CHAPTER 2Basic Concepts

In the next few chapters, Chapters 3 to 11, we cover the fundamentals of the Perl programming language in depth. This chapter is an introduction to the basics of Perl that newcomers to the language can use to familiarize themselves before we get into the details.

All the subjects covered here are examined in detail in later chapters, so this chapter is only really required reading for those totally new to Perl, or who need a quick refresher without getting bogged down in too much detail early on.

The topics covered here are as follows:

  • Variables and Values
  • Comments and Whitespace
  • Operators and Built-In Functions
  • Expressions and Statements
  • Perl's Data Types
  • Evaluation Context
  • Perl's Special Variables
  • String Interpolation ...

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