How can I start an interactive console for Perl?

Question

How can I start an interactive console for Perl, similar to the irb command for Ruby or python for Python?

Answer 1

re.pl from Devel::REPL

Answer 2

I wrote a script I call "psh":

#! /usr/bin/perl

while (<>) {
  chomp;
  my $result = eval;
  print "$_ = $result\n";
}

Whatever you type in, it evaluates in Perl:

> gmtime(2**30)
gmtime(2**30) = Sat Jan 10 13:37:04 2004

> $x = 'foo'
$x = 'foo' = foo

> $x =~ s/o/a/g
$x =~ s/o/a/g = 2

> $x
$x = faa

Answer 3

I always did:

rlwrap perl -wlne'eval;print$@if$@'

With 5.10, I've switched to:

rlwrap perl -wnE'say eval()//$@'

(rlwrap is optional)

Answer 4

You could look into psh here: http://gnp.github.io/psh/

It's a full on shell (you can use it in replacement of bash for example), but uses perl syntax.. so you can create methods on the fly etc.

Answer 5

See also Stylish REPL (for GNU Emacs) http://blog.jrock.us/articles/Stylish%20REPL.pod

Answer 6

You can use the perl debugger on a trivial program, like so:

perl -de1

Alternatively there's Alexis Sukrieh's Perl Console application, but I haven't used it.