Programming Forums > Script Programming > Other Scripting Languages

titaniumdecoy · Jan 28th, 2006, 3:29 PM

Hi,

I want to learn a command line scripting language such as bash or Perl but I don't know the difference between them. Does Perl have all the same features as bash? Is Perl superior to bash, and if so, how? Which would you recommend?

Thanks for the info.

(Know of any good books in either subject?)

Nebula · Jan 28th, 2006, 3:39 PM

I prefer Perl, but thats just me. I'm not sure about their similarities or differences.

Arevos · Jan 28th, 2006, 6:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titaniumdecoy

I want to learn a command line scripting language such as bash or Perl but I don't know the difference between them. Does Perl have all the same features as bash? Is Perl superior to bash, and if so, how? Which would you recommend?

Bash was designed for interactive use. It's much like an advanced version of the Windows command prompt. Bash is a language designed to handle running external commands, and piping their output to files, or other commands:

(Toggle Plain Text)

ls -1 > output.txt   # Write the current directory listing to a file
grep -ir toast *   # find files with the word 'toast' in

Perl, on the other hand, is much more like your classic programming language. It's not designed to be interactive, and it doesn't use external executables for its commands (at least, not often), but a number of library functions and built in commands:

(Toggle Plain Text)

print "Hello World";    # prints Hello World

# Removes the substring "cat" from STDIN and pipes it to STDOUT
while (<STDIN>) {
    s/cat//ig;
    print $_;
}

As to which one is superior - it depends on the situation. I wouldn't use Bash to write anything complex, and I wouldn't use Perl as an interactive shell.

Infinite Recursion · Jan 30th, 2006, 8:15 AM

I prefer Perl... but use bash more often for shorter scripts. Perl is a powerhouse.

Pizentios · Jan 30th, 2006, 9:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arevos

Bash was designed for interactive use. It's much like an advanced version of the Windows command prompt. Bash is a language designed to handle running external commands, and piping their output to files, or other commands:

(Toggle Plain Text)

ls -1 > output.txt   # Write the current directory listing to a file
grep -ir toast *   # find files with the word 'toast' in

Perl, on the other hand, is much more like your classic programming language. It's not designed to be interactive, and it doesn't use external executables for its commands (at least, not often), but a number of library functions and built in commands:

(Toggle Plain Text)

print "Hello World";    # prints Hello World

# Removes the substring "cat" from STDIN and pipes it to STDOUT
while (<STDIN>) {
    s/cat//ig;
    print $_;
}

As to which one is superior - it depends on the situation. I wouldn't use Bash to write anything complex, and I wouldn't use Perl as an interactive shell.

Heh, i have made and used non-interactive bash scripts, and i have also made interactive perl scripts. So your discription is a little off. Here's what they have posted on the bash web site:

Bash is the shell, or command language interpreter, that will appear in the GNU operating system. Bash is an sh-compatible shell that incorporates useful features from the Korn shell (ksh) and C shell (csh). It is intended to conform to the IEEE POSIX P1003.2/ISO 9945.2 Shell and Tools standard. It offers functional improvements over sh for both programming and interactive use. In addition, most sh scripts can be run by Bash without modification.

Perl is a scripting language, not a programming language (same with bash). Programming languages get compiled, where as languages like perl and bash get interpreted on the fly.

Perl is very powerful. you can do alot more things with perl than you can do with bash. However that being said, bash and perl both have places where they are better than the other. Bash is for quick development of scripts for doing simple yet repetative tasks on a system (ie: some kind of cron job, or moving log files around). Where perl is much more for backup scripts, clunking through logs looking for suspect entrys and generally more difficult tasks.

here's two examples of what i use bash for:

-populating a server with user accounts (30+ accounts at once), without having to enter any passwords etc...(although perl would have worked well here also.)
-re-formating the names of my mp3 collection.

and a couple examples of what i have used perl for:

-a backup script that connects to various boxes around the networks and backs up the data to a remote server (gets run by cron every day).
-an irc bot that reacts to commands givin in the chat window.

Dizzutch · Jan 30th, 2006, 9:11 AM

i tend to keep BASH to one-liners i can run from the command line, if i am to save it to a file for cronning, i tend to use perl. Personal Preference

Arevos · Jan 30th, 2006, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pizentios

Heh, i have made and used non-interactive bash scripts, and i have also made interactive perl scripts. So your discription is a little off.

I meant, "interactive shell", rather than "interactive script". Whilst there is a Perl shell (psh), Perl is not usually used in this way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pizentios

Perl is a scripting language, not a programming language (same with bash). Programming languages get compiled, where as languages like perl and bash get interpreted on the fly.

Didn't DaWei recently make a post warning to be careful of providing incorrect information?

A programming language is, surprisingly enough, a language you program in. What method is used to execute the resulting code is irrelevant. C is a programming language, but so is Perl or Python. Scheme's a programming language can be compiled, or interpreted, depending on what software you use. The term "programming language" encompasses both scripting and compiled languages.

Pizentios · Jan 30th, 2006, 11:27 AM

sorry, in my world, programming language refers to a compiled language, scripting language refers to a interpreted language. Call me wrong or what ever you want, but that's how i view it. Although you are correct.

Quote:

Didn't DaWei recently make a post warning to be careful of providing incorrect information?

A programming language is, surprisingly enough, a language you program in. What method is used to execute the resulting code is irrelevant. C is a programming language, but so is Perl or Python. Scheme's a programming language can be compiled, or interpreted, depending on what software you use. The term "programming language" encompasses both scripting and compiled languages.

There's no need to be rude about it man.

Arevos · Jan 30th, 2006, 1:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pizentios

sorry, in my world, programming language refers to a compiled language, scripting language refers to a interpreted language. Call me wrong or what ever you want, but that's how i view it.

That's entirely up to you. Indeed, if you had said "In my opinion, Perl is not a programming language, because I define programming language to refer only to compiled languages", then I'd have no issue. But you presented your view as if it were the commonly accepted definition of the term, which it is not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pizentios

There's no need to be rude about it man.

Apologies if I caused offense, but it appeared to me that you were wrongly trying to correct me when I said that Perl was a programming language. And since there was a recent topic on the very issue of providing inaccurate information, I thought it prudent to mention it.

Ooble · Jan 30th, 2006, 4:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arevos

Apologies if I caused offense, but it appeared to me that you were wrongly trying to correct me when I said that Perl was a programming language. And since there was a recent topic on the very issue of providing inaccurate information, I thought it prudent to mention it.

Pizentios was perfectly correct when he said "In my world, ..." - he really does live on his own, Piz-sized planet.

Jan 28th, 2006, 3:29 PM	#1
titaniumdecoy Expert Programmer Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 837 Rep Power: 3	Bash or Perl? Hi, I want to learn a command line scripting language such as bash or Perl but I don't know the difference between them. Does Perl have all the same features as bash? Is Perl superior to bash, and if so, how? Which would you recommend? Thanks for the info. (Know of any good books in either subject?)

Jan 28th, 2006, 3:39 PM	#2
Nebula Hobbyist Programmer Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 193 Rep Power: 3	I prefer Perl, but thats just me. I'm not sure about their similarities or differences. __________________ When will Jesus bring the porkchops?

Jan 30th, 2006, 8:15 AM	#4
Infinite Recursion Programming Guru Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: United States Posts: 3,467 Rep Power: 8	I prefer Perl... but use bash more often for shorter scripts. Perl is a powerhouse. __________________ http://jasonpowers.net "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

Jan 30th, 2006, 9:11 AM	#6
Dizzutch Professional Programmer Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Worcester, MA Posts: 441 Rep Power: 4	i tend to keep BASH to one-liners i can run from the command line, if i am to save it to a file for cronning, i tend to use perl. Personal Preference __________________ naked pictures of you \| PFO F@H stats

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Programming Forums > Script Programming > Other Scripting Languages

Bash or Perl?