ePerl Quick Reference

ePerl allows you to embed perl inside of normal text, this perl will get expanded with the text around it into a new text file.

Anything inside of the ePerl delimiters is evaluated as perl, anything else is printed as normal text. The default delimiters are <: and :>

As an example:

    Quux
    <: for($i=0; $i<=3; $i++) { print "Val: $i\n"; } :>
    Bar

This gets evaluated to:

    Quux
    Val: 0
    Val: 1
    Val: 2
    Val: 3

    Bar

Notice the extra newline. This is because the newline after the ePerl code is printed as normal text, in other words:

    Quux
    <: $a=1; :>
    Bar

Becomes:

    Quux
    
    Bar

This is because the perl code does not include the newline. You can mix plain text and ePerl text on the same line:

    Quux <: print "HI"; :> Bar

Evaluates to:

    Quux HI Bar

You can add comments after leaving an ePerl delimiter, this gets rid of the newline as well:

    Quux
    <: $a=1; :>// This is ignored, including the newline
    Bar

Becomes:

    Quux
    Bar

ePerl adds final semicolons to your perl code, since it's pretty common to forget: <: $a=1 :>. If you remember the semicolon then you'll just get two, and perl doesn't care. But if you specifically don't want the semicolon, you can put a _ before the end delimiter:

    <: if ($a<$b) { _:>
      A is less than B
    <: } else { _:>
      B is less than A
    <: } _:>

There is also a shorthand for printing. You can put = after your delimiter:

    <:=$a:>

Which is the same as:

    <: print $a; :>

Remember, if you need to include the end delimiter in your actual perl code, then you need to quote it so ePerl doesn't see it, such as ":\>"

For more documentation, see the pod or man page

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