PERLMODLIB(1)

✨ PERLMODLIB(1) ✨

Perl Programmers Reference Guide 🎀 bestie, this is the module-library tour. No cap.

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💖 NAME 💖

perlmodlib — constructing new Perl modules and finding existing ones 🫶

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🌈 THE PERL MODULE LIBRARY 🌈

Okay so, like, many modules are included in the Perl distribution. They’re described below, and they all end in .pm. You may also discover compiled library files, usually ending in .so, or tiny little pieces of modules meant to be autoloaded, ending in .al — those were automatically generated by the installation process. You may also find files in the library directory ending in either .pl or .ph. Those are old libraries supplied so old programs that use them still run. The .pl files will all eventually be converted into standard modules, and the .ph files made by h2ph will probably end up as extension modules made by h2xs. (Some .ph values may already be available through the POSIX, Errno, or Fcntl modules.) The pl2pm file in the distribution may help in your conversion, but it’s just a mechanical process and therefore far from bulletproof. 💅

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🧚 Pragmatic Modules 🧚

They work somewhat like compiler directives (pragmata) in that they tend to affect the compilation of your program, and thus will usually work well only when used within a use, or no. Most of these are lexically scoped, so an inner BLOCK may countermand them by saying:

no integer;
no strict 'refs';
no warnings;

which lasts until the end of that BLOCK.

Some pragmas are lexically scoped — typically those that affect the $^H hints variable. Others affect the current package instead, like use vars and use subs, which allow you to predeclare a variable or subroutines within a particular file rather than just a block. Such declarations are effective for the entire file for which they were declared. You cannot rescind them with no vars or no subs.

The following pragmas are defined (and have their own documentation).

• attributes — get/set subroutine or variable attributes
• autodie — replace functions with ones that succeed or die with lexical scope
• autodie::exception — exceptions from autodying functions.
• autodie::exception::system — exceptions from autodying system().
• autodie::hints — provide hints about user subroutines to autodie
• autodie::skip — skip a package when throwing autodie exceptions
• autouse — postpone load of modules until a function is used
• base — establish an ISA relationship with base classes at compile time
• bigfloat — transparent big floating point number support for Perl
• bigint — transparent big integer support for Perl
• bignum — transparent big number support for Perl
• bigrat — transparent big rational number support for Perl
• blib — use MakeMaker’s uninstalled version of a package
• builtin — import built-in utility functions
• bytes — expose the individual bytes of characters
• charnames — access to Unicode character names and named character sequences; also define character names
• constant — declare constants
• deprecate — Perl pragma for deprecating the inclusion of a module in core
• diagnostics — produce verbose warning diagnostics
• encoding — allows you to write your script in non-ASCII and non-UTF-8
• encoding::warnings — warn on implicit encoding conversions
• experimental — experimental features made easy
• feature — enable new features
• fields — compile-time class fields
• filetest — control the filetest permission operators
• if — "use" a Perl module if a condition holds
• integer — use integer arithmetic instead of floating point
• less — request less of something
• lib — manipulate @INC at compile time
• locale — use or avoid POSIX locales for built-in operations
• mro — Method Resolution Order
• ok — alternative to Test::More::use_ok
• open — set default PerlIO layers for input and output
• ops — restrict unsafe operations when compiling
• overload — package for overloading Perl operations
• overloading — lexically control overloading
• parent — establish an ISA relationship with base classes at compile time
• re — alter regular expression behaviour
• sigtrap — enable simple signal handling
• sort — control sort() behaviour
• source::encoding — declare Perl source code encoding
• stable — experimental features made easy, once we know they’re stable
• strict — restrict unsafe constructs
• subs — predeclare subroutine names
• threads — Perl interpreter-based threads
• threads::shared — Perl extension for sharing data structures between threads
• utf8 — enable/disable UTF-8 (or UTF-EBCDIC) in source code
• vars — predeclare global variable names
• version — Perl extension for Version Objects
• vmsish — control VMS-specific language features
• warnings — control optional warnings
• warnings::register — warnings import function

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💖 Standard Modules 💖

Standard, bundled modules are all expected to behave in a well-defined manner with respect to namespace pollution because they use the Exporter module. See their own documentation for details.

It’s possible that not all modules listed below are installed on your system. For example, the GDBM_File module will not be installed if you don’t have the gdbm library.

• Amiga::ARexx — Perl extension for ARexx support
• Amiga::Exec — Perl extension for low level amiga support
• AnyDBM_File — provide framework for multiple DBMs
• App::Cpan — easily interact with CPAN from the command line
• App::Prove — implements the "prove" command.
• App::Prove::State — state storage for the "prove" command.
• App::Prove::State::Result — individual test suite results.
• App::Prove::State::Result::Test — individual test results.
• Archive::Tar — module for manipulations of tar archives
• Archive::Tar::File — a subclass for in-memory extracted file from Archive::Tar
• Attribute::Handlers — simpler definition of attribute handlers
• AutoLoader — load subroutines only on demand
• AutoSplit — split a package for autoloading
• B — the Perl Compiler Backend
• B::Concise — walk Perl syntax tree, printing concise info about ops
• B::Deparse — Perl compiler backend to produce perl code
• B::Op_private — OP op_private flag definitions
• B::Showlex — show lexical variables used in functions or files
• B::Terse — walk Perl syntax tree, printing terse info about ops
• B::Xref — generates cross reference reports for Perl programs
• Benchmark — benchmark running times of Perl code
• "IO::Socket::IP" — family-neutral IP socket supporting both IPv4 and IPv6
• "Socket" — networking constants and support functions
• "Test2::Tools::Refcount" — assert reference counts on objects
• CORE — namespace for Perl’s core routines
• CPAN — query, download and build perl modules from CPAN sites
• CPAN::API::HOWTO — a recipe book for programming with CPAN.pm
• CPAN::Debug — internal debugging for CPAN.pm
• CPAN::Distroprefs — read and match distroprefs
• CPAN::FirstTime — utility for CPAN::Config file Initialization
• CPAN::HandleConfig — internal configuration handling for CPAN.pm
• CPAN::Kwalify — interface between CPAN.pm and Kwalify.pm
• CPAN::Meta — the distribution metadata for a CPAN dist
• CPAN::Meta::Converter — convert CPAN distribution metadata structures
• CPAN::Meta::Feature — an optional feature provided by a CPAN distribution
• CPAN::Meta::History — history of CPAN Meta Spec changes
• CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_0 — version 1.0 metadata specification for META.yml
• CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_1 — version 1.1 metadata specification for META.yml
• CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_2 — version 1.2 metadata specification for META.yml
• CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_3 — version 1.3 metadata specification for META.yml
• CPAN::Meta::History::Meta_1_4 — version 1.4 metadata specification for META.yml
• CPAN::Meta::Merge — merging CPAN Meta fragments
• CPAN::Meta::Prereqs — a set of distribution prerequisites by phase and type
• CPAN::Meta::Requirements — a set of version requirements for a CPAN dist
• CPAN::Meta::Requirements::Range — a set of version requirements for a CPAN dist
• CPAN::Meta::Spec — specification for CPAN distribution metadata
• CPAN::Meta::Validator — validate CPAN distribution metadata structures
• CPAN::Meta::YAML — read and write a subset of YAML for CPAN Meta files
• CPAN::Nox — wrapper around CPAN.pm without using any XS module
• CPAN::Plugin — base class for CPAN shell extensions
• CPAN::Plugin::Specfile — proof of concept implementation of a trivial CPAN::Plugin
• CPAN::Queue — internal queue support for CPAN.pm
• CPAN::Tarzip — internal handling of tar archives for CPAN.pm
• CPAN::Version — utility functions to compare CPAN versions
• Carp — alternative warn and die for modules
• Class::Struct — declare struct-like datatypes as Perl classes
• Compress::Raw::Bzip2 — low-Level Interface to bzip2 compression library
• Compress::Raw::Zlib — low-Level Interface to zlib or zlib-ng compression library
• Compress::Zlib — interface to zlib compression library
• Config — access Perl configuration information
• Config::Extensions — hash lookup of which core extensions were built.
• Config::Perl::V — structured data retrieval of perl -V output
• Cwd — get pathname of current working directory
• DB — programmatic interface to the Perl debugging API
• DBM_Filter — filter DBM keys/values
• DBM_Filter::compress — filter for DBM_Filter
• DBM_Filter::encode — filter for DBM_Filter
• DBM_Filter::int32 — filter for DBM_Filter
• DBM_Filter::null — filter for DBM_Filter
• DBM_Filter::utf8 — filter for DBM_Filter
• DB_File — Perl5 access to Berkeley DB version 1.x
• Data::Dumper — stringified perl data structures, suitable for both printing and "eval"
• Devel::PPPort — Perl/Pollution/Portability
• Devel::Peek — a data debugging tool for the XS programmer
• Devel::SelfStubber — generate stubs for a SelfLoading module
• Digest — modules that calculate message digests
• Digest::MD5 — Perl's interface to the MD5 Algorithm 💅
• Digest::SHA — a Perl extension for SHA-1/224/256/384/512 🔥
• Digest::base — the base class for all the Digest stuff, the mother of the digest modules 🎀
• Digest::file — calculates digests of files, literally just that 🫶
• DirHandle — (obsolete!) supplies object methods for directory handles 💀
• Dumpvalue — provides a screen dump of Perl data 👑
• DynaLoader — dynamically loads C libraries into your Perl code, no cap ✨
• Encode — character encodings in Perl, the whole entire saga 🌈
• Encode::Alias — alias definitions to encodings, the nickname giver 🎀
• Encode::Byte — single byte encodings 💅
• Encode::CJKConstants — internally used by Encode::??::ISO_2022_* (yes, that's a literal question mark wildcard situation, iykyk) 🦋
• Encode::CN — China-based Chinese encodings 🇨🇳
• Encode::CN::HZ — internally used by Encode::CN
• Encode::Config — internally used by Encode
• Encode::EBCDIC — EBCDIC encodings, the old-school mainframe vibe 💜
• Encode::Encoder — an object oriented encoder ✨
• Encode::Encoding — the Encode implementation base class, the blueprint fr fr
• Encode::GSM0338 — ETSI GSM 03.38 encoding, for your texty vibes 📱
• Encode::Guess — guesses the encoding from the data, detective behavior 🕵️
• Encode::JP — Japanese encodings 🇯🇵
• Encode::JP::H2Z — internally used by Encode::JP::2022_JP*
• Encode::JP::JIS7 — internally used by Encode::JP
• Encode::KR — Korean encodings 🇰🇷
• Encode::KR::2022_KR — internally used by Encode::KR
• Encode::MIME::Header — MIME encoding for an unstructured email header 💌
• Encode::MIME::Name — internally used by Encode
• Encode::PerlIO — a detailed document on Encode and PerlIO, grab a snack bestie it's a whole read 🍓
• Encode::Supported — encodings supported by Encode, the full guest list 👑
• Encode::Symbol — symbol encodings ✨
• Encode::TW — Taiwan-based Chinese encodings
• Encode::Unicode — various Unicode Transformation Formats 🌈
• Encode::Unicode::UTF7 — UTF-7 encoding
• English — use nice English (or awk) names for those ugly punctuation variables, your faves get real names now 💖
• Env — a Perl module that imports environment variables as scalars or arrays 🌱
• Errno — system errno constants, all the error codes lined up 💀
• Exporter — implements the default import method for modules, the one doing all the heavy lifting behind the scenes 🫶
• Exporter::Heavy — Exporter guts, the messy internal bits 🙈
• ExtUtils::CBuilder — compile and link C code for Perl modules, builder era 🛠️
• ExtUtils::CBuilder::Platform::Windows — builder class for Windows platforms 🪟
• ExtUtils::Command — utilities to replace common UNIX commands in Makefiles etc., lil stand-ins 👑
• ExtUtils::Command::MM — commands for the MM's to use in Makefiles
• ExtUtils::Constant — generate XS code to import C header constants ✨
• ExtUtils::Constant::Base — base class for ExtUtils::Constant objects 🎀
• ExtUtils::Constant::Utils — helper functions for ExtUtils::Constant 🫶
• ExtUtils::Constant::XS — generate C code for XS modules' constants 💅
• ExtUtils::Embed — utilities for embedding Perl in C/C++ applications, Perl said "I live here now" 🔥
• ExtUtils::Install — install files from here to there, a mover fr fr 📦
• ExtUtils::Installed — inventory management of installed modules, the receipt keeper 🧾
• ExtUtils::Liblist — determine libraries to use and how to use them
• ExtUtils::MM — OS adjusted ExtUtils::MakeMaker subclass 🌈
• ExtUtils::MM::Utils — ExtUtils::MM methods without dependency on ExtUtils::MakeMaker
• ExtUtils::MM_AIX — AIX specific subclass of ExtUtils::MM_Unix
• ExtUtils::MM_Any — platform-agnostic MM methods, no OS drama 🌍
• ExtUtils::MM_BeOS — methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
• ExtUtils::MM_Cygwin — methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
• ExtUtils::MM_DOS — DOS specific subclass of ExtUtils::MM_Unix
• ExtUtils::MM_Darwin — special behaviors for OS X 🍎
• ExtUtils::MM_MacOS — once produced Makefiles for MacOS Classic, retired icon energy 👑
• ExtUtils::MM_NW5 — methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
• ExtUtils::MM_OS2 — methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
• ExtUtils::MM_OS390 — OS390 specific subclass of ExtUtils::MM_Unix
• ExtUtils::MM_QNX — QNX specific subclass of ExtUtils::MM_Unix
• ExtUtils::MM_UWIN — U/WIN specific subclass of ExtUtils::MM_Unix
• ExtUtils::MM_Unix — methods used by ExtUtils::MakeMaker, the main character honestly 💅
• ExtUtils::MM_VMS — methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
• ExtUtils::MM_VOS — VOS specific subclass of ExtUtils::MM_Unix
• ExtUtils::MM_Win32 — methods to override UN*X behaviour in ExtUtils::MakeMaker
• ExtUtils::MM_Win95 — method to customize MakeMaker for Win9X
• ExtUtils::MY — ExtUtils::MakeMaker subclass for customization ✨
• ExtUtils::MakeMaker — create a module Makefile, the blueprint printer 📝
• ExtUtils::MakeMaker::Config — wrapper around Config.pm 🎀
• ExtUtils::MakeMaker::FAQ — frequently asked questions about MakeMaker, all the answers bestie 🫶
• ExtUtils::MakeMaker::Locale — bundled Encode::Locale 🌍
• ExtUtils::MakeMaker::Tutorial — writing a module with MakeMaker, the how-to ✨
• ExtUtils::Manifest — utilities to write and check a MANIFEST file 🧾
• ExtUtils::Miniperl — write the C code for miniperlmain.c and perlmain.c 🔥
• ExtUtils::Mkbootstrap — make a bootstrap file for use by DynaLoader 🥾
• ExtUtils::Mksymlists — write linker options files for dynamic extension 🔗
• ExtUtils::PL2Bat — batch file creation to run perl scripts on Windows 🪟
• ExtUtils::Packlist — manage .packlist files 📋
• ExtUtils::ParseXS — converts Perl XS code into C code, the translator 👑
• ExtUtils::ParseXS::Constants — initialization values for some globals 🌱
• ExtUtils::ParseXS::Eval — clean package to evaluate code in 🧼
• ExtUtils::ParseXS::Node — classes for nodes of an ExtUtils::ParseXS AST 🌳
• ExtUtils::ParseXS::Utilities — subroutines used with ExtUtils::ParseXS 🛠️
• ExtUtils::Typemaps — read/write/modify Perl/XS typemap files 💅
• ExtUtils::Typemaps::Cmd — quick commands for handling typemaps ⚡
• ExtUtils::Typemaps::InputMap — entry in the INPUT section of a typemap 📥
• ExtUtils::Typemaps::OutputMap — entry in the OUTPUT section of a typemap 📤
• ExtUtils::Typemaps::Type — entry in the TYPEMAP section of a typemap 🏷️
• ExtUtils::XSSymSet — keep sets of symbol names palatable to the VMS linker 🍽️
• ExtUtils::testlib — add blib/* directories to @INC 🫶
• Fatal — replace functions with equivalents which succeed or die, no middle ground 💀
• Fcntl — various flag constants and helper functions from C's fcntl.h 🚩
• File::Basename — parse file paths into directory, filename and suffix. 🎀
• File::Compare — compare files or filehandles, spot the difference ✨
• File::Copy — copy files or filehandles 📋
• File::DosGlob — DOS like globbing and then some 🪟
• File::Fetch — a generic file fetching mechanism 🎣
• File::Find — traverse a directory tree. 🌳
• File::Glob — Perl extension for the BSD glob routine 🌈
• File::GlobMapper — extend File Glob to allow input and output files 🔄
• File::Path — create or remove directory trees 🌲
• File::Spec — portably perform operations on file names, no OS beef 💅
• File::Spec::AmigaOS — File::Spec for AmigaOS
• File::Spec::Cygwin — methods for Cygwin file specs
• File::Spec::Epoc — methods for Epoc file specs
• File::Spec::Functions — portably perform operations on file names 🫶
• File::Spec::Mac — File::Spec for Mac OS (Classic) 🍎
• File::Spec::OS2 — methods for OS/2 file specs
• File::Spec::Unix — File::Spec for Unix, base for other File::Spec modules 👑
• File::Spec::VMS — methods for VMS file specs
• File::Spec::Win32 — methods for Win32 file specs
• File::Temp — return name and handle of a temporary file safely, bestie behavior 🧚
• File::stat — by-name interface to Perl's built-in stat() functions 📊
• FileCache — keep more files open than the system permits, chaotic but iconic 💀
• FileHandle — supply object methods for filehandles 🎀
• Filter::Simple — simplified source filtering ✨
• Filter::Util::Call — Perl Source Filter Utility Module 🛠️
• FindBin — locate directory of original Perl script 📍
• GDBM_File — Perl5 access to the gdbm library. 🗄️
• Getopt::Long — extended processing of command line options, the fancy one 💅
• Getopt::Long::Parser — Getopt::Long object-oriented interface 🎀
• Getopt::Std — process single-character switches with switch clustering ⚡
• HTTP::Tiny — a small, simple, correct HTTP/1.1 client, tiny but correct fr fr 🦋
• Hash::Util — a selection of general-utility hash subroutines 🗂️
• Hash::Util::FieldHash — support for Inside-Out Classes 🌀
• I18N::Collate — compare 8-bit scalar data according to the current locale 🌍
• I18N::LangTags — functions for dealing with RFC3066-style language tags 🏷️
• I18N::LangTags::Detect — detect the user's language preferences 🕵️
• I18N::LangTags::List — tags and names for human languages 🗣️
• I18N::Langinfo — query locale information 🔍
• IO — load various IO modules, the whole squad 🫶
• IO::Compress — read/write compressed data in multiple formats 📦
• IO::Compress::Base — base class for IO::Compress modules 🎀
• IO::Compress::Bzip2 — write bzip2 files/buffers 🗜️
• IO::Compress::Deflate — write RFC 1950 files/buffers 💨
• IO::Compress::FAQ — frequently asked questions about IO::Compress 🙋
• IO::Compress::Gzip — write RFC 1952 files/buffers 🗜️
• IO::Compress::RawDeflate — write RFC 1951 files/buffers 💨
• IO::Compress::Zip — write zip files/buffers 🤐
• IO::Dir — supply object methods for directory handles 📁
• IO::File — supply object methods for filehandles 📄
• IO::Handle — supply object methods for I/O handles 🎀
• IO::Pipe — supply object methods for pipes 🚰
• IO::Poll — object interface to the system poll call 📡
• IO::Seekable — supply seek based methods for I/O objects ⏩
• IO::Select — OO interface to the "select" system call ✨
• IO::Socket — object interface to socket communications 🔌
• IO::Socket::INET — object interface for AF_INET domain sockets 🌐
• IO::Socket::UNIX — object interface for AF_UNIX domain sockets 🐧
• IO::Uncompress::AnyInflate — uncompress zlib-based (zip, gzip) file/buffer 🎈

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• IO::Uncompress::AnyUncompress — the "idk what format this even is" bestie ✨ it'll uncompress gzip, zip, bzip2, zstd, xz, lzma, lzip, lzf or lzop, from a file or a buffer. versatile icon 💅
• IO::Uncompress::Base — the base class all the IO::Uncompress modules build on. the mother of the group chat 🫶
• IO::Uncompress::Bunzip2 — read bzip2 files/buffers. that's it, that's the vibe 🎀
• IO::Uncompress::Gunzip — reads RFC 1952 files/buffers. old-school gzip energy 📼
• IO::Uncompress::Inflate — reads RFC 1950 files/buffers 🌸
• IO::Uncompress::RawInflate — reads RFC 1951 files/buffers. yes there are like four of these, and yes they're all different, iykyk 💀
• IO::Uncompress::Unzip — read zip files/buffers. the format ur group chat meme folders live in 🗂️
• IO::Zlib — an IO:: style interface to Compress::Zlib 🦋
• IPC::Cmd — finding and running system commands, but made easy. no cap, it really is easier 🫶
• IPC::Msg — SysV Msg IPC object class 💌
• IPC::Open2 — open a process for both reading and writing using open2() 👯
• IPC::Open3 — open a process for reading, writing, and error handling using open3() 🎀
• IPC::Semaphore — SysV Semaphore IPC object class 🚦
• IPC::SharedMem — SysV Shared Memory IPC object class 🧠
• IPC::SysV — System V IPC constants and system calls ⚙️
• Internals — a reserved special namespace for internals-related functions. do not touch, it's reserved bestie 🙈
• JSON::PP — a JSON::XS compatible pure-Perl module. pure Perl slay 🐪✨
• JSON::PP::Boolean — a dummy module that just provides JSON::PP::Boolean 🤡 iconic honestly
• List::Util — a whole selection of general-utility list subroutines 🍓
• List::Util::XS — tells you whether List::Util got compiled with a C compiler or not. yes/no girlie 💅
• Locale::Maketext — a framework for localization 🌍
• Locale::Maketext::Cookbook — recipes for using Locale::Maketext. cookbook besties we love u 📖
• Locale::Maketext::Guts — deprecated module for loading the Locale::Maketext utf8 code. retired, don't use it 🚫
• Locale::Maketext::GutsLoader — also deprecated, also for loading the Locale::Maketext utf8 code. they're twins and both retired 💀
• Locale::Maketext::Simple — a simple interface to Locale::Maketext::Lexicon 🌸
• Locale::Maketext::TPJ13 — an article about software localization, living its little essay era 📝
• MIME::Base64 — encoding and decoding of base64 strings 🔤
• MIME::QuotedPrint — encoding and decoding of quoted-printable strings 📧
• Math::BigFloat — arbitrary size floating point math package. floats that are not like other floats 🌊
• Math::BigInt — arbitrary size integer math package. numbers so big they needed their own package 👑
• Math::BigInt::Calc — pure Perl module to support Math::BigInt 🐪
• Math::BigInt::Calc... wait, next: Math::BigInt::FastCalc — it's Math::BigInt::Calc but with some XS for more speed ⚡
• Math::BigInt::Lib — the virtual parent class for Math::BigInt libraries 🫶
• Math::BigRat — arbitrary size rational number math package 🧮
• Math::Complex — complex numbers and associated mathematical functions 🌈
• Math::Trig — trigonometric functions 📐
• Memoize — makes functions faster by trading space for time. a classic trade 💾↔️⏱️
• Memoize::AnyDBM_File — glue to provide EXISTS for AnyDBM_File for Storable use 🩹
• Memoize::Expire — a plug-in module for automatic expiration of memoized values ⌛
• Memoize::NDBM_File — glue to provide EXISTS for NDBM_File for Storable use 🩹
• Memoize::SDBM_File — a DEPRECATED compatibility shim. old, retired, leave her alone 🚫💀
• Memoize::Storable — stores memoized data in a Storable database 📦
• Module::CoreList — tells you what modules shipped with which versions of perl 🗺️
• Module::CoreList::Utils — same but for what utilities shipped with versions of perl 🔧
• Module::Load — runtime require of both modules and files 🚚
• Module::Load::Conditional — looking up module information and/or loading at runtime 🔍
• Module::Loaded — mark modules as loaded or unloaded ✅
• Module::Metadata — gathers package and POD information from perl module files 🕵️
• NDBM_File — tied access to ndbm files 🔗
• NEXT — provides a pseudo-class NEXT (et al) that allows method redispatch 🎭
• Net::Cmd — network command class, the one FTP, SMTP etc ride on 📡
• Net::Config — local configuration data for libnet ⚙️
• Net::Domain — attempts to evaluate the current host's internet name and domain 🌐
• Net::FTP — FTP client class 📁
• Net::FTP::dataconn — FTP client data connection class 🔌
• Net::NNTP — NNTP client class 📰
• Net::Netrc — OO interface to the user's netrc file 🔑
• Net::POP3 — Post Office Protocol 3 client class (RFC1939) 📬
• Net::Ping — check a remote host for reachability 📶
• Net::SMTP — Simple Mail Transfer Protocol client ✉️
• Net::Time — time and daytime network client interface ⏰
• Net::hostent — by-name interface to Perl's built-in gethost*() functions 🏠
• Net::libnetFAQ — the libnet Frequently Asked Questions ❓
• Net::netent — by-name interface to Perl's built-in getnet*() functions 🕸️
• Net::protoent — by-name interface to Perl's built-in getproto*() functions 📋
• Net::servent — by-name interface to Perl's built-in getserv*() functions 🛎️
• O — a generic interface to Perl compiler backends 🅾️
• ODBM_File — tied access to odbm files 🔗
• Opcode — disable named opcodes when compiling perl code 🚧
• POSIX — Perl's interface to IEEE Std 1003.1. the standards bestie 📏
• Params::Check — a generic input parsing/checking mechanism 🔎
• Parse::CPAN::Meta — parses META.yml and META.json CPAN metadata files 📄
• Perl::OSType — maps Perl operating system names to generic types 🖥️
• PerlIO — on demand loader for PerlIO layers, and the root of the PerlIO::* name space 🌳
• PerlIO::encoding — encoding layer 🔤
• PerlIO::mmap — memory mapped IO 🧠
• PerlIO::scalar — in-memory IO, scalar IO 🎈
• PerlIO::via — helper class for PerlIO layers implemented in perl 🐪
• PerlIO::via::QuotedPrint — PerlIO layer for quoted-printable strings 📧
• Pod::Checker — check pod documents for syntax errors ✅
• Pod::Escapes — for resolving Pod E<...> sequences 🔡
• Pod::Functions — groups Perl's functions a la perlfunc.pod 🗂️
• Pod::Html — module to convert pod files to HTML 🌐
• Pod::Html::Util — helper functions for Pod-Html 🛠️
• Pod::Man — converts POD data to formatted *roff input 📜
• Pod::ParseLink — parses an L<> formatting code in POD text 🔗
• Pod::Perldoc — looks up Perl documentation in Pod format 📚
• Pod::Perldoc::BaseTo — the base for Pod::Perldoc formatters 🫶
• Pod::Perldoc::GetOptsOO — a customized option parser for Pod::Perldoc ⚙️
• Pod::Perldoc::ToANSI — renders Pod with ANSI color escapes 🌈
• Pod::Perldoc::ToChecker — lets Perldoc check Pod for errors ✅
• Pod::Perldoc::ToMan — lets Perldoc render Pod as man pages 📖
• Pod::Perldoc::ToNroff — lets Perldoc convert Pod to nroff 📜
• Pod::Perldoc::ToPod — lets Perldoc render Pod as ... Pod! inception but make it docs 💫
• Pod::Perldoc::ToRtf — lets Perldoc render Pod as RTF 📝
• Pod::Perldoc::ToTerm — renders Pod with terminal escapes 💻
• Pod::Perldoc::ToText — lets Perldoc render Pod as plaintext 🔤
• Pod::Perldoc::ToTk — lets Perldoc use Tk::Pod to render Pod 🪟
• Pod::Perldoc::ToXml — lets Perldoc render Pod as XML 🏷️
• Pod::Simple — a framework for parsing Pod 🧚
• Pod::Simple::Checker — checks the Pod syntax of a document ✅
• Pod::Simple::Debug — puts Pod::Simple into trace/debug mode 🐛
• Pod::Simple::DumpAsText — dumps Pod-parsing events as text 📃
• Pod::Simple::DumpAsXML — turns Pod into XML 🏷️
• Pod::Simple::HTML — converts Pod to HTML 🌐
• Pod::Simple::HTMLBatch — converts several Pod files to several HTML files 📚
• Pod::Simple::JustPod — just the Pod, the whole Pod, and nothing but the Pod. she said what she said 💅
• Pod::Simple::LinkSection — represents the "section" attributes of L codes 🔗
• Pod::Simple::Methody — turns Pod::Simple events into method calls 📞
• Pod::Simple::PullParser — a pull-parser interface to parsing Pod 🎣
• Pod::Simple::PullParserEndToken — end-tokens from Pod::Simple::PullParser 🏁
• Pod::Simple::PullParserStartToken — start-tokens from Pod::Simple::PullParser 🚩
• Pod::Simple::PullParserTextToken — text-tokens from Pod::Simple::PullParser 🔤
• Pod::Simple::PullParserToken — tokens from Pod::Simple::PullParser 🎟️
• Pod::Simple::RTF — formats Pod as RTF 📝
• Pod::Simple::Search — finds POD documents in directory trees 🌳
• Pod::Simple::SimpleTree — parses Pod into a simple parse tree 🌲
• Pod::Simple::Subclassing — write a formatter as a Pod::Simple subclass 🧬
• Pod::Simple::Text — formats Pod as plaintext 🔤
• Pod::Simple::TextContent — gets the text content of Pod 📄
• Pod::Simple::XHTML — formats Pod as validating XHTML ✅🌐
• Pod::Simple::XMLOutStream — turns Pod into XML 🏷️
• Pod::Text — converts POD data to formatted text 📃
• Pod::Text::Color — converts POD data to formatted color ASCII text 🌈
• Pod::Text::Overstrike — converts POD data to formatted overstrike text ⌨️
• Pod::Text::Termcap — converts POD data to ASCII text with format escapes 💻
• Pod::Usage — extracts POD documentation and shows usage information 📖
• SDBM_File — tied access to sdbm files 🔗
• Safe — compile and execute code in restricted compartments 🔒
• Scalar::List::Utils — a distribution of general-utility subroutines 🍓
• Scalar::Util — a selection of general-utility scalar subroutines ✨
• Search::Dict — look, searches for a key in a dictionary file 🔍
• SelectSaver — save and restore the selected file handle 💾
• SelfLoader — load functions only on demand 🐢
• Storable — persistence for Perl data structures 📦
• Sub::Util — a selection of utility subroutines for subs and CODE references 🛠️
• Symbol — manipulate Perl symbols and their names 🔣
• Sys::Hostname — tries every conceivable way to get the hostname. she's persistent, we love that 💪
• Sys::Syslog — Perl interface to the UNIX syslog(3) calls 📋
• Sys::Syslog::Win32 — Win32 support for Sys::Syslog 🪟
• TAP::Base — base class that provides common functionality to TAP::Parser 🫶
• TAP::Formatter::Base — base class for harness output delegates 🧱
• TAP::Formatter::Color — run Perl test scripts with color 🌈
• TAP::Formatter::Console — harness output delegate for default console output 🖥️
• TAP::Formatter::Console::ParallelSession — harness output delegate for parallel console output 👯
• TAP::Formatter::Console::Session — harness output delegate for default console output 🖥️
• TAP::Formatter::File — harness output delegate for file output 📁
• TAP::Formatter::File::Session — harness output delegate for file output 📁

…and we're back, bestie — still deep in the module directory, still not skipping a single one 💅 we finish what we start around here.

• TAP::Formatter::Session — the abstract base class for a harness output delegate. it's the blueprint, the "implement me yourself" energy 🎀
• TAP::Harness — runs your test scripts and hands you the statistics while it's at it 📊
• TAP::Harness::Env — parses harness-related environmental variables, where appropriate 🫶
• TAP::Object — the base class handing out common functionality to every TAP::* module. the mom of the whole family 💖
• TAP::Parser — parses TAP output. that's the gig, that's the whole job 🔥
• TAP::Parser::Aggregator — aggregates TAP::Parser results 🌸
• TAP::Parser::Grammar — a grammar for the Test Anything Protocol. the literal rulebook 📜
• TAP::Parser::Iterator — base class for TAP source iterators
• TAP::Parser::Iterator::Array — iterator for array-based TAP sources
• TAP::Parser::Iterator::Process — iterator for process-based TAP sources
• TAP::Parser::Iterator::Stream — iterator for filehandle-based TAP sources
• TAP::Parser::IteratorFactory — works out which SourceHandler objects to use for a given Source 🧚
• TAP::Parser::Multiplexer — multiplexes multiple TAP::Parsers. several parsers, one glow ✨
• TAP::Parser::Result — base class for TAP::Parser output objects
• TAP::Parser::Result::Bailout — bailout result token.
• TAP::Parser::Result::Comment — comment result token.
• TAP::Parser::Result::Plan — plan result token.
• TAP::Parser::Result::Pragma — TAP pragma token.
• TAP::Parser::Result::Test — test result token.
• TAP::Parser::Result::Unknown — unknown result token. it's giving mystery 💀
• TAP::Parser::Result::Version — TAP syntax version token.
• TAP::Parser::Result::YAML — YAML result token.
• TAP::Parser::ResultFactory — the factory for creating TAP::Parser output objects 🏭
• TAP::Parser::Scheduler — schedules tests during parallel testing
• TAP::Parser::Scheduler::Job — a single testing job.
• TAP::Parser::Scheduler::Spinner — a no-op job. literally doing nothing and doing it flawlessly 👑
• TAP::Parser::Source — a TAP source, plus meta data about it
• TAP::Parser::SourceHandler — base class for the different TAP source handlers
• TAP::Parser::SourceHandler::Executable — streams output from an executable TAP source
• TAP::Parser::SourceHandler::File — streams TAP from a text file.
• TAP::Parser::SourceHandler::Handle — streams TAP from an IO::Handle or a GLOB.
• TAP::Parser::SourceHandler::Perl — streams TAP from a Perl executable
• TAP::Parser::SourceHandler::RawTAP — streams output from raw TAP sitting in a scalar/array ref.
• TAP::Parser::YAMLish::Reader — reads YAMLish data from an iterator
• TAP::Parser::YAMLish::Writer — writes YAMLish data
• Term::ANSIColor — colors your screen output using ANSI escape sequences 🌈 the original glow-up
• Term::Cap — the Perl termcap interface
• Term::Complete — the Perl word completion module
• Term::ReadLine — the Perl interface to the various readline packages.
• Term::Table — formats a header and rows into a table
• Term::Table::Cell — representation of a cell in a table.
• Term::Table::CellStack — combines several cells into one (vertically) 🥞
• Term::Table::HashBase — builds hash-based classes.
• Term::Table::LineBreak — breaks up lines for use in tables.
• Term::Table::Util — utilities for Term::Table.
• Test — provides a simple framework for writing test scripts
• Test2 — a framework for writing test tools that all work together 🤝
• Test2::API — the primary interface for writing Test2-based testing tools.
• Test2::API::Breakage — what breaks at what version 💀 genuinely useful, ngl
• Test2::API::Context — an object to represent a testing context.
• Test2::API::Instance — the object Test2::API uses under the hood 🏎️
• Test2::API::InterceptResult — representation of a list of events.
• Test2::API::InterceptResult::Event — representation of an event, for use in… (the line just stops there, bestie, i'm not inventing the rest 🙈)
• Test2::API::InterceptResult::Hub — the hub used by InterceptResult.
• Test2::API::InterceptResult::Squasher — encapsulation of the algorithm that… 👀 (again, cut off)
• Test2::API::Stack — an object to manage a stack of Test2::Hub
• Test2::AsyncSubtest — an object representing an async subtest.
• Test2::AsyncSubtest::Event::Attach — the event that attaches a subtest to the parent.
• Test2::AsyncSubtest::Event::Detach — the event that detaches a subtest from the parent.
• Test2::AsyncSubtest::Hub — the hub used by async subtests.
• Test2::Bundle — documentation for bundles.
• Test2::Bundle::Extended — the old name for Test2::V0. it rebranded, we still respect it ✨
• Test2::Bundle::More — ALMOST a drop-in replacement for Test::More. read that word again bestie 👀
• Test2::Bundle::Simple — ALMOST a drop-in replacement for Test::Simple.
• Test2::Compare — a Test2 extension for writing deep comparison tools.
• Test2::Compare::Array — internal representation of an array comparison.
• Test2::Compare::Bag — internal representation of a bag comparison.
• Test2::Compare::Base — base class for comparison classes.
• Test2::Compare::Bool — compares two values as booleans
• Test2::Compare::Custom — a custom field check for comparisons.
• Test2::Compare::DeepRef — ref comparison
• Test2::Compare::Delta — representation of the differences between nested data
• Test2::Compare::Event — an event-specific Object subclass.
• Test2::Compare::EventMeta — the meta class for events in deep comparisons
• Test2::Compare::Float — compares two values as numbers, with tolerance.
• Test2::Compare::Hash — representation of a hash in a deep comparison.
• Test2::Compare::Isa — checks whether the value is an instance of the class.
• Test2::Compare::Meta — the check library for meta-checks
• Test2::Compare::Negatable — a poor man's 'role' for compare objects that can be negated.
• Test2::Compare::Number — compares two values as numbers
• Test2::Compare::Object — representation of an object during deep… (yep, cut off again 💀)
• Test2::Compare::OrderedSubset — internal representation of an ordered subset.
• Test2::Compare::Pattern — use a pattern to validate values in a deep… (and that's where it ends 🌸)
• Test2::Compare::Ref — ref comparison
• Test2::Compare::Regex — direct regex comparison
• Test2::Compare::Scalar — representation of a Scalar Ref in deep… (cut off, sigh 😭)
• Test2::Compare::Set — allows a field to be matched against a set of… (cut off, you know the drill)
• Test2::Compare::String — compares two values as strings
• Test2::Compare::Undef — checks that something is undefined
• Test2::Compare::Wildcard — placeholder check.
• Test2::Env — documentation for the environment variables used or set by Test2.
• Test2::Event — base class for events
• Test2::Event::Bail — bailout! 🚨
• Test2::Event::Diag — the diag event type
• Test2::Event::Encoding — sets the encoding for the output stream
• Test2::Event::Exception — the exception event
• Test2::Event::Fail — the event for a simple failed assertion
• Test2::Event::Generic — generic event type.
• Test2::Event::Note — the note event type
• Test2::Event::Ok — the ok event type
• Test2::Event::Pass — the event for a simple passing assertion ✨
• Test2::Event::Plan — the event of a plan
• Test2::Event::Skip — the skip event type
• Test2::Event::Subtest — the event for subtest types
• Test2::Event::TAP::Version — the event for TAP version.
• Test2::Event::V2 — second generation event. the sequel 🎬
• Test2::Event::Waiting — tells all procs/threads it's time to be done
• Test2::EventFacet — base class for all event facets.
• Test2::EventFacet::About — facet with event details.
• Test2::EventFacet::Amnesty — facet for assertion amnesty.
• Test2::EventFacet::Assert — facet representing an assertion.
• Test2::EventFacet::Control — facet for hub actions and behaviors.
• Test2::EventFacet::Error — facet for errors that need to be shown.
• Test2::EventFacet::Hub — facet for the hubs an event passes through.
• Test2::EventFacet::Info — facet for information a developer might care about.
• Test2::EventFacet::Info::Table — intermediary representation of a table.
• Test2::EventFacet::Meta — facet for meta-data
• Test2::EventFacet::Parent — facet for events that contain other events
• Test2::EventFacet::Plan — facet for setting the plan
• Test2::EventFacet::Render — facet that dictates how to render an event.
• Test2::EventFacet::Trace — debug information for events
• Test2::Formatter — the namespace for formatters.
• Test2::Formatter::TAP — the standard TAP formatter
• Test2::Formatter::TAP — yep, still the standard TAP formatter, no cap
• Test2::Hub — the conduit through which all events flow 🌊
• Test2::Hub::Interceptor — the hub the interceptor uses to grab results.
• Test2::Hub::Interceptor::Terminator — exception class used by… (cut off, bestie 💀)
• Test2::Hub::Subtest — the hub used by subtests
• Test2::IPC — turns on IPC for threading or forking support.
• Test2::IPC::Driver — base class for Test2 IPC drivers.
• Test2::IPC::Driver::Files — the temp dir + files concurrency model.
• Test2::Manual — the documentation hub for Test2 and Test2-Suite.
• Test2::Manual::Anatomy — the hub for documentation of the inner workings of… (yeah, it just ends there)
• Test2::Manual::Anatomy::API — internals documentation for the API.
• Test2::Manual::Anatomy::Context — internals documentation for the Context
• Test2::Manual::Anatomy::EndToEnd — an overview of Test2 from load to finish.
• Test2::Manual::Anatomy::Event — the internals of events
• Test2::Manual::Anatomy::Hubs — internals documentation for the hub stack, and… (cut off, of course)
• Test2::Manual::Anatomy::IPC — the manual for the IPC system.
• Test2::Manual::Anatomy::Utilities — an overview of the utilities for Test2.
• Test2::Manual::Concurrency — documentation for the Concurrency support.
• Test2::Manual::Contributing — how to contribute to the Test2 project 🫶 yes please
• Test2::Manual::Testing — the hub for everything about writing tests with Test2. start here, bestie, it's giving table of contents energy 📚
• Test2::Manual::Testing::Introduction — your intro to testing with Test2. the tutorial that holds your hand, no cap 🫶
• Test2::Manual::Testing::Migrating — how to migrate existing tests from
• Test2::Manual::Testing::Planning — the many ways to set a plan. yes there's more than one way, it's Perl, of course there is 💅
• Test2::Manual::Testing::Todo — tutorial for marking tests as TODO. "not today, bestie" but in code ✨
• Test2::Manual::Tooling — the manual page for tool authors. if you're building the thing, this one's yours 👑
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::FirstTool — write your first tool with Test2. baby's first tool, so proud 😭
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::Formatter — how to write a custom formatter, in our
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::Nesting — tutorial for using other tools within your
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::Plugin::TestExit — how to safely add pre-exit
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::Plugin::TestingDone — run code when the test file is
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::Plugin::ToolCompletes — how to add behaviors that occur
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::Plugin::ToolStarts — how to add behaviors that occur
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::Subtest — how to implement a tool that makes use of
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::TestBuilder — this section maps Test::Builder methods
• Test2::Manual::Tooling::Testing — tutorial on how to test your testing tools. testing-ception, we love to see it 🔥

---

• Test2::Mock — module for managing mocked classes and instances. fake it till you make it, but make it intentional 💅
• Test2::Plugin — documentation for plugins
• Test2::Plugin::BailOnFail — automatically bail out of testing on the first test
• Test2::Plugin::DieOnFail — automatically die on the first test failure. dramatic? yes. useful? also yes 💀
• Test2::Plugin::ExitSummary — add extra diagnostics on failure at the end of the
• Test2::Plugin::SRand — control the random seed for more controlled test
• Test2::Plugin::Times — output timing data at the end of the test. so you can see exactly how slow everything is ⏱️
• Test2::Plugin::UTF8 — Test2 plugin to test with utf8. emoji-safe testing, iconic 🌈
• Test2::Require — base class and documentation for skip-unless type test
• Test2::Require::AuthorTesting — only run a test when the AUTHOR_TESTING
• Test2::Require::AutomatedTesting — only run a test when the AUTOMATED_TESTING
• Test2::Require::EnvVar — only run a test when a specific environment variable
• Test2::Require::ExtendedTesting — only run a test when the EXTENDED_TESTING
• Test2::Require::Fork — skip a test file unless the system supports forking
• Test2::Require::Module — skip tests if certain packages are not installed, or
• Test2::Require::NonInteractiveTesting — only run a test when the NONINTERACTIVE_TESTING
• Test2::Require::Perl — skip the test unless the necessary version of Perl is
• Test2::Require::RealFork — skip a test file unless the system supports true
• Test2::Require::ReleaseTesting — only run a test when the RELEASE_TESTING
• Test2::Require::Threads — skip a test file unless the system supports threading
• Test2::Suite — distribution with a rich set of tools built upon the Test2
• Test2::Todo — TODO extension for Test2. 🎀
• Test2::Tools — documentation for Tools.

---

• Test2::Tools::AsyncSubtest — tools for writing async subtests. multitasking but make it tests 🦋
• Test2::Tools::Basic — Test2 implementation of the basic testing tools.
• Test2::Tools::Class — Test2 implementation of the tools for testing classes.
• Test2::Tools::ClassicCompare — classic (Test::More style) comparison tools.
• Test2::Tools::Compare — tools for comparing deep data structures. deep-dive comparison, no surface-level vibes here 🔍
• Test2::Tools::Defer — write tests that get executed at a later time
• Test2::Tools::Encoding — tools for managing the encoding of Test2 based
• Test2::Tools::Event — tools for generating test events.
• Test2::Tools::Exception — Test2 based tools for checking exceptions
• Test2::Tools::Exports — tools for validating exporters.
• Test2::Tools::GenTemp — tool for generating a populated temp directory. 📁
• Test2::Tools::Grab — temporarily intercept all events without adding a scope
• Test2::Tools::Mock — class/instance mocking for Test2.
• Test2::Tools::Ref — tools for validating references.
• Test2::Tools::Spec — RSPEC implementation on top of Test2::Workflow
• Test2::Tools::Subtest — tools for writing subtests
• Test2::Tools::Target — alias the testing target package.
• Test2::Tools::Tester — tools to help you test other testing tools. (yes, again. it's turtles all the way down 🐢)
• Test2::Tools::Tiny — tiny set of tools for unfortunate souls who cannot use
• Test2::Tools::Warnings — tools to verify warnings.
• Test2::Transition — transition notes when upgrading to Test2
• Test2::Util — tools used by Test2 and friends.
• Test2::Util::ExternalMeta — allow third party tools to safely attach meta-data
• Test2::Util::Facets2Legacy — convert facet data to the legacy event API.
• Test2::Util::Grabber — object used to temporarily intercept all events.
• Test2::Util::Guard — inline copy of Scope::Guard
• Test2::Util::HashBase — build hash based classes.
• Test2::Util::Importer — inline copy of Importer.
• Test2::Util::Ref — tools for inspecting or manipulating references.
• Test2::Util::Sig — signal tools used by Test2 and friends.
• Test2::Util::Stash — utilities for manipulating stashes and globs.
• Test2::Util::Sub — tools for inspecting and manipulating subs.
• Test2::Util::Table — format a header and rows into a table
• Test2::Util::Table::LineBreak — break up lines for use in tables.
• Test2::Util::Times — format timing/benchmark information.
• Test2::Util::Trace — legacy wrapper for Test2::EventFacet::Trace.
• Test2::V0 — 0Th edition of the Test2 recommended bundle. yes, 0Th, that's the actual string, don't come for me 😭
• Test2::Workflow — a test workflow is a way of structuring tests using
• Test2::Workflow::BlockBase — base class for all workflow blocks.
• Test2::Workflow::Build — represents a build in progress.
• Test2::Workflow::Runner — runs the workflows.
• Test2::Workflow::Task — encapsulation of a Task
• Test2::Workflow::Task::Action — encapsulation of an action.
• Test2::Workflow::Task::Group — encapsulation of a group (describe).

---

• Test::Builder — backend for building test libraries
• Test::Builder::Formatter — Test::Builder subclass of Test2::Formatter::TAP
• Test::Builder::Module — base class for test modules
• Test::Builder::Tester — test testsuites that have been built with
• Test::Builder::Tester::Color — turn on colour in Test::Builder::Tester 🎨
• Test::Builder::TodoDiag — Test::Builder subclass of Test2::Event::Diag
• Test::Harness — run Perl standard test scripts with statistics
• Test::Harness::Beyond — beyond make test
• Test::More — yet another framework for writing test scripts
• Test::Simple — basic utilities for writing tests.
• Test::Tester — ease testing test modules built with Test::Builder
• Test::Tester::Capture — help testing test modules built with Test::Builder
• Test::Tester::CaptureRunner — help testing test modules built with Test::Builder
• Test::Tutorial — a tutorial about writing really basic tests
• Test::use::ok — alternative to Test::More::use_ok
• Text::Abbrev — Abbrev - create an abbreviation table from a list
• Text::Balanced — extract delimited text sequences from strings.
• Text::ParseWords — parse text into an array of tokens or array of arrays
• Text::Tabs — expand and unexpand tabs like unix expand(1) and unexpand(1)
• Text::Wrap — line wrapping to form simple paragraphs
• Thread — manipulate threads in Perl (for old code only). old code only, okay? legacy behaviour, don't start new stuff here 🚫
• Thread::Queue — thread-safe queues
• Thread::Semaphore — thread-safe semaphores
• Tie::Array — base class for tied arrays
• Tie::File — access the lines of a disk file via a Perl array
• Tie::Handle — base class definitions for tied handles
• Tie::Hash — base class definitions for tied hashes
• Tie::Hash::NamedCapture — named regexp capture buffers
• Tie::Memoize — add data to hash when needed. lazy loading but for hashes, lowkey genius ✨
• Tie::RefHash — use references as hash keys
• Tie::Scalar — base class definitions for tied scalars
• Tie::StdHandle — base class definitions for tied handles
• Tie::SubstrHash — fixed-table-size, fixed-key-length hashing
• Time::HiRes — high resolution alarm, sleep, gettimeofday, interval timers ⏰
• Time::Local — efficiently compute time from local and GMT time
• Time::Piece — object oriented time objects
• Time::Seconds — a simple API to convert seconds to other date values
• Time::gmtime — by-name interface to Perl's built-in gmtime() function
• Time::localtime — by-name interface to Perl's built-in localtime() function
• Time::tm — internal object used by Time::gmtime and Time::localtime
• UNIVERSAL — base class for ALL classes (blessed references) 👑
• Unicode::Collate — Unicode Collation Algorithm
• Unicode::Collate::CJK::Big5 — weighting CJK Unified Ideographs
• Unicode::Collate::CJK::GB2312 — weighting CJK Unified Ideographs
• Unicode::Collate::CJK::JISX0208 — weighting JIS KANJI for Unicode::Collate
• Unicode::Collate::CJK::Korean — weighting CJK Unified Ideographs
• Unicode::Collate::CJK::Pinyin — weighting CJK Unified Ideographs
• Unicode::Collate::CJK::Stroke — weighting CJK Unified Ideographs
• Unicode::Collate::CJK::Zhuyin — weighting CJK Unified Ideographs
• Unicode::Collate::Locale — linguistic tailoring for DUCET via Unicode::Collate
• Unicode::Normalize — Unicode Normalization Forms
• Unicode::UCD — Unicode character database 🌍
• User::grent — by-name interface to Perl's built-in getgr*() functions
• User::pwent — by-name interface to Perl's built-in getpw*() functions
• VMS::DCLsym — Perl extension to manipulate DCL symbols
• VMS::Filespec — the translator bestie between VMS and Unix file spec syntax, so the two can finally understand each other 💅
• VMS::Stdio — standard I/O functions, but via VMS extensions ✨
• Win32 — interfaces to some Win32 API functions 🪟
• Win32API::File — low-level access to Win32 system API calls for files and dirs, no cap
• Win32CORE — Win32 CORE function stubs, just little guys doing their job 🫶
• XS::APItest — here to test the perl C API, she's the guinea pig and she's slaying
• XS::Typemap — the module that tests the XS typemaps that ship with perl 🔥
• XSLoader — dynamically loads C libraries into Perl code, iconic behavior
• autodie::Scope::Guard — a wrapper class for calling subs at the end of scope 🌸
• autodie::Scope::GuardStack — the hook stack that manages scopes via %^H, lowkey doing the most
• autodie::Util — internal utility subroutines for autodie and Fatal (iykyk, it's an internal thing)
• version::Internals — a Perl extension for Version Objects, the lore behind versioning 🎀

---

okay so if you wanna find every module installed on your system — even the ones with no docs or that live outside the standard release — just run this. (Heads up bestie: under the default win32 shell, use double quotes instead of single quotes, fr fr.)

% perl -MFile::Find=find -MFile::Spec::Functions -Tlwe \
  'find { wanted => sub { print canonpath $_ if /\.pm\z/ },
  no_chdir => 1 }, @INC'

(The -T is there to stop @INC from getting populated by "PERL5LIB", "PERLLIB", and "PERL_USE_UNSAFE_INC".) They should all have their own documentation installed and accessible via your system's man(1) command. No find program? Use the Perl find2perl program instead — it generates Perl code as output that you can run through perl. Got a man program but it's not finding your modules? You're gonna have to fix your manpath, sorry babe. See perl for details. And if you have no system man command at all, try the perldoc program instead 💜

Also note: the command perldoc perllocal gives you a (possibly incomplete) list of the modules that have been further installed on your system. (The perllocal.pod file gets updated by the standard MakeMaker install process.) 🌈

🦋 Extension Modules 🦋

Extension modules are written in C (or a mix of Perl and C). They usually get dynamically loaded into Perl if and when you need them, but they can also be linked in statically. Supported extension modules include Socket, Fcntl, and POSIX — yes, those three, they're the certified ones 💅

So many popular C extension modules are not bundled (or at least not completely) because of their sizes, their volatility, or just simply nobody had the time for adequate testing and configuration across the multitude of platforms Perl was beta-tested on. You are encouraged to go look for them on CPAN (described below), or hit up web search engines like Google or DuckDuckGo 🔍

---

🎀 CPAN 🎀

CPAN stands for Comprehensive Perl Archive Network — it's a globally replicated trove of Perl materials, including documentation, style guides, tricks and traps, alternate ports to non-Unix systems, and occasional binary distributions for those too. Search engines for CPAN can be found at https://www.cpan.org/ ✨

Most importantly, CPAN includes around a thousand unbundled modules, some of which require a C compiler to build. The major categories of modules are:

• Language Extensions and Documentation Tools
• Development Support
• Operating System Interfaces
• Networking, Device Control (modems) and InterProcess Communication
• Data Types and Data Type Utilities
• Database Interfaces
• User Interfaces
• Interfaces to / Emulations of Other Programming Languages
• File Names, File Systems and File Locking (see also File Handles)
• String Processing, Language Text Processing, Parsing, and Searching
• Option, Argument, Parameter, and Configuration File Processing
• Internationalization and Locale
• Authentication, Security, and Encryption
• World Wide Web, HTML, HTTP, CGI, MIME
• Server and Daemon Utilities
• Archiving and Compression
• Images, Pixmap and Bitmap Manipulation, Drawing, and Graphing
• Mail and Usenet News
• Control Flow Utilities (callbacks and exceptions etc)
• File Handle and Input/Output Stream Utilities
• Miscellaneous Modules

You can find the CPAN online at <https://www.cpan.org/> 🌐

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👑 Modules: Creation, Use, and Abuse 👑

(The following section is borrowed directly from Tim Bunce's modules file, available at your nearest CPAN site. Credit where credit is due, bestie 💖)

So here's the tea on how Perl actually does classes: Perl implements a class using a package, but the presence of a package does not imply the presence of a class. A package is just a namespace. A class is a package that provides subroutines usable as methods. And a method is just a subroutine that expects, as its first argument, either the name of a package (for "static" methods), or a reference to something (for "virtual" methods).

A module is a file that (by convention) provides a class of the same name (sans the .pm), plus an import method in that class that can be called to fetch exported symbols. This module may implement some of its methods by loading dynamic C or C++ objects, but that should be totally transparent to the user of the module. Same deal: the module might set up an AUTOLOAD function to slurp in subroutine definitions on demand, but that's also transparent. Only the .pm file is required to exist. See perlsub, perlobj, and AutoLoader for the details about the AUTOLOAD mechanism 👀

🌸 Guidelines for Module Creation 🌸

• Do similar modules already exist in some form?

If so, please try to reuse the existing modules either in whole or by inheriting useful features into a new class. If that's not practical, try to get together with the module authors and work on extending or enhancing the functionality of the existing modules. A perfect example is the plethora of packages in perl4 for dealing with command line options.

If you're writing a module to expand an already existing set of modules, please coordinate with the author of the package. It helps so much if you follow the same naming scheme and module interaction scheme as the original author 🫶

• Try to design the new module to be easy to extend and reuse.

Try to use warnings; (or use warnings qw(...);). Remember that you can add no warnings qw(...); to individual blocks of code that need fewer warnings.

Use blessed references. Use the two argument form of bless to bless into the class name given as the first parameter of the constructor, e.g.,:

sub new {
    my $class = shift;
    return bless {}, $class;
}

or even this if you'd like it to be used as either a static or a virtual method.

sub new {
    my $self  = shift;
    my $class = ref($self) || $self;
    return bless {}, $class;
}

Pass arrays as references so more parameters can be added later (it's also faster, slay). Convert functions into methods where appropriate. Split large methods into smaller more flexible ones. Inherit methods from other modules if appropriate.

Avoid class name tests like: die "Invalid" unless ref $ref eq 'FOO'. Generally you can delete the eq 'FOO' part with no harm at all. Let the objects look after themselves! Generally, avoid hard-wired class names as far as possible.

Avoid $r->Class::func() where using @ISA=qw(... Class ...) and $r->func() would work.

Use autosplit so little used or newly added functions won't be a burden to programs that don't use them. Add test functions to the module after __END__ either using AutoSplit or by saying:

eval join('',<main::DATA>) || die $@ unless caller();

Does your module pass the 'empty subclass' test? If you say @SUBCLASS::ISA = qw(YOURCLASS); your applications should be able to use SUBCLASS in exactly the same way as YOURCLASS. For example, does your application still work if you change: $obj = YOURCLASS->new(); into: $obj = SUBCLASS->new(); ?

Avoid keeping any state information in your packages. It makes it difficult for multiple other packages to use yours. Keep state information in objects.

Always use -w.

Try to use strict; (or use strict qw(...);). Remember that you can add no strict qw(...); to individual blocks of code that need less strictness.

Always use -w.

Follow the guidelines in perlstyle.

Always use -w. (yes, it's here three times, it's THAT important 💀)

• Some simple style guidelines

The perlstyle manual supplied with Perl has many helpful points.

Coding style is a matter of personal taste. Many people evolve their style over several years as they learn what helps them write and maintain good code. Here's one set of assorted suggestions that seem to be widely used by experienced developers:

Use underscores to separate words. It is generally easier to read $var_names_like_this than $VarNamesLikeThis, especially for non-native speakers of English. It's also a simple rule that works consistently with VAR_NAMES_LIKE_THIS.

Package/Module names are an exception to this rule. Perl informally reserves lowercase module names for 'pragma' modules like integer and strict. Other modules normally begin with a capital letter and use mixed case with no underscores (need to be short and portable).

You may find it helpful to use letter case to indicate the scope or nature of a variable. For example:

$ALL_CAPS_HERE   constants only (beware clashes with Perl vars)
$Some_Caps_Here  package-wide global/static
$no_caps_here    function scope my() or local() variables

Function and method names seem to work best as all lowercase. e.g., $obj->as_string().

You can use a leading underscore to indicate that a variable or function should not be used outside the package that defined it. (It's giving "private, do not touch" 💅)

• Select what to export.

Do NOT export method names!

Do NOT export anything else by default without a good reason!

Exports pollute the namespace of the module user. If you must export, try to use @EXPORT_OK in preference to @EXPORT and avoid short or common names to reduce the risk of name clashes. That's the vibe check right there 🙈

Generally anything not exported is still accessible from outside the module using the ModuleName::item_name (or $blessed_ref->method) syntax. By convention you can use a leading underscore on names to indicate informally that they are 'internal' and not for public use.

(It is actually possible to get private functions by saying: my $subref = sub { ... }; &$subref;. But there's no way to call that directly as a method, because a method must have a name in the symbol table.) 😭 that's just how it is

• As a general rule, if the module is trying to be object oriented then export nothing. If it's just a lil collection of functions then @EXPORT_OK anything, but use @EXPORT with caution bestie, fr fr. 🙈
• Select a name for the module.

This name should be as descriptive, accurate, and complete as possible. Avoid any risk of ambiguity. Always try to use two or more whole words. Generally the name should reflect what is special about what the module does rather than how it does it. Please use nested module names to group informally or categorize a module. There should be a very good reason for a module not to have a nested name. Module names should begin with a capital letter. 👑

Having 57 modules all called Sort will not make life easy for anyone (though having 23 called Sort::Quick is only marginally better :-). Imagine someone trying to install your module alongside many others. 😭

If you are developing a suite of related modules/classes it's good practice to use nested classes with a common prefix as this will avoid namespace clashes. For example: Xyz::Control, Xyz::View, Xyz::Model etc. Use the modules in this list as a naming guide.

If adding a new module to a set, follow the original author's standards for naming modules and the interface to methods in those modules.

If developing modules for private internal or project specific use, that will never be released to the public, then you should ensure that their names will not clash with any future public module. You can do this either by using the reserved Local::* category or by using a category name that includes an underscore like Foo_Corp::*. 🫶

To be portable each component of a module name should be limited to 11 characters. If it might be used on MS-DOS then try to ensure each is unique in the first 8 characters. Nested modules make this easier.

For additional guidance on the naming of modules, please consult:

https://pause.perl.org/pause/query?ACTION=pause_namingmodules

or send mail to the <module-authors@perl.org> mailing list.

• Have you got it right?

How do you know that you've made the right decisions? Have you picked an interface design that will cause problems later? Have you picked the most appropriate name? Do you have any questions? 🦋

The best way to know for sure, and pick up many helpful suggestions, is to ask someone who knows. The <module-authors@perl.org> mailing list is useful for this purpose; it's also accessible via news interface as perl.module-authors at nntp.perl.org.

All you need to do is post a short summary of the module, its purpose and interfaces. A few lines on each of the main methods is probably enough. (If you post the whole module it might be ignored by busy people - generally the very people you want to read it!) 👀

Don't worry about posting if you can't say when the module will be ready - just say so in the message. It might be worth inviting others to help you, they may be able to complete it for you! ✨

• README and other Additional Files.

It's well known that software developers usually fully document the software they write. If, however, the world is in urgent need of your software and there is not enough time to write the full documentation please at least provide a README file containing:

• A description of the module/package/extension etc.
• A copyright notice - see below.
• Prerequisites - what else you may need to have.
• How to build it - possible changes to Makefile.PL etc.
• How to install it.
• Recent changes in this release, especially incompatibilities
• Changes / enhancements you plan to make in the future.

If the README file seems to be getting too large you may wish to split out some of the sections into separate files: INSTALL, Copying, ToDo etc.

• Adding a Copyright Notice.

How you choose to license your work is a personal decision. The general mechanism is to assert your Copyright and then make a declaration of how others may copy/use/modify your work. 🎀

Perl, for example, is supplied with two types of licence: The GNU GPL and The Artistic Licence (see the files README, Copying, and Artistic, or perlgpl and perlartistic). Larry has good reasons for NOT just using the GNU GPL.

My personal recommendation, out of respect for Larry, Perl, and the Perl community at large is to state something simply like:

 Copyright (c) 1995 Your Name. All rights reserved.
 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

This statement should at least appear in the README file. You may also wish to include it in a Copying file and your source files. Remember to include the other words in addition to the Copyright. 💖

• Give the module a version/issue/release number.

To be fully compatible with the Exporter and MakeMaker modules you should store your module's version number in a non-my package variable called $VERSION. This should be a positive floating point number with at least two digits after the decimal (i.e., hundredths, e.g., "$VERSION = "0.01""). Don't use a "1.3.2" style version. See Exporter for details.

It may be handy to add a function or method to retrieve the number. Use the number in announcements and archive file names when releasing the module (ModuleName-1.02.tar.Z). See perldoc ExtUtils::MakeMaker.pm for details.

• How to release and distribute a module.

If possible, register the module with CPAN. Follow the instructions and links on:

https://www.cpan.org/modules/04pause.html

and upload to:

https://pause.perl.org/

and notify <modules@perl.org>. This will allow anyone to install your module using the cpan tool distributed with Perl. 🔥

By using the WWW interface you can ask the Upload Server to mirror your modules from your ftp or WWW site into your own directory on CPAN!

• Take care when changing a released module.

Always strive to remain compatible with previous released versions. Otherwise try to add a mechanism to revert to the old behavior if people rely on it. Document incompatible changes. ⚠️

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🌈 Guidelines for Converting Perl 4 Library Scripts into Modules 🌈

• There is no requirement to convert anything.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Perl 4 library scripts should continue to work with no problems. You may need to make some minor changes (like escaping non-array @'s in double quoted strings) but there is no need to convert a .pl file into a Module for just that.

• Consider the implications.

All Perl applications that make use of the script will need to be changed (slightly) if the script is converted into a module. Is it worth it unless you plan to make other changes at the same time? 🤔

• Make the most of the opportunity.

If you are going to convert the script to a module you can use the opportunity to redesign the interface. The guidelines for module creation above include many of the issues you should consider.

• The pl2pm utility will get you started.

This utility will read *.pl files (given as parameters) and write corresponding *.pm files. The pl2pm utilities does the following:

• Adds the standard Module prologue lines
• Converts package specifiers from ' to ::
• Converts die(...) to croak(...)
• Several other minor changes

Being a mechanical process pl2pm is not bullet proof. The converted code will need careful checking, especially any package statements. Don't delete the original .pl file till the new .pm one works! 💀

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🧚 Guidelines for Reusing Application Code 🧚

• Complete applications rarely belong in the Perl Module Library.
• Many applications contain some Perl code that could be reused.

Help save the world! Share your code in a form that makes it easy to reuse. 🌸

• Break-out the reusable code into one or more separate module files.
• Take the opportunity to reconsider and redesign the interfaces.
• In some cases the 'application' can then be reduced to a small fragment of code built on top of the reusable modules. In these cases the application could invoked as:

% perl -e 'use Module::Name; method(@ARGV)' ...

or

% perl -mModule::Name ...    (in perl5.002 or higher)

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💜 NOTE 💜

Perl does not enforce private and public parts of its modules as you may have been used to in other languages like C++, Ada, or Modula-17. Perl doesn't have an infatuation with enforced privacy. It would prefer that you stayed out of its living room because you weren't invited, not because it has a shotgun. 🙈

The module and its user have a contract, part of which is common law, and part of which is "written". Part of the common law contract is that a module doesn't pollute any namespace it wasn't asked to. The written contract for the module (A.K.A. documentation) may make other provisions. But then you know when you use RedefineTheWorld that you're redefining the world and willing to take the consequences. 👑

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okay bestie that's literally the whole page, you ate it up 💅 This was perl v5.42.3, dated 2026-08-03, filed under PERLMODLIB(1) — go forth and name your modules something cute and non-clashing, mwah 🫶✨