can someone suggest me a website to learn perl.i have never learnt a programe b4.
i just downloaded and installed active state perl for windows ( msi )

i was expecting a window to appear like that of IDLE (python gui) and type commands there. but i dont know where to type these commands.
is it in the \perl\bin .a dos like window?is that the perl interpretor?
am a newbie plz help

For tutorials, check out
http://perldoc.perl.org/

you need an editor , eg Notepad,Wordpad etc to write you Perl code in and using the command line to run it.

check out perlfaq3 from the website above to find out more about programming tools for Perl

For an IDE, I'd suggest Komodo. Komodo can be used for developing scripts in Perl, Python, PHP, and several others.
http://activestate.com/Products/Komodo/?mp=1

Besides perldoc.perl.org, there are a number of other good online resources such as:

http://www.perl.org/
http://perl.com/
http://cpan.org/
http://www.perlmonks.org/

But IMO, online resources aren't enough. You need several resource books. I like the O'Reilly books.
http://perl.oreilly.com/

Into to the basic's of the language.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/learnperl4/

These are considered by most Perl programmers to be required resource books.
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pperl3/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/regex2/
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/perlckbk2/

ok thanks for all the advice.but i dont know how to access the command line ,i dont even know how it looks like.something like dos window? i just tried the simple program "hello world" saved it with .pl extension and now? can u guys tell me wat do next in detail, sory to ask u these dumb questions but i gat no other way.

Perl scripts are normally run from the command prompt just like any other dos command. For example, if you have a "hello world" perl script by the name of hello.pl, you'd execute it like this:

C:\hello.pl

To get to the command prompt "dos window", you go to: Start -> Run and type cmd in the Open box then click on "OK".

oh so all u guyz were talkin about the dos command line. i thought this perl had a command line of its own. anyway thanks a lot for all the help

Hi cyber,

If you write code like you write "sentences" you'll have some adventures ahead.

Humans are smart enough to sometimes figure out what is intended by a string of characters which seem to obey no rules of syntax.

Interpreters and compilers ain't that smart.

For any command to run, the command interpreter [usually CMD.exe or COMMAND.com] needs to know where it is; either in the current directory or in the PATH. Or it nneds to be told; like this:

d:\mystuff\perl.exe hello.pl

If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

thanks dude ,thanks for making it more clear to me.