Web Standards Programmer's Reference: HTML, CSS, JavaScript®, Perl, Python®, and PHP

D.1. Command Line Arguments

The following table lists the various command line arguments that you can use with Perl. Note that you can also specify arguments on the #! line within individual scripts similar to the following code:

#!/usr/bin/perl -U

Argument	Use
-a	Turns on autosplit mode. Used with the -n or -p options. (Splits to @F.)
-c	Checks syntax. (Does not execute program.)
-d	Starts the Perl symbolic debugger.
-D number	Sets debugging flags.
-e command	Enters a single line of script. Multiple -e arguments can be used to create a multiline script.
-F regexp	Specifies a regular expression to split on if -a is used.
-i[extension]	Edits < > files in place.
-I[directory]	Used with -P, specifies where to look for include files. The directory is prepended to @INC.
-l [octnum]	Enables line-end processing on octnum.
-n	Assumes a while (<>) loop around the script. Does not print lines.
-p	Similar to -n, but lines are printed.
-P	Executes the C preprocessor on the script before Perl.
-s	Enables switch parsing after program name.
-S	Enables PATH environment variable searching for program.
-T	Forces taint checking.
-u	Compiles program and dumps core.
-U	Enables Perl to perform unsafe operations.
-v	Outputs the version of the Perl executable.
-w	Enables checks and warning output for spelling errors and other error-prone constructs in the script.
-x [directory]	Extracts a Perl program from input stream. Specifying directory changes to that directory before running the program.
-X	Disables all warnings.
−0[octal]	Designates an initial ...