POD::PERLDOC::TORTF(3perl)

💖 Pod::Perldoc::ToRtf 💖

okay bestie come CLOSER, lemme tell you about Pod::Perldoc::ToRtf — the humble little plug-in that lets Perldoc render your Pod as RTF, no cap 🎀

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

perldoc -o rtf Some::Modulename

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one line and you're formatted 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so this is a "plug-in" class — and yes the air quotes are doing work here — and what it does is let Perldoc use Pod::Simple::RTF as a formatter class. that's the assignment. she did it. slay 💖

plot twist tho: this thing is actually a Pod::Simple::RTF subclass, which means it inherits all its options. all of them. every single one. so whatever Pod::Simple::RTF can do, she can do too — she's just wearing a different outfit for Perldoc 🦋

⚠️ real talk tho: you HAVE to have Pod::Simple::RTF installed (it ships in the Pod::Simple dist), or this module straight-up won't work. like, at all. no notes. that's just the deal 😭

🖥️ the MSWin situation (iykyk)

if Perldoc is running under MSWin and it's using this class as a formatter, the output gets opened with write.exe — or literally whatever program you name in the environment variable RTFREADER. your call, bestie.

so like, say you want RTF files to open the same way they do when you double-click them? iconic. you'd do this:

set RTFREADER=start.exe

in your autoexec.bat. periodt. 💅

🎀 the handy tip that changed my LIFE 🎀

put this:

set PERLDOC=-ortf

in your autoexec.bat and BOOM — that sets this class as the default formatter to run whenever you do:

perldoc whatever

no more typing -o rtf every time. main character energy only. you're welcome 🫶✨

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• Pod::Simple::RTF
• Pod::Simple
• Pod::Perldoc

go read those too, bestie, they're the whole lore 🌈

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📜 COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMERS 📜

Copyright (c) 2002 Sean M. Burke. All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. (read that part twice, ok? no warranty fr fr 🙈)

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Current maintainer: Mark Allen "<mallen@cpan.org>"

Past contributions from:

• brian d foy "<bdfoy@cpan.org>"
• Adriano R. Ferreira "<ferreira@cpan.org>"
• Sean M. Burke "<sburke@cpan.org>"

look at that contributor lineup. legends only. ate and left no crumbs 👑💖

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and that's the whole page, babe — brought to you by perl v5.44.0, dated 2026-10-17, from the Pod::P...::ToRtf(3perl) files of the Perl Programmers Reference Guide. mwah, go format something pretty ✨🎀💅