Perl 6
Perl 6 Variable Tablet: Revision 103
"Overview"[Perl 6 Tablets] - _Chapter:_ "0:History"[Perl 6 History Tablet], "1:Design"[Perl 6 Language Design Tablet], "2:Basics"[Perl 6 Basics Tablet], "3:Var"[Perl 6 Variable Tablet], "4:Op"[Perl 6 Operator Tablet], *"5:IO"[Perl 6 IO Tablet]*, "6:{}"[Perl 6 Block Tablet], "7:Sub"[Perl 6 Subroutine Tablet], "8:OOP"[Perl 6 OOP Tablet], "9:Rx"[Perl 6 Regex Tablet], "10:Meta"[Perl 6 Meta Tablet]
"Intro"[Perl 6 Intro Tablet] - _Appendices:_ "A:Index"[Perl 6 Index Tablet], "B:Tables"[Perl 6 Lookup Tablet], "C:Cook"[Perl 6 Cookbook Tablet], "D:Delta"[Perl 6 Delta Tablet], "E:Best of"[Best Of Perl 6 Tablet], "F:Links"[Perl 6 Links Tablet]
----
{toc: }
_Herbert Breunung: Inside a shell might be a Perl._
This tablet is about the core stuff of Perl's genesis - reading and writing files, running commands, and gluing parts of the operating environment together in new ways.
^ Interacting with the Terminal
The command terminal (`STDOUT` to Perl 5 programmer, and `$*OUT` in Perl 6) is the primary communication device for a script with its user. Most tutorials begin with writing a line to that black window.
^^ say
.pre
say 'Dear Earthlings!';
.pre
Write text to the standard output (`$*OUT`, called `STDOUT` in Perl 5). This example just prints a "string literal"{link: [Perl 6 Basics Tablet] Quoting}, but any type of value is allowed. *say* adds a line ending, according to the operating system convention. So every time you "say" something, it will start on a fresh line.
You can also give `say` a list of values. Each item will be taken as an expression, that has to evaluated. The results will be combined, just like with *"~"{link: [perl 6 operator tablet] string context}*, and finally the line ending will be added.
.pre
say 'Dear Earthlings, we come from ', $our_home_planet, ', which is ', compute_distance($earth, $our_home_planet), ' parsecs away.';
.pre
But normally this would be written using "double-quoted strings"{link: [Perl 6 Basics Tablet] Quoting}, like:
.pre
say "Dear Earthlings, we come from $our_home_planet, which is { compute_distance($earth, $our_home_planet) } parsecs away.";
.pre
^^ print
Like *say*, just without adding the line ending. Remember it like this: machines *print* explicitly, character by character without pauses. People, on the other hand, speak in sentences or speech balloons, which have to be separated.
^^ printf
It's a `print` that understands also the syntax of "sprintf"{link: [Perl 6 Basics tablet] sprintf}. It's a very lightweight framework for formated output. If you need more, use formats or even a template engine.
.pre
my $num = 22/7;
printf "Even on $our_home_planet, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is approximately %0.3f\n", $num;
.pre
^^ note
Works like "say"{link: say}, but writes to `$*ERR` (known as `STDERR` in Perl 5). Content sent to `$*ERR` can be redirected separately from normal program output, and is often used for progress reports, extra debugging information, error messages, etc.
^^ warn
Behaves somewhat like `print` to `$*ERR` (see {link: note}). Under the hood, `warn` is a "resumable exception", and its message can be caught and handled farther up the call stack in some way. Normally, once it's handled, Perl will resume running the code just after the `warn` call.
^^ get
Reads one line of input from `$*IN` (called `STDIN` in Perl 5), and strips the line ending. So unlike in Perl 5, you don't have to `chomp` input. All following line-oriented commands (e.g., `prompt`, `lines`) behave that way.
^^ prompt
Performs two-way communication with the terminal. It does an output like `print`, followed by a read like `get`.
.pre
given prompt "Enter geosynchronous orbit (y/N)? " {
when / :i ^ y / { say "Warning, merging into geosync layer." }
default { say "Good, staying out of traffic." }
}
.pre
^^ getc
Reads one character (may be more than one byte) from `$*IN`. Don't try using this to read key-by-key interactively.
^ Files
^^ :X
"file test operators"{link: [Perl 6 Lookup Tablet] Filetest Ops}
^^ slurp
Reads the entire contents of a file as a single string.
.pre
my $contents = slurp 'filename.txt';
.pre
^^ lines
^^ open
^^ read for files
^^ print for files
^^ say for files
^^ open
Synopsis:
> open('new', :w).close
> given open('foo', :w) { # "Anonymous" filehandle
>> .say('Hello, world!');
>> .close
> }
Valid modes are:
r : read
w : write
a : append (Note: you must specify "wa", not just "a")
p : pipe
^^ close
^^ rename for files
^ Directories
^^ $*CWD
^^ dir
^^ mkdir
^^ chdir
^^ chroot
^^ rmdir
^^ rename
^ Sockets
^ Processes
^^ run
^^ runinstead
^^ fork
^^ wait
^^ kill
----
"Overview"[Perl 6 Tablets] - _Chapter:_ "0:History"[Perl 6 History Tablet], "1:Design"[Perl 6 Language Design Tablet], "2:Basics"[Perl 6 Basics Tablet], "3:Var"[Perl 6 Variable Tablet], "4:Op"[Perl 6 Operator Tablet], *"5:IO"[Perl 6 IO Tablet]*, "6:{}"[Perl 6 Block Tablet], "7:Sub"[Perl 6 Subroutine Tablet], "8:OOP"[Perl 6 OOP Tablet], "9:Rx"[Perl 6 Regex Tablet], "10:Meta"[Perl 6 Meta Tablet]
"Intro"[Perl 6 Intro Tablet] - _Appendices:_ "A:Index"[Perl 6 Index Tablet], "B:Tables"[Perl 6 Lookup Tablet], "C:Cook"[Perl 6 Cookbook Tablet], "D:Delta"[Perl 6 Delta Tablet], "E:Best of"[Best Of Perl 6 Tablet], "F:Links"[Perl 6 Links Tablet]
----
"Intro"[Perl 6 Intro Tablet] - _Appendices:_ "A:Index"[Perl 6 Index Tablet], "B:Tables"[Perl 6 Lookup Tablet], "C:Cook"[Perl 6 Cookbook Tablet], "D:Delta"[Perl 6 Delta Tablet], "E:Best of"[Best Of Perl 6 Tablet], "F:Links"[Perl 6 Links Tablet]
----
{toc: }
_Herbert Breunung: Inside a shell might be a Perl._
This tablet is about the core stuff of Perl's genesis - reading and writing files, running commands, and gluing parts of the operating environment together in new ways.
^ Interacting with the Terminal
The command terminal (`STDOUT` to Perl 5 programmer, and `$*OUT` in Perl 6) is the primary communication device for a script with its user. Most tutorials begin with writing a line to that black window.
^^ say
.pre
say 'Dear Earthlings!';
.pre
Write text to the standard output (`$*OUT`, called `STDOUT` in Perl 5). This example just prints a "string literal"{link: [Perl 6 Basics Tablet] Quoting}, but any type of value is allowed. *say* adds a line ending, according to the operating system convention. So every time you "say" something, it will start on a fresh line.
You can also give `say` a list of values. Each item will be taken as an expression, that has to evaluated. The results will be combined, just like with *"~"{link: [perl 6 operator tablet] string context}*, and finally the line ending will be added.
.pre
say 'Dear Earthlings, we come from ', $our_home_planet, ', which is ', compute_distance($earth, $our_home_planet), ' parsecs away.';
.pre
But normally this would be written using "double-quoted strings"{link: [Perl 6 Basics Tablet] Quoting}, like:
.pre
say "Dear Earthlings, we come from $our_home_planet, which is { compute_distance($earth, $our_home_planet) } parsecs away.";
.pre
Like *say*, just without adding the line ending. Remember it like this: machines *print* explicitly, character by character without pauses. People, on the other hand, speak in sentences or speech balloons, which have to be separated.
^^ printf
It's a `print` that understands also the syntax of "sprintf"{link: [Perl 6 Basics tablet] sprintf}. It's a very lightweight framework for formated output. If you need more, use formats or even a template engine.
.pre
my $num = 22/7;
printf "Even on $our_home_planet, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is approximately %0.3f\n", $num;
.pre
^^ note
Works like "say"{link: say}, but writes to `$*ERR` (known as `STDERR` in Perl 5). Content sent to `$*ERR` can be redirected separately from normal program output, and is often used for progress reports, extra debugging information, error messages, etc.
^^ warn
Behaves somewhat like `print` to `$*ERR` (see {link: note}). Under the hood, `warn` is a "resumable exception", and its message can be caught and handled farther up the call stack in some way. Normally, once it's handled, Perl will resume running the code just after the `warn` call.
^^ get
Reads one line of input from `$*IN` (called `STDIN` in Perl 5), and strips the line ending. So unlike in Perl 5, you don't have to `chomp` input. All following line-oriented commands (e.g., `prompt`, `lines`) behave that way.
^^ prompt
Performs two-way communication with the terminal. It does an output like `print`, followed by a read like `get`.
.pre
given prompt "Enter geosynchronous orbit (y/N)? " {
when / :i ^ y / { say "Warning, merging into geosync layer." }
default { say "Good, staying out of traffic." }
}
.pre
^^ getc
Reads one character (may be more than one byte) from `$*IN`. Don't try using this to read key-by-key interactively.
^ Files
^^ :X
"file test operators"{link: [Perl 6 Lookup Tablet] Filetest Ops}
^^ slurp
Reads the entire contents of a file as a single string.
.pre
my $contents = slurp 'filename.txt';
.pre
^^ lines
^^ open
^^ read for files
^^ print for files
^^ say for files
^^ open
Synopsis:
> open('new', :w).close
> given open('foo', :w) { # "Anonymous" filehandle
>> .say('Hello, world!');
>> .close
> }
Valid modes are:
r : read
w : write
a : append (Note: you must specify "wa", not just "a")
p : pipe
^^ close
^^ rename for files
^ Directories
^^ $*CWD
^^ dir
^^ mkdir
^^ chdir
^^ chroot
^^ rmdir
^^ rename
^ Sockets
^ Processes
^^ run
^^ runinstead
^^ fork
^^ wait
^^ kill
----
"Overview"[Perl 6 Tablets] - _Chapter:_ "0:History"[Perl 6 History Tablet], "1:Design"[Perl 6 Language Design Tablet], "2:Basics"[Perl 6 Basics Tablet], "3:Var"[Perl 6 Variable Tablet], "4:Op"[Perl 6 Operator Tablet], *"5:IO"[Perl 6 IO Tablet]*, "6:{}"[Perl 6 Block Tablet], "7:Sub"[Perl 6 Subroutine Tablet], "8:OOP"[Perl 6 OOP Tablet], "9:Rx"[Perl 6 Regex Tablet], "10:Meta"[Perl 6 Meta Tablet]
"Intro"[Perl 6 Intro Tablet] - _Appendices:_ "A:Index"[Perl 6 Index Tablet], "B:Tables"[Perl 6 Lookup Tablet], "C:Cook"[Perl 6 Cookbook Tablet], "D:Delta"[Perl 6 Delta Tablet], "E:Best of"[Best Of Perl 6 Tablet], "F:Links"[Perl 6 Links Tablet]
----
