What is Perl?

Perl is a scripting language like JAVA, C++, C#, PHP and ASP.  To run a perl script (file extension .pl) you need an interpreter. ActivePerl from active state is an interpreter. You can download the package here:

http://www.activestate.com/activeperl/

If you can't figure out how to install it, the rest of this will be beyond comprehension! 

Why can't our browsers runs perl scripts the way they 'run' PHP scripts? Perl really isn't a web scripting language so no browsers currently support it. I wouln't be holding my breath either!

How do I run a Perl Script on Windows using Active Perl?

If you have your script save it with the extension '.pl' in the perl bin folder. Normally this is located at C:/perl/bin.

So if your file is callled snuffles.pl, it should be saved as c:/perl/bin/snuffles.pl

On your task bar, click start and click 'run'. In the text box type command. You can also just open a MS DOS prompt if you wish.

Next, navigate to the perl bin folder. so type cd c:/perl/bin

Now you can run the snuffles.pl script with the command perl snuffles.pl