Scalar Data

Double-quoted strings

1. The combination of a backslash and certain character(s) has special meaning (backslash escape). Examples:

   	\n	newline
   	\t	tab
   	\a	bell
       

   Try running this small program table.pl

   #!/usr/local/bin/perl
   
   $table = "ITEM1\tITEM2\tITEM3\nITEM4\tITEM5\tITEM6\n";
   print $table;
   
   $bell = "\a";
   print $bell;
   

2. Variable interpolation: Variable names inside the string are replaced with their current values. (previous example.)

   Example (students.pl):

   #!/usr/local/bin/perl
   
   $a = "Perl Programming";
   $b = 72;
   
   $line = "Total of $b students are registered to the $a course.";
   print "$line\n";
   

3. If you wish to have a literal double quote inside your string, precede it with a backslash (\").

   Same thing if you want to have a literal backslash (\\).

   Examples:

   1. Let's surround the course name with double quotes (students1.pl):

   #!/usr/local/bin/perl
   
   $a = "Perl Programming";
   $b = 72;
   
   $line = "Total of $b students are registered to the \"$a\" course.";
   print "$line\n";
   

   2. Let's use a backslash when printing a file path in a PC (filepath.pl):

   #!/usr/local/bin/perl
   
   $file_path = "vered\\presentations\\dec2000\\db.ppt";
   
   print "Please find file in: $file_path\n";