160 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
160 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
INTRODUCTION
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============
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The Perl 4.0 Reference Guide
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Revised: 91/07/26
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The Perl Reference Guide is a typeset quick reference guide to
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Larry Wall's Perl program.
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It contains a concise description of all Perl 4.0 statements,
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functions, variables and lots of other useful information.
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The Guide is based on Perl version 4.0, patchlevel 10.
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The purpose of the Reference Guide is to aid in the use of Perl, to
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look up the syntax of specific functions, statements and the meaning
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of built-in variables. It is *NOT* a self-contained user guide -
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basic knowledge of the Perl language is required. It is *NOT* complete
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- some of the more obscure variants of perl constructs have been left
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out. But all functions and variables are mentioned in at least one
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way they can be used.
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The Reference Guide is designed and created by Johan Vromans using the
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LaTex typesetting system. For best results, Tom Rockiki's dvips 5.47
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should be used to generate the PostScript output.
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Your mileage may vary when you use other ouput mechanisms.
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A special formatting tool, written in Perl, makes it possible to
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reformat this PostScript output for reproduction in a number of
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formats. If you cannot run this tool, you do not need the
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information either.
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INSTALLATION
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============
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1. Unload the distribution
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After unloading the distribution, you will have the following files:
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README - this file
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ChangeLog - description of changes
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Makefile - make file
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parr - reformat and rearrange tool
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The LeTeX kit includes
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refbase.tex - LaTeX source for the Reference Guide
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refbase.sty - LaTeX style for the Reference Guide
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The PostScript kit includes
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refbase.ps - pre-generated PostScript base
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2. Create the PostScript base file
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You can skip this step if you already have a pre-generated
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PostScript base file.
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This step requires the LaTeX typesetting system, and dvips version
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5.47 or later.
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- Use "make refbase-ps" (a dash, not a dot) to create a new
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PostScript file from the LaTeX source. This file can be printed
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normally.
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NOTE: dvips must be instructed to use a4 format paper ('-t a4')
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even if you intend to print on a different format!
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3. Create the RefGuide from the PostScript base
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As distributed, the Makefile is configured to generate output for
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A4 (21 x 29.7 cm) paper format. Use "make PAPER= ..." to select US
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Letter (8.5 x 11") format. Both formats should be printable on
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all industry-standard PostScript printers.
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You can use "make" to generate a new PostScript file for one of
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the following formats:
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- Use "make refguide.ps" to create a guide formatted in 10 pages
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of 2-column text. It should be printed double-sided, stapled in
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the middle, folded, and cut to size to have a 16-page 3.5 x 8"
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booklet.
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- Use "make 2pass" to create a set of odd and even pages for
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double sided printing. First print "guide-odd.ps". Then put the
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paper back in the tray, and print either "guide-even1.ps" or
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"guide-even2.ps", depending on the way your printer arranges
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the printed paper.
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"guide-even1.ps" is for printers with correct output stacking like
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Apple LaserWriter II.
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"guide-even2.ps" is for printers with reverse output stacking,
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like old Apple LaserWriters.
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In other words, after printing "guide-odd.ps", if the
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text of the cover page is on top -- use "guide-even1.ps".
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But if you're looking at the text of pages 9/10 -- use
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"guide-even2.ps".
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"make" without arguments will default to refguide.ps .
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If your printout is not correct, feel free to change the figures in
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subroutine 'twoup' of the 'parr' program.
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Comments are welcome, send them to the author.
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IF YOU DON'T HAVE A POSTSCRIPT PRINTER
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======================================
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Look in perlref.sty for comments with ">>>>" as a guide. The output
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will not be as perfect, but still very useful.
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HISTORY
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=======
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The first version of the Reference Guide --"reference card" is was
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called then-- appeared in 1989 with perl version 2.0. It was created
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using an Apple Macintosh and the RagTime DeskTop publishing tool.
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It was 9 pages, I believe. The PostScript output was extracted from
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the Mac and hacked for 'normal' use with the macps program.
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With perl version 3 came the next version. A 15-page card format, and
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a 16-page reference guide. This time, the Guide was created using
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MicroSoft Word, still on Macintosh. Tools were supplied to manipulate
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the PostScript file to suit different printing formats.
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In a later version, the card format was abandoned.
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Next came the Camel version, with perl 4.0. Lots of measurements had
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been taken to have the abundance of new functions fit on 16 pages.
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After the book appeared, I decided to rework the Guide to use more
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pages, and different styles and fonts for clarity. I reworked the
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MS-Word version, to find out that the resultant PostScript file had
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increased from 90Kb to 180Kb!
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So I decided to start again, from scratch (well, almost) using the
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LaTeX typesetting system. The resultant PostScript file is now 80Kb,
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while it prints out almost identical to the 180Kb MS-Word version.
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CREDITS
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=======
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The Perl Reference Guide is copyrighted by the author. It may be
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reproduced, printed and distributed freely, as long as the original
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author gets the credits, and the copyright notice is not removed from
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the text. It may not be turned into a commercial product except with
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written permission of the author.
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---------------------------- author info -----------------------------
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Johan Vromans
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Multihouse Research, Doesburgweg 7, 2803 PL Gouda, the Netherlands
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tel. +31 1820 62911, fax. +31 1820 62500
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email: <jv@mh.nl>
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
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I like to thank everyone who has helped me (and encouraged me) to get
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the job done, and to get the results to you. Especially Tom
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Christiansen and JGreely (for "parr") And Larry Wall, of course,
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without whom I would have spent lots of time annoying myself.
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-- PostScript is a trademark of Adobe, I assume.
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@(#)@ README 4.2.1
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