What is Perl?

Perl is a general-purpose programming language. It can replace any programming language and apply in any field of activity. Perl has become so widespread because it is an integrating language (glue language), which allows the sharing of different software technologies. With Perl it is possible to create a script that opens one or more files, processes the information, and writes the results. Perl is able to convert word processor documents to HTML format for further presentation on the Web.

Perl is used to develop system administration tools, but recently it has gained immense popularity in the development of Internet applications: CGI scripts, automatic email processing systems and support for Web sites.