PDL::Doc::Perldl(3pm)

PDL::Doc::Perldl 💖 (the 3pm one, perldoc's lil user-contributed corner)

okay bestie, so this page right here? it's all about PDL::Doc::Perldl — the module that lets you dig through the PDL documentation database from inside the perldl shell. no cap. 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

PDL::Doc::Perldl — literally the commands for accessing the PDL doc database from the perldl shell, fr fr. 🎀

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so this module hands you a whole lil set of functions that reach into the PDL documentation database. you get to use them from the perldl shell, and also from the pdldoc command-line program. two vibes, one module. obsessed. ✨

autoload files get matched too, by searching the PDLLIB autoloader tree. and guess what — you can turn that whole behavior OFF with the variable $PERLDL::STRICT_DOCS. here's the tea:

• true: don't search the autoload tree 🚫
• false: search the autoload tree 🔍

and for the sake of brevity (because we keep things cute and short, periodt), functions that print module names — right now that's just apropos and usage — use some shorthand notation for module names. the shorthands currently implemented are:

• P:: — short for PDL:: 💖
• P::G:: — short for PDL::Graphics:: 🦋

wanna turn this feature off? just set the variable $PERLDL::long_mod_names to a true value. and jsyk, for the purposes of this documentation, the feature is assumed to be ON. 📝

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⭐ SYNOPSIS ⭐

 use PDL::Doc::Perldl; # Load all documentation functions

one line, load it all, main character energy. 👑

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🎀 FUNCTIONS 🎀

apropos

regex search of the PDL documentation database. it's giving ctrl-F but make it cute. 🔎

 apropos 'text'

 pdl> apropos 'pic'
 PDL::IO::Pic    P::IO::Pic  Module: image I/O for PDL
 grabpic3d       P::G::TriD  Grab a 3D image from the screen.
 rim             P::IO::Pic  Read images in most formats, with improved RGB handling.
 rpic            P::IO::Pic  Read images in many formats with automatic format detection.
 rpiccan         P::IO::Pic  Test which image formats can be read/written
 wim             P::IO::Pic  Write a pdl to an image file with selected type (or using filename extensions)
 wmpeg           P::IO::Pic  Write an image sequence (a (3,x,y,n) byte pdl) as an animation.
 wpic            P::IO::Pic  Write images in many formats with automatic format selection.
 wpiccan         P::IO::Pic  Test which image formats can be read/written

wanna find ALL the manuals that ship with PDL? try:

 apropos 'manual:'

and for quick info about PDL modules, just say:

 apropos 'module:'

and then — plot twist — if you want the detailed tea about a PDL function/module/manual, hit up the help function. 🫶

PDL::Doc::Perldl::search_docs

internal routine, bestie. it searches the docs database and the autoload files. 🤫

PDL::Doc::Perldl::finddoc

internal interface to the PDL documentation searcher. yep, also internal. 🙈

find_autodoc

internal routine that finds and returns documentation sitting in the PDL::AutoLoader path, if it even exists. 👀

here's how it works: you feed in a topic, and it goes looking for the file ${topic}.pdl. and if that file exists? boom — the filename gets returned inside a match structure that's appropriate for the rest of finddoc. slay. 💅

usage, badinfo

prints usage information for a PDL function. the helpful bestie of the group chat. 📖

 Usage: usage func

 pdl> usage inner
 inner           P::Primitive  Inner product over one dimension
   Signature:
     (a(n); b(n); [o]c())
      Types: (sbyte byte short ushort long ulong indx ulonglong longlong
        float double ldouble cfloat cdouble cldouble)
   Usage:
     $c = inner($a, $b);
     inner($a, $b, $c);  # all arguments given
     $c = $a->inner($b); # method call
     $a->inner($b, $c);
   Bad value support:
     If "a() * b()" contains only bad data,
     c() is set bad. Otherwise c() will have its bad flag cleared,
     as it will not contain any bad values.

sig

prints the signature of a PDL function. 🧚

 sig 'func'

so the signature is the normal dimensionality of the function's arguments. and if you call with different dimensions? it does NOT break, bestie — instead it causes broadcasting. see PDL::PP and PDL::Broadcasting for the details. 🌈

 pdl> sig 'outer'
   Signature: outer(a(n); b(m); [o]c(n,m))

whatis

describes a perl and/or PDL variable or expression. it's lowkey perfect for figuring out the type of an expression, identifying the keys in a hash or a data structure, or just examining WTF an unknown object is. 💀

 Usage: whatis $var
        whatis <expression>

help

prints documentation about a PDL function or module, or shows you a PDL manual. iconic. 👑

now here's the thing: if there are multiple matches, the FIRST command found gets printed out, and then the remaining commands get listed, along with the names of their modules. noted. 📌

 Usage: help 'func'

 pdl> help 'PDL::Tutorials' # show the guide to PDL tutorials
 pdl> help 'PDL::Slices'    # show the docs in the PDL::Slices module
 pdl> help 'slice'          # show docs on the 'slice' function

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🌟 that's the whole page, bestie! every flag, every default, every internal routine, all of it. no skips, no cuts. we keep it thorough in this house. 💖

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and that's a wrap on PDL::Doc::Perldl(3pm) — this lil doc came to you courtesy of the user-contributed perl documentation, running on perl v5.42.3, dated 2026-08-20. mwah. go read some docs. 🎀✨🦋