The -e option is handy for quick Perl operations from the command line. Want to change all instances of "oldstring" in Wiffle.bat to "newstrong"? Try
This says: "Take each line of Wiffle.bat (-p); store the original in Wiffle.old (-i); substitute all instances of oldstring with newstrong (-e); write the result (-p) to the original file (-i)."
Other PERL command line options are:
Perl 5 Command-Line Switches
Option | Arguments | Purpose | Notes |
-0 | octal character code | Specify record separator | Default is newline (/n) |
-a | none | Automatically spli recordst | Used with -n or or -p |
-c | none | Check syntax only | Do not execute |
-d | none | Run script using Perl debugger | If Perl debugging option was included when Perl was installed |
-D | flags | Specify debugging behavior | See table 2 |
-e | command | Pass a command to Perl from the command line | Useful for quick operations |
-F | regular expression | If -a used | Expression to split by default is white space |
-i | extension | Replace original file with results | Useful for modifying contents of files |
-I | directory | Specify location of include files | |
-l | octal character code | Drop newlines when used | With -n and -p and use designated character as line- termination character |
-n | none | Process the script using each specified file as an argument | Used for performing the same set of actions on a set of files |
-p | none | Same as -n but each line is printed | |
-P | none | Run the script through the C preprocessor before Perl compiles it | |
-s | none | Enable passing of arbitrary switches to Perl | Use -s -what -ever to have the Perl variables $what and $ever defined within your script |
-S | none | Tell Perl to look along the path for the script | |
-T | none | Use taint checking; don't evaluate expressions supplied on the command line | |
-u | none | Make Perl dump core after compiling your script; intended to allow for generation of Perl executables | Very messy; wait for the Perl compiler |
-U | none | Unsafe mode; overrides Perl's natural caution | Don't use this! |
-v | none | Print Perl version number | |
-w | none | Print warnings about script syntax | Extremely useful, especially during development |