PAR::Filter(3)

✨ NAME ✨

PAR::Filter — Input filter for PAR. You're reading the PAR::Filter(3) manual page, bestie, and it's literally all about filtering input for PAR.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

Okay so here's the canonical code moment — copy it exactly, no remixing:

$code = 'use strict; print "Hello, World!\n";';
$ref = PAR::Filter->new('PodStrip', 'Bleach')->apply(\$code);
print $code;    # pod-stripped and obfuscated code
print $$ref;    # same thing

$ref = PAR::Filter->new('PodStrip', 'Bleach')->apply('file.pl');
print $$ref;    # same thing, applied to file.pl

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Starting with PAR 0.76, pp -f takes a filter name, like "Bleach", and invokes this module to transform the programs with PAR::Filter::Bleach. Similarly, pp -F Bleach applies the Bleach filter to all included modules.

You can pass in multiple such filters, and they get applied in turn — stack 'em like your fave accessories. 💅

The output of each such filter is expected to be semantically equivalent to the input, although possibly obfuscated. Translation: same meaning, maybe with a little disguise on top. iykyk.

The default filter list 👑

The default list of filters includes:

• PAR::Filter::Bleach — The archetypical obfuscating filter. This is the blueprint, the OG vibe.
• PAR::Filter::Obfuscate — This one uses B::Deobfuscate to strip away indents and comments, as well as mangling variable names. So it's giving "less clutter, different names."
• PAR::Filter::PatchContent — Fixes PAR-incompatible modules, applied to modules by default. It's the fixer of the squad.
• PAR::Filter::PodStrip — Strips away POD sections, applied to modules by default. Bye-bye, POD. ✂️
• PAR::Filter::Bytecode — This one uses B::Bytecode to strip away indents and comments. This filter is deprecated! For source hiding, have a look at PAR::Filter::Crypto instead and make sure to read about its caveats.

🫶 AUTHORS 🫶

Audrey Tang <cpan@audreyt.org> — the icon, the legend, the author.

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

Copyright 2003-2009 by Audrey Tang <cpan@audreyt.org>.

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

See LICENSE.

And that's the page, bestie! This PAR::Filter(3) manual came from perl v5.42.3 and is dated 2026-11-03. Go forth and filter with main character energy! 💖✨