Perl Text: Quoting Without Quote Marks - Working with the Here Document...Over There

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Another way that we can quote text without using actual quotes is using the here document, which is great for long strings or paragraphs of text. You specify a here document by using the << followed by a delimiter encased in either single quotes or double quotes (single quotes if there is no variable to be interpreted, double if there is). Here is a sample in code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

print <<'MOOSE';

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide

for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the

Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and

establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

MOOSE

Note that the word MOOSE can be any word you choose. This results in:

  We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

  perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide

  for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the

  Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and

  establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Now try this code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

$country="United States of America";

print <<'MOOSE';

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide

for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the

Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and

establish this Constitution for the $country.

MOOSE

If you run this program, you will see the following print-out:

  We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

  perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide

  for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the

  Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and

  establish this Constitution for the $country.

This is because we used the single quote around our delimiter instead of the double quote. The fix is simple:

#!/usr/bin/perl

$country="United States of America";

print <<"MOOSE";

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide

for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the

Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and

establish this Constitution for the $country.

MOOSE

Now if we run the code it will display:

  We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

  perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide

  for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the

  Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and

  establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We can also store a here document in a variable:

#!/usr/bin/perl

$country="United States of America";

$con= <<"MOOSE";

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide

for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the

Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and

establish this Constitution for the $country.

MOOSE

print $con;

Which results in the same as above:

  We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more

  perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide

  for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the

  Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and

  establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Next: Formatting with the Here Document >>
 

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