Shell::Perl - A read-eval-print loop in Perl
use Shell::Perl; Shell::Perl->run_with_args;
This is the implementation of a command-line interpreter for Perl. I wrote this because I was tired of using irb when needing a calculator with a real language within. Ah, that and because it was damn easy to write it.
This module is the heart of the pirl script provided with Shell-Perl distribution, along with this module.
$ pirl Welcome to the Perl shell. Type ':help' for more information pirl @> 1+1 2 pirl @> use YAML qw(Load Dump); () pirl @> $data = Load("--- { a: 1, b: [ 1, 2, 3] }\n"); { a => 1, b => [1, 2, 3] } pirl @> $var = 'a 1 2 3'; $var =~ /(\w+) (\d+) (\d+)/ ("a", 1, 2) pirl @> :q
Most of the time, the shell reads Perl statements, evaluates them and outputs the result.
There are a few commands (started by ':') that are handled by the shell itself.
Handy for remembering what the shell commands are.
Leave the shell. The Perl statement exit will work too.
exit
SYNONYMS: :exit, :x
Changes the dumper for the expression results used before output. The current supported are:
Data::Dump
Data::Dumper, the good and old core module
Data::Dumper
Data::Dump::Streamer
YAML
a plain dumper ("$ans" or "@ans")
When creating the shell, the dump format is searched among the available ones in the order "D", "DD", "DDS", "Y" and "P". That means Data::Dump is preferred and will be used if available/installed. Otherwise, Data::Dumper is tried, and so on.
Read more about dumpers at Shell::Perl::Dumper.
Changes the default context used to evaluate the entered expression. The default is 'list'.
'list'
Intuitively, 'scalar', 's' and '$' are synonyms, just like 'list', 'l', and '@' or 'void', 'v', '_'.
There is a nice way to override the default context in a given expression. Just a '#' followed by one of 'scalar|list|void|s|l|v|$|@|_' at the end of the expression.
pirl @> $var = 'a 1 2 3'; $var =~ /(\w+) (\d+) (\d+)/ ("a", 1, 2) pirl @> $var = 'a 1 2 3'; $var =~ /(\w+) (\d+) (\d+)/ #scalar 1
Resets the environment, erasing the symbols created at the current evaluation package. See the section "ABOUT EVALUATION".
Remember this is an alpha version, so the API may change and that includes the methods documented here. So consider this section as implementation notes for a while.
In later versions, some of these information may be promoted to a public status. Others may be hidden or changed and even disappear without further notice.
$sh = Shell::Version->new;
The constructor.
Shell::Perl->run_with_args;
Starts the read-eval-print loop after reading options from @ARGV. It is a class method.
@ARGV
If an option -v or --version is provided, instead of starting the REPL, it prints the script identification and exits with 0.
$ pirl -v This is pirl, version 0.0017 (bin/pirl, using Shell::Perl 0.0017)
$sh->run;
The same as run_with_args but with no code for interpreting command-line arguments. It is an instance method, so that Shell::Perl-run_with_args> is kind of:
run_with_args
Shell::Perl-
Shell::Perl->new->run;
$answer = $sh->eval($exp); @answer = $sh->eval($exp);
Evaluates the user input given in $exp as Perl code and returns the result. That is the 'eval' part of the read-eval-print loop.
$exp
$sh->print(@args);
Prints a list of args at the output stream currently used by the shell.
$sh->help;
Outputs the help as provided by the command ":help".
$sh->reset;
Does nothing by now, but it will.
$sh->dump_history(); $sh->dump_history($file);
Prints the readline history to STDOUT or the optional file. Used to implement experimental command ":dump history".
STDOUT
This is experimental code and should change in the future. More control should be added and integrated with other terminal features.
$sh->set_ctx($context);
Assigns to the current shell context. The argument must be one of ( 'scalar', 'list', 'void', 's', 'l', 'v', '$', '@', '_' ) .
( 'scalar', 'list', 'void', 's', 'l', 'v', '$', '@', '_' )
$sh->set_package($package);
Changes current evaluation package. Doesn't change if the new package name is malformed.
$sh->set_out($dumper);
Changes the current dumper used for printing the evaluation results. Actually must be one of "D" (for Data::Dump), "DD" (for Data::Dumper), "DDS" (for Data::Dump::Streamer), "Y" (for YAML) or "P" (for plain string interpolation).
$prompt = $sh->prompt_title;
Returns the current prompt which changes with executable name and context. For example, "pirl @>", "pirl $>", and "pirl >".
$sh->quit;
This method is invoked when these commands and statements are parsed by the REPL:
:q :quit :x :exit quit exit
It runs the shutdown procedures for a smooth termination of the shell. For example, it saves the terminal history file.
When the statement read is evaluated, this is done at a different package, which is Shell::Perl::sandbox by default.
Shell::Perl::sandbox
So:
$ perl -Mlib=lib bin/pirl Welcome to the Perl shell. Type ':help' for more information pirl @> $a = 2; 2 pirl @> :set out Y # output in YAML pirl @> \%Shell::Perl::sandbox:: --- BEGIN: !!perl/glob: PACKAGE: Shell::Perl::sandbox NAME: BEGIN a: !!perl/glob: PACKAGE: Shell::Perl::sandbox NAME: a SCALAR: 2
This package serves as an environment for the current shell session and :reset can wipe it away.
pirl @> :reset pirl @> \%Shell::Perl::sandbox:: --- BEGIN: !!perl/glob: PACKAGE: Shell::Perl::sandbox NAME: BEGIN
There is a lot to do, as always. Some of the top priority tasks are:
Accept multiline statements;.
Refactor the code to promote easy customization of features.
This project is hosted at Google Code:
http://code.google.com/p/iperl/
To know about interactive Perl interpreters, there are two FAQS contained in perlfaq3 which are good starting points. Those are
How can I use Perl interactively? http://perldoc.perl.org/perlfaq3.html#How-can-I-use-Perl-interactively%3f Is there a Perl shell? http://perldoc.perl.org/perlfaq3.html#How-can-I-use-Perl-interactively%3f
An extra list of Perl shells can be found here:
http://www.focusresearch.com/gregor/document/psh-1.1.html#other_perl_shells
It is a one-line evaluator by now.
I don't know what happens if you eval within an eval. I don't expect good things to come. (Lorn who prodded me about this will going to find it out and then I will tell you.)
There are some quirks with Term::Readline (at least on Windows).
There are more bugs. I am lazy to collect them all and list them now.
Please report bugs via CPAN RT http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Shell-Perl or mailto://bugs-Shell-Perl@rt.cpan.org.
Adriano R. Ferreira, <ferreira@cpan.org>
Caio Marcelo, <cmarcelo@gmail.com>
Copyright (C) 2007–2011 by Adriano R. Ferreira
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
To install Shell::Perl, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm
cpanm Shell::Perl
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell install Shell::Perl
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.