Download Perl Distributions
Getting started quickly:
| Operating system |  Unix like |
 Mac OS X |
 Windows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installed? |  Included(may not be latest) |
Included (may not be latest) |
Strawberry Perl
ActiveState Perl
|
Perl runs on over 100 platforms. The latest version (5.12.3) is recommended where possible. Any version over 5 is enough to get started, 5.8.3 is suggested as a good minimum (several CPAN modules now require this) for production, although not required.
| More info, Download |
Perl on Unix like OSes | Perl on Mac OS X | Perl on Windows |
|---|
Perl on Unix like systems
You probably already have an installation of perl. Type perl -v on a command line (use a 'terminal' application) to find out which version.
Binaries (pre-compiled versions of Perl)
- ActiveState Perl has binary distributions of Perl for many platforms. This is the simplest way to install the latest version of Perl.
Source (compile yourself)
- Consider looking at App::perlbrew to help compile and manage Perl from source
- Find out more about the source code, development versions as well as current releases of the Perl source code.
- Latest under-development source code
Perl on Mac OS X
Mac OS X already has Perl installed. Open a Terminal application (in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder). Type perl -v followed by return to find out which version.
Binaries (pre-compiled versions of Perl)
- ActiveState Perl has binary distributions of Perl for Mac OS X. This is the simplest way to install the latest version of Perl.
Source (compile yourself)
- Consider looking at App::perlbrew to help compile and manage Perl from source
- Find out more about the source code, development versions as well as current releases of the Perl source code.
- Latest under-development source code
Perl on Windows
Windows does not have Perl installed by default. If you do have it installed
and want to find the version, open the Cmd.exe program
(goto 'start' menu, then 'run' option, type 'cmd' and click 'ok'), then
type perl -v followed by return, this will show your
installed version.
Binaries (pre-compiled versions of Perl)
- ActiveState Perl has binary distributions of Perl for Win32 (and Perl for Win64).
- Strawberry Perl: A 100% Open Source Perl for Windows that is exactly the same as Perl everywhere else; this includes using modules from CPAN, without the need for binary packages. Help is available from other Windows Perl developers on the #win32 irc channel on irc.perl.org (see website for access through a browser).
ActiveState Binaries
Download Strawberry PerlSource (compile yourself)
- Consider looking at App::perlbrew to help compile and manage Perl from source
- Find out more about the source code, development versions as well as current releases of the Perl source code.
- Latest under-development source code
Learning Perl
learn.perl.org has many resources to help you get started, also contact others in the Perl Community to find out more and get help.
Commercial support
ActiveState offer commercial support for Perl
CPAN
The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) is a large repository of Perl software, modules, and documentation. On CPAN, you'll find modules organized by author, name, or category. CPAN is mirrored in over 200 locations around the world. Find out More.
Tip
Database interfaces DBIx::Class provides an Object Relational Mapper (ORM) to databases (e.g. Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, Postgress, Access etc)
