
• Low level file i/o
• Executing system commands using system(), exec(), backquotes, fork(), wait(), and exit()
• warn() and eval()
13. Miscellaneous Perl features
• Advanced sorting
• require() and packages
• Perl style
14. What's next
• Perl 5 enhancements: references and object oriented
• Perl modules

Hands-on Workshops

• Using scalar, array, and associative array variables
• Using control flow constructs
• Working with regular expresssions
• Working with filehandles
• Using formats
• Interfacing to the operating system

Course Duration

Three (3) days.

Course Schedule

Go to Epcom Course Schedule

Course Materials

• Comprehensive course workbook/summary
• Course certificate of completion