Perl 5

About

This configuration component contains highlighting, active strings, menu and tool bar customizations for Perl 5.

Installation

The contents of a ZIP file should be extracted in %b\Config\Perl directory. Note that %b is different from %B. While %B always means the WinEdt program directory (usually it is C:\Program Files\WinEdt Team\WinEdt) %b means:

on Windows 95/98/Me:

equals %B
(usually it is C:\Program Files\WinEdt Team\WinEdt)

on Windows NT/2000/XP working as Administrator (or single user mode):

equals %B
(usually it is C:\Program Files\WinEdt Team\WinEdt)

on Windows NT/2000/XP working as an ordinary user:

equals <userprofile>\Application Data\WinEdt
(usually it is C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\WinEdt or C:\WinNT\Profiles\<username>\Application Data\WinEdt)

To make this easier this macro component is distributed in three packages:

1. Plain ZIP file WinEdt_PerlCC.zip for general purpose. Unzip it to %b\Config\Perl and execute install.edt
2. Self extracting ZIP file with installer WinEdt_PerlCC_9x.exe for users that are using Windows 9x/Me or Windows NT/2000/XP as Administrator. By default the installer sets the target directory to C:\Program Files\WinEdt Team\WinEdt\Config\Perl After installation the Explorer opens in the target directory allowing you to open install.edt in WinEdt and execute it via Macros|Execute Macro...|install.edt
3. Self extracting ZIP file with installer WinEdt_PerlCC_NT.exe for users that are using Windows NT/2000/XP as an ordinary user. By default the installer sets the target directory to <userprofile>\Application Data\WinEdt\Config\Perl (usually C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\WinEdt\Config\Perl or C:\WinNT\Profiles\<username>\Application Data\WinEdt\Config$name). After installation the Explorer opens in the target directory allowing you to open install.edt in WinEdt and execute it via Macros|Execute Macro...|install.edt

What does it contain?

After installation a submenu called Options|Configurations|Perl is added (Figure 1), which has the following items:

• Perl Editor: Load all menu and toolbar customizations
• Add Perl Module: For adding customizations for non-standard modules
• Remove Perl Module: For removing installed customizations

Highlighting

To see the highlighting answer 'Yes' at the end of installation or you can later open sample.pl file by hand.

The highlighted items (switches):

• scalars of the form: $a-zA-Z_0-9
• arrays of the form: @a-zA-Z_0-9
• hashes of the form: %a-zA-Z_0-9
• typeglobs of the form: [ =]*a-zA-Z_0-9
• subs of the form: &a-zA-Z_0-9
• references of the form: \$a-zA-Z_0-9, \@a-zA-Z_0-9, \%a-zA-Z_0-9, \*a-zA-Z_0-9, \&a-zA-Z_0-9
• last array index: $#a-zA-Z_0-9
• interpolated strings: "?"
• literal strings: '?' including '...#...'
• executable strings: `?` including '...#...'
• regular expressions: /?/?/[;geios),]
• sub names: sub *name* {

• Perl keywords
• Perl standard functions
• Perl Escapes (\n,\t,\r,\S,\s...)
• Perl Top Classes (XML, HTML, Win32, ...)

Active Strings

String	Action
{{	inserts a block
openn	starts the open wizard
opendirr	opendir-readdir-closedir
iff	if-else block
whh	while block
dow	do-while block
dou	do-until block
csss	case like statement
subb	inserts the contents of the file %b\Perl\subhead.pl

Insert Menu

All Perl 5 functions grouped by function (Figure 2).
Insert|Script Head: inserts the contents of the file %b\Config\Perl\new.pl
Insert|Flow control|sub: inserts the contents of the file %b\Perl\subhead.pl
Insert|Input/Output|open: starts the open wizard

Accessories Menu

Item	Action
Run Perl	runs the Perl interpreter 'perl.exe' (it has to be in your PATH)
Run Perl with Arguments	prompts for arguments to Perl interpreter (NOTE: by default the prompt contains 'perl.exe' do not delete it)
Check Syntax	checks the current file's syntax by invoking 'perl -c "%f"'
Perl Complete	complete the current perl data type (scalar or array or hash or subroutine or typeglobe) from current file, i.e. you can easily reuse (long) data type identifiers. The shortcut is CTRL + SHIFT + Enter
Perl Debugger	runs the perl debugger by invoking 'perl -d "%f"'
Perl Package Manager	runs 'ppm.bat' (it has to be in your PATH)
Perl/Tk (GUI Perl)	executes a perl script without the command prompt by invoking 'wPerl.exe "%f"' (it has to be in your PATH)

(Figure 3)

Help Menu

Perl help and Perl Keyword Search are added (Figure 4).

Perl Dictionary

All perl keywords and functions are listed in two forms:

1. function name only
2. function name and its arguments

Mode contributed by D Stancer (denis@srce.hr)

Last revised on: 27.11.2001    |    Comments and suggestions to webmaster@winedt.org