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Perl Programming Documentation

Open-knowledge reference entry

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 22, 2025
Entity authorityQ28458051
Source-derived summary

Perl Programming Documentation, also called perldoc, is the name of the user manual for the Perl 5 programming language. It is available in several different formats, including online in HTML and PDF. The documentation is bundled with Perl in its own format, known as Plain Old Documentation (pod). Some distributions, such as Strawberry Perl, include the documentation in HTML, PDF, and pod formats.

perldoc is also the name of the Perl command that provides "access to all the documentation that comes with Perl", from the command line.

See also

Outline of Perl – overview of and topical guide to the Perl programming language

Raku – Perl 5's sister language

man page – form of software documentation usually found on a Unix or Unix-like operating system, invoked by issuing the man command. Perl documentation is sometimes available as man pages.

RTFM – Internet slang for "Read the Frickin' Manual"

External links

Official documentation for Perl 5 – displays the documentation, and also includes links to download the HTML and PDF files for off-line use.

Editorial summary

“Perl Programming Documentation” enters the record as open-knowledge reference entry. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Perl, Programming and Documentation can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current 173-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Perl, Programming and Documentation.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Perl Programming Documentation” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Perl, Programming and Documentation provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 22, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q28458051. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Perl Programming Documentation”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Perl Programming Documentation primary sources, Perl Programming Documentation archive and Perl research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Perl Programming Documentation”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Perl Programming Documentation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.