Introduction to Perl

Publisher Summary Perl is an efficient tool for parsing text and pattern matching. There are many cases in the course of a penetration test where one wants to search through directories and the files they contain for some specific text, or text patterns. Perl is also a very useful tool for manipulating text. Perl replicates many of the features and functionality of other text manipulation tools such as sed and awk, and is also capable of passing output to external commands in the operating system if one finds a task Perl cannot handle using its internal set of features. Perl is a great tool for many things, but, like many other scripting languages, it is limited by the environment in which it is designed to function. In order to run a Perl script, one needs to have an interpreter on the system on which it will run, and one is constrained to what can be done with a command-line interface. Perl code can be developed in a variety of tools, from simple editors to specialized integrated development environments (IDEs). One can also make use of additional features, such as the ability to create graphical interfaces for scripts and, through the use of some utilities, compile them into executable binary formats.