Perl is acronym for Practical Extraction and Report Language. It is a general-purpose programming language invented in 1987 by Larry Wall. Originally developed for text manipulation. Perl has become extremely popular and is now used for a wide range of tasks, including web development and interface design. This page explains how to check Perl version using various methods.
Find Out Perl Version From a Linux / Unix / BSD / OS X Shell Prompt
If you have access to a shell prompt (UNIX/Linux/macOS/BSD) type the following command to find out perl version:
$ perl -v
Sample outputs:
This is perl, v5.10.1 (*) built for x86_64-linux-gnu-thread-multi(with 53 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail)
Copyright 1987-2009, Larry Wall
Perl may be copied only under the terms of either the Artistic License or the GNU General Public License, which may be found in the Perl 5 source kit.
Complete documentation for Perl, including FAQ lists, should be found on this system using "man perl" or "perldoc perl". If you have access to the
Internet, point your browser at http://www.perl.org/, the Perl Home Page.
You can also type above command under Windows / Mac OS X by opening terminal.
Find Perl Version Using a CGI Script
If your web hosting provider don’t provide access to a shell, use the following perl program to find out perl version:
Short version that avoid starting a new process (see below in comments):
#!/usr/bin/perl use strict; my $title = "Perl Version"; print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"; print "<html><head><title>$title</title></head><body>"; print "<h2>$title</h2>\n"; print "Perl version : ".$]; print "</body></html>"
source code – version.pl (download link)
The following code provides a little bit more information:
#!/usr/bin/perl # Available under BSD License. # See url https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-can-i-find-out-perl-version/ use strict; my $command=`perl -v`; my $title = "Perl Version"; print "Content-type: text/html\n\n"; print "<html><head><title>$title</title></head><body>"; print "<h1>$title</h1>\n"; print '<hr>'; print $command; print '</hr>'; print "</body></html>";
Sample outputs:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/cgi-bin/version.pl
https://www.cyberciti.biz/cgi-bin/version.pl
The -V option
The -V option gives in depth information about Perl including platform, compiler options, patches applied by Linux or Unix distro, search path and much more. All you have to do is type the following simple command at a shell prompt:
perl -V
Sample outputs:
Summary of my perl5 (revision 5 version 28 subversion 1) configuration: Platform: osname=linux osvers=4.9.0 archname=x86_64-linux-gnu-thread-multi uname='linux localhost 4.9.0 #1 smp debian 4.9.0 x86_64 gnulinux ' config_args='-Dusethreads -Duselargefiles -Dcc=x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -Dcpp=x86_64-linux-gnu-cpp -Dld=x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc -Dccflags=-DDEBIAN -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/perl-1_qjrE/perl-5.28.1=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -Dldflags= -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Dlddlflags=-shared -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Dcccdlflags=-fPIC -Darchname=x86_64-linux-gnu -Dprefix=/usr -Dprivlib=/usr/share/perl/5.28 -Darchlib=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.28 -Dvendorprefix=/usr -Dvendorlib=/usr/share/perl5 -Dvendorarch=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl5/5.28 -Dsiteprefix=/usr/local -Dsitelib=/usr/local/share/perl/5.28.1 -Dsitearch=/usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.28.1 -Dman1dir=/usr/share/man/man1 -Dman3dir=/usr/share/man/man3 -Dsiteman1dir=/usr/local/man/man1 -Dsiteman3dir=/usr/local/man/man3 -Duse64bitint -Dman1ext=1 -Dman3ext=3perl -Dpager=/usr/bin/sensible-pager -Uafs -Ud_csh -Ud_ualarm -Uusesfio -Uusenm -Ui_libutil -Ui_xlocale -Uversiononly -DDEBUGGING=-g -Doptimize=-O2 -dEs -Duseshrplib -Dlibperl=libperl.so.5.28.1' hint=recommended useposix=true d_sigaction=define useithreads=define usemultiplicity=define use64bitint=define use64bitall=define uselongdouble=undef usemymalloc=n default_inc_excludes_dot=define bincompat5005=undef Compiler: cc='x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc' ccflags ='-D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fwrapv -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64' optimize='-O2 -g' cppflags='-D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fwrapv -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe -I/usr/local/include' ccversion='' gccversion='9.2.1 20190909' gccosandvers='' intsize=4 longsize=8 ptrsize=8 doublesize=8 byteorder=12345678 doublekind=3 d_longlong=define longlongsize=8 d_longdbl=define longdblsize=16 longdblkind=3 ivtype='long' ivsize=8 nvtype='double' nvsize=8 Off_t='off_t' lseeksize=8 alignbytes=8 prototype=define Linker and Libraries: ld='x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc' ldflags =' -fstack-protector-strong -L/usr/local/lib' libpth=/usr/local/lib /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/9/include-fixed /usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu /usr/lib /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu /lib/../lib /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu /usr/lib/../lib /lib libs=-lgdbm -lgdbm_compat -ldb -ldl -lm -lpthread -lc -lcrypt perllibs=-ldl -lm -lpthread -lc -lcrypt libc=libc-2.30.so so=so useshrplib=true libperl=libperl.so.5.28 gnulibc_version='2.30' Dynamic Linking: dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs dlext=so d_dlsymun=undef ccdlflags='-Wl,-E' cccdlflags='-fPIC' lddlflags='-shared -L/usr/local/lib -fstack-protector-strong' Characteristics of this binary (from libperl): Compile-time options: HAS_TIMES MULTIPLICITY PERLIO_LAYERS PERL_COPY_ON_WRITE PERL_DONT_CREATE_GVSV PERL_IMPLICIT_CONTEXT PERL_MALLOC_WRAP PERL_OP_PARENT PERL_PRESERVE_IVUV USE_64_BIT_ALL USE_64_BIT_INT USE_ITHREADS USE_LARGE_FILES USE_LOCALE USE_LOCALE_COLLATE USE_LOCALE_CTYPE USE_LOCALE_NUMERIC USE_LOCALE_TIME USE_PERLIO USE_PERL_ATOF USE_REENTRANT_API Locally applied patches: DEBPKG:debian/cpan_definstalldirs - Provide a sensible INSTALLDIRS default for modules installed from CPAN. DEBPKG:debian/db_file_ver - https://bugs.debian.org/340047 Remove overly restrictive DB_File version check. DEBPKG:debian/doc_info - Replace generic man(1) instructions with Debian-specific information. DEBPKG:debian/enc2xs_inc - https://bugs.debian.org/290336 Tweak enc2xs to follow symlinks and ignore missing @INC directories. DEBPKG:debian/errno_ver - https://bugs.debian.org/343351 Remove Errno version check due to upgrade problems with long-running processes. DEBPKG:debian/libperl_embed_doc - https://bugs.debian.org/186778 Note that libperl-dev package is required for embedded linking DEBPKG:fixes/respect_umask - Respect umask during installation DEBPKG:debian/writable_site_dirs - Set umask approproately for site install directories DEBPKG:debian/extutils_set_libperl_path - EU:MM: set location of libperl.a under /usr/lib DEBPKG:debian/no_packlist_perllocal - Don't install .packlist or perllocal.pod for perl or vendor DEBPKG:debian/fakeroot - Postpone LD_LIBRARY_PATH evaluation to the binary targets. DEBPKG:debian/instmodsh_doc - Debian policy doesn't install .packlist files for core or vendor. DEBPKG:debian/ld_run_path - Remove standard libs from LD_RUN_PATH as per Debian policy. DEBPKG:debian/libnet_config_path - Set location of libnet.cfg to /etc/perl/Net as /usr may not be writable. DEBPKG:debian/perlivp - https://bugs.debian.org/510895 Make perlivp skip include directories in /usr/local DEBPKG:debian/squelch-locale-warnings - https://bugs.debian.org/508764 Squelch locale warnings in Debian package maintainer scripts DEBPKG:debian/patchlevel - https://bugs.debian.org/567489 List packaged patches for 5.28.1-6build1 in patchlevel.h DEBPKG:fixes/document_makemaker_ccflags - https://bugs.debian.org/628522 [rt.cpan.org #68613] Document that CCFLAGS should include $Config{ccflags} DEBPKG:debian/find_html2text - https://bugs.debian.org/640479 Configure CPAN::Distribution with correct name of html2text DEBPKG:debian/perl5db-x-terminal-emulator.patch - https://bugs.debian.org/668490 Invoke x-terminal-emulator rather than xterm in perl5db.pl DEBPKG:debian/cpan-missing-site-dirs - https://bugs.debian.org/688842 Fix CPAN::FirstTime defaults with nonexisting site dirs if a parent is writable DEBPKG:fixes/memoize_storable_nstore - [rt.cpan.org #77790] https://bugs.debian.org/587650 Memoize::Storable: respect 'nstore' option not respected DEBPKG:debian/makemaker-pasthru - https://bugs.debian.org/758471 Pass LD settings through to subdirectories DEBPKG:debian/makemaker-manext - https://bugs.debian.org/247370 Make EU::MakeMaker honour MANnEXT settings in generated manpage headers DEBPKG:debian/kfreebsd-softupdates - https://bugs.debian.org/796798 Work around Debian Bug#796798 DEBPKG:fixes/autodie-scope - https://bugs.debian.org/798096 Fix a scoping issue with "no autodie" and the "system" sub DEBPKG:fixes/memoize-pod - [rt.cpan.org #89441] Fix POD errors in Memoize DEBPKG:debian/hurd-softupdates - https://bugs.debian.org/822735 Fix t/op/stat.t failures on hurd DEBPKG:fixes/math_complex_doc_great_circle - https://bugs.debian.org/697567 [rt.cpan.org #114104] Math::Trig: clarify definition of great_circle_midpoint DEBPKG:fixes/math_complex_doc_see_also - https://bugs.debian.org/697568 [rt.cpan.org #114105] Math::Trig: add missing SEE ALSO DEBPKG:fixes/math_complex_doc_angle_units - https://bugs.debian.org/731505 [rt.cpan.org #114106] Math::Trig: document angle units DEBPKG:fixes/cpan_web_link - https://bugs.debian.org/367291 CPAN: Add link to main CPAN web site DEBPKG:debian/hppa_op_optimize_workaround - https://bugs.debian.org/838613 Temporarily lower the optimization of op.c on hppa due to gcc-6 problems DEBPKG:debian/installman-utf8 - https://bugs.debian.org/840211 Generate man pages with UTF-8 characters DEBPKG:fixes/getopt-long-4 - https://bugs.debian.org/864544 [rt.cpan.org #122068] Fix issue #122068. DEBPKG:debian/hppa_opmini_optimize_workaround - https://bugs.debian.org/869122 Lower the optimization level of opmini.c on hppa DEBPKG:debian/sh4_op_optimize_workaround - https://bugs.debian.org/869373 Also lower the optimization level of op.c and opmini.c on sh4 DEBPKG:debian/perldoc-pager - https://bugs.debian.org/870340 [rt.cpan.org #120229] Fix perldoc terminal escapes when sensible-pager is less DEBPKG:debian/prune_libs - https://bugs.debian.org/128355 Prune the list of libraries wanted to what we actually need. DEBPKG:debian/mod_paths - Tweak @INC ordering for Debian DEBPKG:debian/configure-regen - https://bugs.debian.org/762638 Regenerate Configure et al. after probe unit changes DEBPKG:debian/deprecate-with-apt - https://bugs.debian.org/747628 Point users to Debian packages of deprecated core modules DEBPKG:debian/disable-stack-check - https://bugs.debian.org/902779 [perl #133327] Disable debugperl stack extension checks for binary compatibility with perl DEBPKG:debian/gdbm-fatal - [perl #133295] https://bugs.debian.org/904005 Temporarily skip GDBM_File fatal.t for gdbm >= 1.15 compatibility DEBPKG:fixes/storable-recursion - https://bugs.debian.org/912900 [perl #133326] [120060c] (perl #133326) fix and clarify handling of recurs_sv. DEBPKG:fixes/caretx-fallback - https://bugs.debian.org/913347 [perl #133573] [03b94aa] RT#133573: $^X fallback when platform-specific technique fails DEBPKG:fixes/eumm-usrmerge - https://bugs.debian.org/913637 Avoid mangling /bin non-perl shebangs on merged-/usr systems DEBPKG:fixes/errno-include-path - [6c5080f] [perl #133662] https://bugs.debian.org/875921 Make Errno_pm.PL compatible with /usr/include/<ARCH>/errno.h DEBPKG:fixes/kfreebsd-renameat - [a3c63a9] https://bugs.debian.org/912521 [perl #133668] Also work around renameat() kernel bug on GNU/kFreeBSD DEBPKG:fixes/time-local-2020 - https://bugs.debian.org/915209 [rt.cpan.org #124787] Fix Time::Local tests DEBPKG:fixes/inplace-editing-bugfix/part1 - https://bugs.debian.org/914651 (perl #133659) move argvout cleanup to a new function DEBPKG:fixes/inplace-editing-bugfix/part2 - https://bugs.debian.org/914651 (perl #133659) tests for global destruction handling of inplace editing DEBPKG:fixes/inplace-editing-bugfix/part3 - https://bugs.debian.org/914651 (perl #133659) make an in-place edit successful if the exit status is zero DEBPKG:fixes/fix-manifest-failures - https://bugs.debian.org/914962 Fix t/porting/manifest.t failures when run in a foreign git checkout DEBPKG:fixes/pipe-open-bugfix/part1 - [perl #133726] https://bugs.debian.org/916313 Always mark pipe in pipe-open as inherit-on-exec DEBPKG:fixes/pipe-open-bugfix/part2 - [perl #133726] https://bugs.debian.org/916313 Always mark pipe in list pipe-open as inherit-on-exec DEBPKG:fixes/storable-probing/prereq1 - [3f4cad1] Storable: fix for strawberry build failures: DEBPKG:fixes/storable-probing/prereq2 - [perl #133411] [edf639f] (perl #133411) don't try to load Storable with -Dusecrosscompile DEBPKG:fixes/storable-probing/disable-probing - https://bugs.debian.org/914133 [perl #133708] [2a0bbd3] (perl #133708) remove build-time probing for stack limits for Storable DEBPKG:debian/perlbug-editor - https://bugs.debian.org/922609 Use "editor" as the default perlbug editor, as per Debian policy DEBPKG:fixes/posix-mbrlen - [25d7b7a] https://bugs.debian.org/924517 [perl #133928] Fix POSIX::mblen mbstate_t initialization on threaded perls with glibc Built under linux Compiled at Sep 11 2019 07:02:52 @INC: /etc/perl /usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.28.1 /usr/local/share/perl/5.28.1 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl5/5.28 /usr/share/perl5 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl/5.28 /usr/share/perl/5.28 /usr/local/lib/site_perl /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/perl-base
Perl varaibles
You can use $PERL_VERSION or $^V too as the revision, version, and subversion of the Perl interpreter, represented as a “version” object. This variable first appeared in perl version 5.6.0; earlier versions of perl will see an undefined value. Before perl v5.10.0 $^V was represented as a v-string. $^V can be used to determine whether the Perl interpreter executing a script is in the right range of versions. For example:
warn "Hashes not randomized!\n" if !$^V or $^V lt v5.8.1
To convert $^V into its string representation use “sprintf()”‘s “%vd” conversion:
printf "version is v%vd\n", $^V; # Perl's version
For example one can use the following syntax:
## get Perl version demo ## perl -e 'print "Perl version : $^V\n"' perl -e 'print "Perl version : $PERL_VERSION\n"'
Check for Perl version and do something
# See if we got v5.10.1 would be "5.010001" if ($] >= 5.010001) { ## Do something as we got perl version 5.10.1 } else { ## warn and die }
Conclusion
You learned finding about Perl version using various methods. See Perl site for more information here.
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🐧 4 comments so far... add one ↓
🐧 4 comments so far... add one ↓
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It is overkill to run a whole new process to find out the version, just read about Perl’s builtin variables in PERLVAR
In the code above change
$command=`perl -v`;to
$command= $]Ou pour la version type v5.10.0 :
$command = $^V;http://perl.enstimac.fr/DocFr/perlvar.html
Or in versions of perl > v5.6 you can use the Version object variable $^V.
Please do not tell people to write crappy Perl anymore. Seriously. People write enough crappy Perl as it is.
I mean, what’s this “$command = $]” garbage? It’s *already a variable*. You don’t need to tell people to copy it into another (badly named) variable (badly name because it’s NOT a “command”). And what’s the “$title” variable for? What makes you think you’d need a variable for something that’s used only once? Or the multiple calls to print, one per line?
It’s bad coding habits like this that get people started writing rubbish, inefficient Perl scripts which ultimately lead to pointy-haired managers thinking Perl is inefficient and inexplicably believing that Rails scales better or that Java is a streamlined solution. CUT. IT. OUT.
And never ever ever ever ever, no matter how innocuous it looks, ever tell people to run a CGI script that doesn’t use strict. Seriously. FFS.
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