Perl 5

This repository contains the reference implementation of the Perl 5 programming language, including the interpreter, core modules, build system, and an extensive test suite. Perl 5 is a multi-paradigm language renowned for powerful text processing, rich regular expressions, and pragmatic glue code across systems. The core distribution is highly portable, building on Unix, Linux, Windows, and many other platforms, with stable release cycles and careful back-compatibility. A C API (XS) and embedding APIs allow tight integration with native libraries and host applications, while the CPAN ecosystem supplies hundreds of thousands of reusable modules. Development emphasizes robust tests (t/), meticulous changelogs, and tooling like perldoc to keep the language approachable and dependable. In practice, Perl 5 remains a workhorse for sysadmin automation, data munging, web services, and any task where flexible, expressive text handling is paramount.