SCRIPTING LANGUAGES

(R20A0515)

DIGITAL NOTES

B.TECH

III YEAR-II SEM(R20)

(2022-2023)

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

MALLA REDDY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

(Autonomous Institution– UGC, Govt. of India)

(AffiliatedtoJNTUH,Hyderabad,ApprovedbyAICTE-AccreditedbyNBA&NAAC –‘A’Grade-ISO9001:2015Certified)
Maisammaguda,Dhulapally(PostVia.Hakimpet),Secunderabad–500100,TelanganaState,India

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 SYLLABUS

MALLA REDDY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

III Year B.Tech IT-II SEM L/T/P/C

3/ -/ - /3
(R20A0515) SCRIPTING LANGUAGES

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
This course will enable students to
1. To study the basics of scripting languages like Java script, Perl, PHP and Ruby
2. To understand the requirements of Scripting Languages
3. To identify the uses of Scripting Languages
4. To introduce in-depth knowledge of programming features of Perl and PHP.
5. To state the implementation and applications of Scripting.

UNIT- I
Introduction to Scripts and Scripting Languages – Scripts and Programs, Uses for Scripting Languages,
Web Scripting.
JavaScript: Variables, DataTypes, Operators, Conditional statements, Loops, Arrays, Functions,
Objects- Predefined objects, Accessing objects, Object Methods.

U NIT- II
JavaScript programming of reactive web pages elements:
JavaScript Events- Mouse events, Keyboard events, Form events, window events, Event handlers, Frames,
Form object, JavaScript Form Validation.
UNIT- III
PERL : Data Types, Variables, Scalars, Operators, Conditional statements , Loops, Arrays ,
Strings , Hashes ,
Lists , Built-in Functions, Pattern matching and regular expression operators.

UNIT -IV
PHP : Data Types, Variables, Operators, Conditional statements, Loops ,Arrays - Indexed
Array, Associative
Array, String Functions, Functions- Parameterized Function, Call By Value, all By Reference ,
File Handling,
PHP Form handling.

UNIT- V
Ruby : Data types, Variables, Operators, Conditional statements, Loops, Methods, Blocks, Modules,
Arrays, Strings, Hashes, File I/O, Ruby Form handling.

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TEXT BOOKS:
1. The World of Scripting Languages, David Barron, Wiley Publications.
2. Learning PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS & HTML5: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating
DynamicWebsites 3rdEdition,O’ReillyPublications

REFERENCE BOOKS:
1. The Ruby Programming Language, David Flanagan and Yukihiro Matsumoto, O’Reilly Publications.
2. Beginning JavaScript with Dom scripting and AJAX, Russ Ferguson, Christian Heilmann, Apress.
3. Programming Perl, Larry Wall, T. Christiansen and J. Orwant, O’Reilly, SPD.
4. Open Source Web Development with LAMP using Linux Apache, MySQL, Perl and PHP,
J. Lee and B. Ware (Addison Wesley) Pearson Education.

COURSE OUTCOMES:
The students will be able:
1. Comprehend the differences between typical scripting languages and typical system and
application programming languages.
2. To implement the design of programs for simple applications.
3. To write and apply Perl & PHP scripts.
4. Gain knowledge of the strengths and weakness of Perl, and Ruby.
5. To create software systems using scripting languages such as Perl, PHP, and Ruby.

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 INDEX

UNIT TOPIC PAGE

NO
Scripts and Programs
6

Web Scripting 7
JavaScript – Variables & DataTypes 8
Operators 9
I Control structures 12

Arrays 16
Functions 17
Objects 18
JavaScript Events 21
Event handlers 25
Frames 26
II
Form object 27
JavaScript Form Validation 36
PERL 38

Data Types 38

Variables, Scalars 39

Operators 42
III Conditional statements 46
Loops 49
Arrays 52
Hashes 54
Strings 57
Lists 59
Built-in Functions 59
Pattern matching and regular expression operators 60

4
 PHP - Variables 63

Data Types 63

Operators 64
Conditional statements 67
Loops 69
IV Arrays 69
String Functions 70
Functions 71
File Handling 73
PHP Form handling 74
Ruby -Data types 76

Variables 77

Operators 77

Conditional statements 80
Loops 81
V Methods, Blocks, Modules 82
Arrays 85

Strings 86
Hashes 86
File I/O 87
Ruby Form handling 90

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 UNIT-I

Scripting Languages
Scripting languages, as the name suggests, is a programming language that supports
scripts. A scripting language binds a set of software components that collaborate to
solve a particular problem. Scripting assumes the existence of powerful components
and provides the means to connect them together. Scripting languages are glue
languages that integrate the execution of system utilities including compilers;
command line interpretation; shell-based programming; and execution of codes
written in web-based languages. The purpose of a scripting language is the
development of applications by plugging existing components together and they
generally favor high-level programming over execution speed. Scripting is used in a
variety of applications, and scripting languages are correspondingly diverse. Python is
a powerful scripting language for complex system involving operating system,
networks, and web-based programming.
Programming Languages
A programming language is an organized way of communicating with a computer,
such that the computer behaves according to the instructions given by the
programmer. A programming language is an artificial formalism in which algorithms
can be expressed. In the modern era, the problems to be solved by computers lie in
different problem domains such as scientific computing, database programming,
business applications, process automation, and web-based applications. All these
domains are quite different with varied requirements. A programming language is a
specific set of instructions given to a computer in a language that the computer
understands to perform specific tasks. Today’s programming languages are the
product of development that started in the 1950s. The term programming languages
usually refer to high-level languages such as C++, Java, Ada, Pascal, and FORTRAN.
Uses for scripting languages
The functions and applications of scripting languages vary based on the type of
scripting language you're using. There are many uses for scripting languages,
including:
 Task automation: Programmers often use scripting languages to automate task
execution within a runtime environment. This involves writing code that allows
individuals to use software to complete repetitive, predictable and
straightforward tasks, such as paying bills from an account and sending
notifications via email.
 Content display for web applications: Programmers use scripting to ensure
programs run correctly on the server and display the functional and interactive
content on a webpage, such as images and links.

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  Command sequences: Many programmers apply scripting languages to
condense command sequences, allowing the program to run faster and
improving the functionality of parent applications.
 Data extraction: Programmers use scripting languages to pull data from data
sets, such as in data analysis, research and statistics.
 Dynamic web apps: Programmers use a variety of scripting languages to power
webpages and applications on the server side with efficient code and clear
instructions for displaying dynamic content, which is data that changes based
on the user's behavior or preferences.
 System administration: When administrators want to generate and pull data,
guide user queries and improve systems, they use scripting languages.
 Game modding: Game modification creators use scripting languages to make
custom content for games with unique functionality and designs that improve
regular gameplay.
Web Scripting
 The process of creating and embedding scripts in a web page is known as web-
scripting. A script or a computer-script is a list of commands that are embedded
in a web-page normally and are interpreted and executed by a certain program
or scripting engine.
 Scripts may be written for a variety of purposes such as for automating
processes on a local-computer or to generate web pages.
 The programming languages in which scripts are written are called scripting
language, there are many scripting languages available today.
 Common scripting languages are VBScript, JavaScript, ASP, PHP, PERL, JSP
etc.
Java Script
JavaScript (JS) is the world’s most popular lightweight, interpreted compiled
programming language. It is also known as a scripting language for web pages. It can
be used for Client-side as well as Server-side developments.JavaScript is the most
popular and hence the most loved language around the globe. Apart from this, there
are abundant reasons to learn it.
Below are a listing of few important points:
 No need of compilers: Since JavaScript is an interpreted language, therefore it
does not need any compiler for compilations.
 Used both Client and Server-side: Earlier JavaScript was used to build client-
side applications only, but with the evolution of its frameworks namely Node.js
and Express.js, it is now widely used for building server-side applications too.

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  Helps to build a complete solution: As we saw, JavaScript is widely used in
both client and server-side applications, therefore it helps us to build an end-to-
end solution to a given problem.
 Used everywhere: JavaScript is so loved because it can be used anywhere. It
can be used to develop websites, games or mobile apps, etc.
 Huge community support: JavaScript has a huge community of users and
mentors who love this language and take it’s legacy forward.

Variables
Variables are containers for storing data (storing data values).
Declare a JavaScript Variable:
 Using var
 Using let
 Using const
declared with the var keyword:
var x=5;
var y=6;
var z=x+y;
o/p: The value of z is: 11
In this example, x, y, and z, are variables, declared with the let keyword:
let x=5;
let y=6;
let z=x+y;
o/p: The value of z is: 11
If you want a general rule: always declare variables with const.
If you think the value of the variable can change, use let.
const p1=5;
const p2=6;
Let tot=p1=p2;
o/p: The total is: 11

Datatypes
 Numbers: Represent both integer and floating-point numbers. Example: 5, 6.5,
7 etc.
 String: A string is a sequence of characters. In JavaScript, strings can be
enclosed within the single or double quotes. Example: “Hello GeeksforGeeks”
etc.
 Boolean: Represent a logical entity and can have two values: true or false.
 Null: This type has only one value: null. It is left intentionally so that it shows
something that does not exist.
 Undefined: A variable that has not been assigned a value is undefined.

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  Symbol: Unlike other primitive data types, it does not have any literal form. It
is a built-in object whose constructor returns a symbol-that is unique.
 bigint: The bigint type represents the whole numbers that are larger than 253-1.
To form a bigint literal number, you append the letter n at the end of the
number.
 Object: It is the most important data-type and forms the building blocks for
modern JavaScript. We will learn about these data types in detail in further
articles.

Operators
JavaScript operators are symbols that are used to perform operations on operands. For
example:
1. var sum=10+20;
Here, + is the arithmetic operator and = is the assignment operator.
There are following types of operators in JavaScript.
1. Arithmetic Operators
2. Comparison (Relational) Operators
3. Bitwise Operators
4. Logical Operators
5. Assignment Operators
6. Special Operators
Arithmetic Operators
Arithmetic operators are used to perform arithmetic operations on the operands. The
following operators are known as JavaScript arithmetic operators.

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Comparison operators

Bitwise operators

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Assignment Operators

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Conditional Statements
There are three forms of if statement in JavaScript.
1. If Statement
2. If else statement
3. if else if statement

If statement
It evaluates the content only if expression is true. The signature of JavaScript if
statement is given below.
if(expression)
{
//content to be evaluated
}
<script>
var a=20;
if(a>10){
document.write("value of a is greater than 10");
}
</script>
Output of the above example
value of a is greater than 10

If...else Statement
It evaluates the content whether condition is true of false. The syntax of JavaScript if-
else statement is given below.

if(expression)
{
//content to be evaluated if condition is true
}
else
{
//content to be evaluated if condition is false
}
<script>
var a=20;
if(a%2==0)
{

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 document.write("a is even number");
}
else
{
document.write("a is odd number");
}
</script>
Output of the above example
a is even number

If...else if statement
It evaluates the content only if expression is true from several expressions.
The signature of JavaScript if else if statement is given below.
if(expression1)
{
//content to be evaluated if expression1 is true
}
else if(expression2)
{
//content to be evaluated if expression2 is true
}
else if(expression3)
{
//content to be evaluated if expression3 is true
}
else
{
//content to be evaluated if no expression is true
}

Let’s see the simple example of if else if statement in javascript.

<script>
var a=20;
if(a==10)
{
document.write("a is equal to 10");
}
else if(a==15){ document.write("a is equal to 15");
}

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 else if(a==20){
document.write("a is equal to 20");
}
else{
document.write("a is not equal to 10, 15 or 20");
}
</script>
Output :
a is equal to 20

Loops
loops are used to iterate the piece of code using for, while, do while or for-in loops. It
makes the code compact. It is mostly used in array.
There are four types of loops in JavaScript.
1. for loop
2. while loop
3. do-while loop
For loop
The for loop iterates the elements for the fixed number of times. It should be used if
number of iteration is known. The syntax of for loop is given below.
for (initialization; condition; increment)
{
code to be executed
}
<script>
for (i=1; i<=5; i++)
{
document.write(i + "<br/>")
}
</script>

Output:
1
2
3
4
5

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while loop
The while loop iterates the elements for the infinite number of times. It should be
used if number of iteration is not known. The syntax of while loop is given below.
while (condition)
{
code to be executed
}
Let’s see the simple example of while loop in javascript.
<script>
var i=11;
while (i<=15)
{
document.write(i + "<br/>");
i++;
}
</script>
Output:
11
12
13
14
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do while loop
The do while loop iterates the elements for the infinite number of times like while
loop. But, code is executed at least once whether condition is true or false. The syntax
of do while loop is given below.
do{
code to be executed
}while (condition);
<script>
var i=21;
do{
document.write(i + "<br/>");
i++;
}while (i<=25);
</script>
Output:

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21
22
23
24
25

Arrays

array is an object that represents a collection of similar type of elements.

The syntax of creating array

var arrayname=new Array();

Here, new keyword is used to create instance of array.
Let's see the example of creating array directly.
<script>
var i;
var emp = new Array();
emp[0] = "Arun";
emp[1] = "Varun";
emp[2] = "John";
for (i=0;i<emp.length;i++){
document.write(emp[i] + "<br>");
}
</script>
Output of the above example

Arun
Varun
John

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Functions
functions are used to perform operations. We can call JavaScript function many times
to reuse the code.
Advantage of JavaScript function
There are mainly two advantages of JavaScript functions.
1. Code reusability: We can call a function several times so it save coding.
2. Less coding: It makes our program compact. We don’t need to write many
lines of code each time to perform a common task.
Function Syntax
The syntax of declaring function is given below.
1. function functionName([arg1, arg2, ...argN]){
2. //code to be executed
3. }
Let’s see the simple example of function in JavaScript that does not has arguments.
<script>
function msg(){
alert("hello! this is message");
}
</script>
<input type="button" onclick="msg()" value="call function"/>

Function Arguments
We can call function by passing arguments. Let’s see the example of function that has
one argument.
<script>
function getcube(number){
alert(number*number*number);
}
</script>
<form>
<input type="button" value="click" onclick="getcube(4)"/>
</form>

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Function with Return Value
We can call function that returns a value and use it in our program. Let’s see the
example of function that returns value.
<script>
function getInfo(){
return "hello javatpoint! How r u?";
}
</script>
<script>
document.write(getInfo());
</script>
o/p:hello javatpoint! How r u?
JavaScript Objects
A javaScript object is an entity having state and behavior (properties and method). For
example: car, pen, bike, chair, glass, keyboard, monitor etc.
JavaScript is an object-based language. Everything is an object in JavaScript.
JavaScript is template based not class based. Here, we don't create class to get the
object. But, we direct create objects.

Creating Objects
By creating instance of Object
The syntax of creating object directly is given below:
1. var objectname=new Object();
Here, new keyword is used to create object.
Let’s see the example of creating object directly.
1. <script>
2. var emp=new Object();
3. emp.id=101;
4. emp.name="Ravi Malik";
5. emp.salary=50000;
6. document.write(emp.id+" "+emp.name+" "+emp.salary);
7. </script>
o/p:101 Ravi 50000
Accessing objects
A common way to access the property of an object is the dot property accessor syntax:
expression.identifier
expression should evaluate to an object, and identifier is the name of the property
you'd like to access.

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Predefined objects
Fundamental objects:
 Object
 Function
 Boolean
 Symbol
Error objects
Error objects are a special type of fundamental object. They include the basic
Error type, as well as several specialized error types.
 Error
 AggregateError
 EvalError
 RangeError
 ReferenceError
Number and date objects
These are the base objects representing numbers, dates, and mathematical
calculations.
 Number
 BigInt
 Math
 Date

Text processing objects

These objects represent strings and support manipulating them.
 String
 RegExp
Keyed collections
These objects represent collections which use keys. The iterable collections
(Map and Set) contain elements which are easily iterated in the order of
insertion.
 Map
 Set
 WeakMap
 WeakSet

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Object methods

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 UNIT-II

Events:
HTML events are "things" that happen to HTML elements.
When JavaScript is used in HTML pages, JavaScript can "react" on these events.
HTML Events
An HTML event can be something the browser does, or something a user does.
Here are some examples of HTML events:
 An HTML web page has finished loading
 An HTML input field was changed
 An HTML button was clicked
Often, when events happen, you may want to do something.
JavaScript lets you execute code when events are detected.
HTML allows event handler attributes, with JavaScript code, to be added to HTML
elements.
With single quotes:
<element event='some JavaScript'>
With double quotes:
<element event="some JavaScript">
In the following example, an onclick attribute (with code), is added to
a <button> element:
<button onclick="document.getElementById('demo').innerHTML = Date()">The time
is?</button>

Mouse events:
Events that occur when the mouse interacts with the HTML document belongs to the
MouseEvent Object.

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22
Keyboard events

Events that occur when user presses a key on the keyboard, belongs to the
KeyboardEvent Object.

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24
 Event handlers
To allow you to run your bits of code when these events occur, JavaScript provides us
with event handlers. All the event handlers in JavaScript start with the word on, and
each event handler deals with a certain type of event. Here’s a list of all the event
handlers in JavaScript, along with the objects they apply to and the events that trigger
them:

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Frames
 Frame object represents an HTML frame which defines one particular
window(frame) within a frameset.
 It defines the set of frame that make up the browser window.
 Itisapropertyofthewindowobject.
Syntax:<frame>
 It has no end tag but they need to be closed properly.
 It is an HTML element.
 It defines a particular area in which another HTML document can be displayed.
 A frame should be used within a <FRAMESET> tag.

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Form Object
form object is a Browser object of JavaScript used to access an HTML form. If a user
wants to access all forms within a document then he can use the forms array. The form
object is actually a property of document object that is uniquely created by the
browser for each form present in a document. The properties and methods associated
with form object are used to access the form fields, attributes and controls associated
with forms.
Properties of Form Object:
 action
 elements[]
 encoding
 length
 method
 name
 target
 button
 checkbox
 FileUpload
 hidden
 password
action:
action property of form object is used to access the action attribute present in HTML
associated with the <form> tag. This property is a read or write property and its value
is a string.
elements[]:
elements property of form object is an array used to access any element of the form. It
contains all fields and controls present in the form. The user can access any element
associated with the form by using the looping concept on the elements array.
encoding:
The encoding property of a form object is used to access the enctype attribute present
in HTML associated with the <form> tag. This property is a read or write property
and its value is a string. This property helps determine the way of encoding the form
data.
length:
length property of form object is used to specify the number of elements in the form.
This denotes the length of the elements array associated with the form.
method:
method property of form object is used to access the method attribute present in
HTML associated with the <form> tag. This property is a read or write property and

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 its value is a string. This property helps determine the method by which the form is
submitted.
name:
name property of form object denotes the form name.
target:
target property of form object is used to access the target attribute present in HTML
associated with the <form> tag. This property denotes the name of the target window
to which form it is to be submitted into.
button:
The button property of form object denotes the button GUI control placed in the form.
checkbox:
checkbox property of form object denotes the checkbox field placed in the form.
FileUpload:
FileUpload property of form object denotes the file upload field placed in the form..
hidden:
The hidden property of form object denotes the hidden field placed in the form.
password:
password property of form object denotes the object that is placed as a password field
in the form.

Form Object

 Form object represents an HTML form.

 It is used to collect user input through elements like text fields, check box and radio
button, select option, text area, submit buttons and etc.

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 Hidden Object
 Hidden object represents a hidden input field in an HTML form and it is invisible to
the user.
 This object can be placed anywhere on the web page.
 It is used to send hidden form of data to a server.

Password Object

 Password object represents a single-line password field in an HTML form.

 The content of a password field will be masked – appears as spots or asterisks in the
browser using password object.

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 Checkbox Object
 Check box object represents a checkbox in an HTML form.
 It allows the user to select one or more options from the available choices.

Checkbox Object Properties

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 Select Object
 Select object represents a dropdown list in an HTML form.
 It allows the user to select one or more options from the available choices.

31
 Select Object Properties

Select Object Methods

Option Object
 Option object represents an HTML <option> element.
 It is used to add items to a select element.

32
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
function optionfruit(select)
{
var a = select.selectedIndex;
var fav = select.options[a].value;
if(a==0)
{
alert("Please select a fruit");
}
else
{
document.write("Your Favorite Fruit is <b>"+fav+".</b>");
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form>
List of Fruits:

33
 <select name="fruit">
<option value="0">Select a Fruit</option>
<option value="Mango">Mango</option>
<option value="Apple">Apple</option>
<option value="Banana">Banana</option>
<option value="Strawberry">Strawberry</option>
<option value="Orange">Orange</option>
</select>
<input type="button" value="Select" onClick="optionfruit(this.form.fruit);">
</form>
</body>
</html>

Output:

Your Favorite Fruit is Mango.

Radio Object

Radio object represents a radio button in an HTML form.

34
Text Object
Text object represents a single-line text input field in an HTML form.

35
Textarea Object
Textarea object represents a text-area in an HTML form.

JavaScript Form Validation

HTML form validation can be done by JavaScript.
If a form field (fname) is empty, this function alerts a message, and returns false, to
prevent the form from being submitted:
functionvalidateForm(){
letx=document.forms["myForm"]["fname"].value;
if(x==""){
alert("Namemustbefilledout");
returnfalse;
}
}
The function can be called when the form is submitted:
HTML Form Example
<formname="myForm"action="/action_page.php"onsubmit="return
validateForm()"method="post">
Name:<inputtype="text"name="fname">
<inputtype="submit"value="Submit">
</form>

36
 JavaScript Can Validate Numeric Input
JavaScript is often used to validate numeric input:

37
 UNIT-III

Perl is a general purpose, high level interpreted and dynamic programming language.
Perl supports both the procedural and Object-Oriented programming. Perl is a lot
similar to C syntactically and is easy for the users who have knowledge of C, C++.
Since Perl is a lot similar to other widely used languages syntactically, it is easier to
code and learn in Perl. Programs can be written in Perl in any of the widely used text
editors like Notepad++, gedit, etc.

Data types
There are different data types available in Perl for different purposes. Some of them
have been presented below:
 Boolean
 Integer
 Float
 Array
 String
Unlike other languages such as C++ or Java, Perl does not require defining variables
along with a specific data type. The type of a variable is picked based on the value
assigned to it.
Here is a brief overview of the types:

Boolean
Boolean data type is used to store true or false values. The numeric value 0 is used to
represent false, whereas any other numeric value represents true. Let’s look at the
code below:
$false = 0; # reutrns false
$true = 1; # any values greater or less than 0 returns true

Integer
An integer is a positive or negative whole number. Perl allows you to assign integer
constants in decimal, hexadecimal, octal or binary numbering systems. Consider the
following code:
$negative = -3; # negative
$zero = 0; # zero (can also be false, if used as a Boolean
$positive = 123; # positive decimal
$zeroPos = 0123; #0 prefix is used to sepcify octal - octal value = 83 decimal $hex =
0xAB; #0x prefix is used to specify hexadecimal - hexadecimal value = 171 decimal
$bin = 0b1010; # 0b prefix is used to specify binary - binary value = 10 decimal print
$negative," " ,$zero," " , $positive," " , $zeroPos," " , $hex," " , $bin;

38
Output
-3 0 123 83 171 10

Float
Floating point numbers, doubles or simply called floats are decimal numbers.
$float1 = 1.23;
$float2 = 10.0000001;
print $float1," ",$float2;
Output
1.23 10.0000001

Array
An array is like a list of values (similar or of different data types). The simplest form
of an array is indexed by an integer, and ordered by the index, with the first element
lying at index 0. We use @ to initiate an array with values enclosed in () pair of
parenthesis. Look at the following code:
@intarray = (1, 2, 3);
# An array of integers print "@intarray \n";
@floatarray = (1.123, 2.356, 19.76);
# An array of floats print "@floatarray \n";
@chararray = ('a', 'b','c');
# An array of characters print "@chararray \n";
@mixed = (1, 2, 3, 'a', 'b', 'c');
#contains both characters and numbers print "@mixed";
Output
1 2 3 1.123 2.356 19.76 a b c 1 2 3 a b c

String
A string is an array of characters. We can declare a string using either single quotes (')
or double quotes (").
$string1 = "A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";
print $string1;
Output
A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Variables
A variable in any programming language is a named piece of computer memory to
hold some program data. Variables are an essential part of a computer program.
You can declare a variable in Perl using a $ sign followed by its name, e.g., $myVar.
onsider the following Perl code where we store data in variables and display them on
the screen.
$string = "This is a string.";
# stores string

39
$int = 5;
# stores an integer
$float = 5.7;
# stores a floating point type value
$char = 'a';
# stores character type value
print $string, "\n";
print "An integer type: ", $int, "\n";
print "A float type: ", $float, "\n";
print "A character type: ", $char, "\n";

Output
This is a string. An integer type: 5 A float type: 5.7 A character type: a
scalars
A scalar is a single unit of data. That data might be an integer number, floating point,
a character, a string, a paragraph, or an entire web page.
Here is a simple example of using scalar variables −
#!/usr/bin/perl
$age = 25; # An integer assignment
$name = "John Paul"; # A string
$salary = 1445.50; # A floating point
print "Age = $age\n";
print "Name = $name\n";
print "Salary = $salary\n";
This will produce the following result −
Age = 25
Name = John Paul
Salary = 1445.5
Numeric Scalars
A scalar is most often either a number or a string. Following example demonstrates
the usage of various types of numeric scalars −
#!/usr/bin/perl
$integer = 200;
$negative = -300;
$floating = 200.340;
$bigfloat = -1.2E-23;
# 377 octal, same as 255 decimal
$octal = 0377;
# FF hex, also 255 decimal

40
$hexa = 0xff;
print "integer = $integer\n";
print "negative = $negative\n";
print "floating = $floating\n";
print "bigfloat = $bigfloat\n";
print "octal = $octal\n";
print "hexa = $hexa\n";
This will produce the following result −
integer = 200
negative = -300
floating = 200.34
bigfloat = -1.2e-23
octal = 255
hexa = 255
String Scalars
Following example demonstrates the usage of various types of string scalars. Notice
the difference between single quoted strings and double quoted strings −
#!/usr/bin/perl
$var = "This is string scalar!";
$quote = 'I m inside single quote - $var';
$double = "This is inside single quote - $var";
$escape = "This example of escape -\tHello, World!";
print "var = $var\n";
print "quote = $quote\n";
print "double = $double\n";
print "escape = $escape\n";
This will produce the following result −
var = This is string scalar!
quote = I m inside single quote - $var
double = This is inside single quote - This is string scalar!
escape = This example of escape - Hello, World
Scalar Operations
You will see a detail of various operators available in Perl in a separate chapter, but
here we are going to list down few numeric and string operations.
#!/usr/bin/perl
$str = "hello" . "world"; # Concatenates strings.
$num = 5 + 10; # adds two numbers.
$mul = 4 * 5; # multiplies two numbers.
$mix = $str . $num; # concatenates string and number.
print "str = $str\n";

41
print "num = $num\n";
print "mul = $mul\n";
print "mix = $mix\n";
This will produce the following result −
str = helloworld
num = 15
mul = 20
mix = helloworld15
Multiline Strings
If you want to introduce multiline strings into your programs, you can use the standard
single quotes as below −
#!/usr/bin/perl
$string = 'This is
a multiline
string';
print "$string\n";
This will produce the following result −
This is
a multiline
string

Operators
4 + 5 is equal to 9. Here 4 and 5 are called operands and + is called operator. Perl
language supports many operator types, but following is a list of important and most
frequently used operators −
 Numeric operators
 String operators
 Logical operators
 Bitwise operators
 Special operators
 Comparison operators
 Assignment operators

Numeric operators
Numeric operators are the standard arithmetic operators like addition (+), subtraction
(-), multiplication (*), division (/) and modulo (%), etc.

String operators
String operators are positive and negative regular expression with repetition (=~ and
!~) and concatenation ( .).

42
String Concatenation operator
use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;
my $result = "Hello this is " . "JavaTpoint.";
say $result;
output:
Hello this is JavaTpoint.
String Repetition operator
use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;
my $result = "Thank You " x 3;
say $result;
output:
Thank You Thank You Thank You.
Here, note that on the right of 'x' it must be an integer.
There should be space on either side of the 'x' operator.
For example,
$result = "Thank You " x 3; # This is correct
1. $result = "Thank You "x3; # This is incorrect

Logical operators
Logical operators give a Boolean value to their operands. They are (&&, || and or).
&& -> In && operator, if $a is 0, then value of $a && $b must be false irrespective
of the value of $b. So perl does not bother to check $b value. This is called short-
circuit evaluation.
|| -> In || operator, if $a is non-zero, then value of $a && $b must be true irrespective
of the value of $b. So perl does not bother to check $b value.
Example:
use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;
$a = 0;
$b = 12;
my $result1 = $a && $b;
say $result1;
$a = 12;
$b = 14;

43
 my $result2 = $a || $b;
say $result2;
Output:
0
12
Bitwise operators
Bitwise operators treat their operands numerically at bit level. These are (<<, >>, &, |,
^, <<=, >>=, &=, |=, ^=).
Every number will be denoted in terms of 0s and 1s. Initially integers will be
converted into binary bit and result will be evaluated. Final result will be displayed in
the integer form.
Example:
use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;
#OR operator
my $result1 = 124.3 | 99;
say $result1;
#AND operator
my $result2 = 124.3 & 99;
say $result2;
#XOR operator
my $result3 = 124.3 ^ 99;
say $result3;
#Shift operator
my $result4 = 124 >> 3;
say $result4;
Output:
127
96
31
15
Special operators
The auto-increment (++) operator is a special operator that increments the numeric
character itself by 1.
Example:
use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;

44
 my $num = 9;
my $str = 'x';
$num++;
$str++;
say $num++;
say $str++;
Output:
10
Y
Comparison operators
The comparison operator compares the values of its operands. These are ( ==, <, <=,
>, >=, <=>, !=).
Example:
use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;
say "Enter your salary:";
my $salary = <>;
if($salary >= 20000)
{
say "You are earning well";
} else {
say "You are not earning well";
}
Output:
Enter your salary:
15000
You are not earning well

Assignment operators
The assignment operator assigns a value to a variable.
These are (=, +=, -=, *=, /=, |=, &=, %=)
Example:
use 5.010;
use strict;
use warnings;
$a = 20;
my $result1 = $a += $a;
say $result1;

45
 my $result2 = $a -= 10;
say $result2;
my $result3 = $a |= 10;
say $result3;
my $result4 = $a &= 10;
say $result4;
output:
40
30
30
10

Conditional Statements
Perl conditional statements helps in the decision making, which require that the
programmer specifies one or more conditions to be evaluated or tested by the
program, along with a statement or statements to be executed if the condition is
determined to be true, and optionally, other statements to be executed if the condition
is determined to be false.
A Perl if statement consists of a boolean expression followed by one or more
statements.
Syntax
The syntax of an if statement in Perl programming language is −
if(boolean_expression) {
# statement(s) will execute if the given condition is true
}
If the boolean expression evaluates to true then the block of code inside the if
statement will be executed. If boolean expression evaluates to false then the first set of
code after the end of the if statement (after the closing curly brace) will be executed.
The number 0, the strings '0' and "" , the empty list () , and undef are all false in a
boolean context and all other values are true. Negation of a true value by ! or not
returns a special false value.
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$a = 10;
# check the boolean condition using if statement
if( $a < 20 ) {
# if condition is true then print the following
printf "a is less than 20\n";
}
print "value of a is : $a\n";
$a = "";

46
# check the boolean condition using if statement
if( $a ) {
# if condition is true then print the following
printf "a has a true value\n";
}
print "value of a is : $a\n";
o/p:
a is less than 20
value of a is : 10
value of a is :
if-else
A Perl if statement can be followed by an optional else statement, which executes
when the boolean expression is false.
Syntax
The syntax of an if...else statement in Perl programming language is −
if(boolean_expression) {
# statement(s) will execute if the given condition is true
} else {
# statement(s) will execute if the given condition is false
}
If the boolean expression evaluates to true, then the if block of code will be executed
otherwise else block of code will be executed.
The number 0, the strings '0' and "" , the empty list () , and undef are all false in a
boolean context and all other values are true. Negation of a true value by ! or not
returns a special false value.
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$a = 100;
# check the boolean condition using if statement
if( $a < 20 ) {
# if condition is true then print the following
printf "a is less than 20\n";
} else {
# if condition is false then print the following
printf "a is greater than 20\n";
}
print "value of a is : $a\n";
$a = "";
# check the boolean condition using if statement
if( $a ) {
# if condition is true then print the following

47
 printf "a has a true value\n";
} else {
# if condition is false then print the following
printf "a has a false value\n";
}
print "value of a is : $a\n";
When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −
a is greater than 20
value of a is : 100
a has a false value
value of a is :
if-elsif-else
An if statement can be followed by an optional elsif...else statement, which is very
useful to test the various conditions using single if...elsif statement.
When using if , elsif , else statements there are few points to keep in mind.
 An if can have zero or one else's and it must come after any elsif's.
 An if can have zero to many elsif's and they must come before the else.
 Once an elsif succeeds, none of the remaining elsif's or else's will be tested.
Syntax
The syntax of an if...elsif...else statement in Perl programming language is −
if(boolean_expression 1) {
# Executes when the boolean expression 1 is true
} elsif( boolean_expression 2) {
# Executes when the boolean expression 2 is true
} elsif( boolean_expression 3) {
# Executes when the boolean expression 3 is true
} else {
# Executes when the none of the above condition is true
}
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$a = 100;
# check the boolean condition using if statement
if( $a == 20 ) {
# if condition is true then print the following
printf "a has a value which is 20\n";
} elsif( $a == 30 ) {
# if condition is true then print the following
printf "a has a value which is 30\n";
} else {
# if none of the above conditions is true

48
 printf "a has a value which is $a\n";
}
o/p:a has a value which is 100

Loops
Perl programming language provides the following types of loop to handle the looping
requirements.
A while loop statement in Perl programming language repeatedly executes a target
statement as long as a given condition is true.
Syntax
The syntax of a while loop in Perl programming language is −
while(condition) {
statement(s);
}
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$a = 10;
# while loop execution
while( $a < 20 ) {
printf "Value of a: $a\n";
$a = $a + 1;
}
Here we are using the comparison operator < to compare value of variable $a against
20. So while value of $a is less than 20, while loop continues executing a block of
code next to it and as soon as the value of $a becomes equal to 20, it comes out. When
executed, above code produces the following result −
Value of a: 10
Value of a: 11
Value of a: 12
Value of a: 13
Value of a: 14
Value of a: 15
Value of a: 16
Value of a: 17
Value of a: 18
Value of a: 19
An until loop statement in Perl programming language repeatedly executes a target
statement as long as a given condition is false.
Syntax
The syntax of an until loop in Perl programming language is −
until(condition) {

49
 statement(s);
}
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$a = 5;
# until loop execution
until( $a > 10 ) {
printf "Value of a: $a\n";
$a = $a + 1;
}
Here we are using the comparison operator > to compare value of variable $a against
10. So until the value of $a is less than 10, until loop continues executing a block of
code next to it and as soon as the value of $a becomes greater than 10, it comes out.
When executed, above code produces the following result −
Value of a: 5
Value of a: 6
Value of a: 7
Value of a: 8
Value of a: 9
Value of a: 10
A for loop is a repetition control structure that allows you to efficiently write a loop
that needs to execute a specific number of times.
Syntax
The syntax of a for loop in Perl programming language is −
for ( init; condition; increment ) {
statement(s);
}
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
# for loop execution
for( $a = 10; $a < 20; $a = $a + 1 ) {
print "value of a: $a\n";
}
When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −
value of a: 10
value of a: 11
value of a: 12
value of a: 13
value of a: 14
value of a: 15
value of a: 16
value of a: 17

50
value of a: 18
value of a: 19
Unlike for and while loops, which test the loop condition at the top of the loop, the
do...while loop checks its condition at the bottom of the loop.
A do...while loop is similar to a while loop, except that a do...while loop is guaranteed
to execute at least one time.
Syntax
The syntax of a do...while loop in Perl is −
do {
statement(s);
}while( condition );
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
$a = 10;
# do...while loop execution
do{
printf "Value of a: $a\n";
$a = $a + 1;
}while( $a < 20 );
When the above code is executed, it produces the following result −
Value of a: 10
Value of a: 11
Value of a: 12
Value of a: 13
Value of a: 14
Value of a: 15
Value of a: 16
Value of a: 17
Value of a: 18
value of a: 19

51
Arrays
An array is a variable that stores an ordered list of scalar values. Array variables are
preceded by an "at" (@) sign. To refer to a single element of an array, you will use the
dollar sign ($) with the variable name followed by the index of the element in square
brackets.
Here is a simple example of using the array variables −
#!/usr/bin/perl
@ages = (25, 30, 40);
@names = ("John Paul", "Lisa", "Kumar");
print "\$ages[0] = $ages[0]\n";
print "\$ages[1] = $ages[1]\n";
print "\$ages[2] = $ages[2]\n";
print "\$names[0] = $names[0]\n";
print "\$names[1] = $names[1]\n";
print "\$names[2] = $names[2]\n";
Here we have used the escape sign (\) before the $ sign just to print it. Other Perl will
understand it as a variable and will print its value. When executed, this will produce
the following result −
$ages[0] = 25
$ages[1] = 30
$ages[2] = 40
$names[0] = John Paul
$names[1] = Lisa
$names[2] = Kumar
In Perl, List and Array terms are often used as if they're interchangeable. But the list is
the data, and the array is the variable.
Array Creation
Array variables are prefixed with the @ sign and are populated using either
parentheses or the qw operator. For example −
@array = (1, 2, 'Hello');
@array = qw/This is an array/;
The second line uses the qw// operator, which returns a list of strings, separating the
delimited string by white space. In this example, this leads to a four-element array; the
first element is 'this' and last (fourth) is 'array'. This means that you can use different
lines as follows −
@days = qw/Monday
Tuesday
...
Sunday/;

52
Accessing Array Elements
When accessing individual elements from an array, you must prefix the variable with
a dollar sign ($) and then append the element index within the square brackets after
the name of the variable. For example −
#!/usr/bin/perl
@days = qw/Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun/;
print "$days[0]\n";
print "$days[1]\n";
print "$days[2]\n";
print "$days[6]\n";
print "$days[-1]\n";
print "$days[-7]\n";
This will produce the following result −
Mon
Tue
Wed
Sun
Sun
Mon
Array indices start from zero, so to access the first element you need to give 0 as
indices. You can also give a negative index, in which case you select the element from
the end, rather than the beginning, of the array. This means the following −
print $days[-1]; # outputs Sun
print $days[-7]; # outputs Mon
Sequential Number Arrays
Perl offers a shortcut for sequential numbers and letters. Rather than typing out each
element when counting to 100 for example, we can do something like as follows −
#!/usr/bin/perl
@var_10 = (1..10);
@var_20 = (10..20);
@var_abc = (a..z);
print "@var_10\n"; # Prints number from 1 to 10
print "@var_20\n"; # Prints number from 10 to 20
print "@var_abc\n"; # Prints number from a to z
Here double dot (..) is called range operator. This will produce the following result −
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

53
Hashes
A hash is a set of key/value pairs. Hash variables are preceded by a percent (%) sign.
To refer to a single element of a hash, you will use the hash variable name preceded
by a "$" sign and followed by the "key" associated with the value in curly brackets..
Here is a simple example of using the hash variables −
#!/usr/bin/perl
%data = ('John Paul', 45, 'Lisa', 30, 'Kumar', 40);
print "\$data{'John Paul'} = $data{'John Paul'}\n";
print "\$data{'Lisa'} = $data{'Lisa'}\n";
print "\$data{'Kumar'} = $data{'Kumar'}\n";
This will produce the following result −
$data{'John Paul'} = 45
$data{'Lisa'} = 30
$data{'Kumar'} = 40
Creating Hashes
Hashes are created in one of the two following ways. In the first method, you assign a
value to a named key on a one-by-one basis −
$data{'John Paul'} = 45;
$data{'Lisa'} = 30;
$data{'Kumar'} = 40;
In the second case, you use a list, which is converted by taking individual pairs from
the list: the first element of the pair is used as the key, and the second, as the value.
For example −
%data = ('John Paul', 45, 'Lisa', 30, 'Kumar', 40);
For clarity, you can use => as an alias for , to indicate the key/value pairs as follows −
%data = ('John Paul' => 45, 'Lisa' => 30, 'Kumar' => 40);
Here is one more variant of the above form, have a look at it, here all the keys have
been preceded by hyphen (-) and no quotation is required around them −
%data = (-JohnPaul => 45, -Lisa => 30, -Kumar => 40);
But it is important to note that there is a single word, i.e., without spaces keys have
been used in this form of hash formation and if you build-up your hash this way then
keys will be accessed using hyphen only as shown below.
$val = %data{-JohnPaul}
$val = %data{-Lisa}
Accessing Hash Elements
When accessing individual elements from a hash, you must prefix the variable with a
dollar sign ($) and then append the element key within curly brackets after the name
of the variable. For example −
#!/usr/bin/perl
%data = ('John Paul' => 45, 'Lisa' => 30, 'Kumar' => 40);

54
print "$data{'John Paul'}\n";
print "$data{'Lisa'}\n";
print "$data{'Kumar'}\n";
This will produce the following result −
45
30
40
Extracting Slices
You can extract slices of a hash just as you can extract slices from an array. You will
need to use @ prefix for the variable to store the returned value because they will be a
list of values −
#!/uer/bin/perl
%data = (-JohnPaul => 45, -Lisa => 30, -Kumar => 40);
@array = @data{-JohnPaul, -Lisa};
print "Array : @array\n";
This will produce the following result −
Array : 45 30
Extracting Keys and Values
You can get a list of all of the keys from a hash by using keys function, which has the
following syntax −
keys %HASH
This function returns an array of all the keys of the named hash. Following is the
example −
#!/usr/bin/perl
%data = ('John Paul' => 45, 'Lisa' => 30, 'Kumar' => 40);
@names = keys %data;
print "$names[0]\n";
print "$names[1]\n";
print "$names[2]\n";
This will produce the following result −
Lisa
John Paul
Kumar
Getting Hash Size
You can get the size - that is, the number of elements from a hash by using the scalar
context on either keys or values. Simply saying first you have to get an array of either
the keys or values and then you can get the size of array as follows −
#!/usr/bin/perl
%data = ('John Paul' => 45, 'Lisa' => 30, 'Kumar' => 40);
@keys = keys %data;

55
$size = @keys;
print "1 - Hash size: is $size\n";
@values = values %data;
$size = @values;
print "2 - Hash size: is $size\n";
This will produce the following result −
1 - Hash size: is 3
2 - Hash size: is 3
Add and Remove Elements in Hashes
Adding a new key/value pair can be done with one line of code using simple
assignment operator. But to remove an element from the hash you need to use delete
function as shown below in the example −
#!/usr/bin/perl
%data = ('John Paul' => 45, 'Lisa' => 30, 'Kumar' => 40);
@keys = keys %data;
$size = @keys;
print "1 - Hash size: is $size\n";
# adding an element to the hash;
$data{'Ali'} = 55;
@keys = keys %data;
$size = @keys;
print "2 - Hash size: is $size\n";
# delete the same element from the hash;
delete $data{'Ali'};
@keys = keys %data;
$size = @keys;
print "3 - Hash size: is $size\n";
This will produce the following result −
1 - Hash size: is 3
2 - Hash size: is 4
3 - Hash size: is 3

56
Strings
Strings are an essential part of the Perl language. They are scalar variables, so they
start with ($) sign. A string can be defined within a single quote (') or double quote
(").
Perl String Operators
The operators make it easy to manipulate a string in different ways. There are two
types of string operators:
 Concatenation (.)
 Repetition (x)
Concatenation Operator
Perl strings are concatenated with a (.) sign instead of (+) sign.
1. $firstName = "Christian";
2. $lastName = "Grey";
3. $fullName = $firstName . " " . $lastName;
4. print "$fullName\n";
Christian Grey
Repeitition Operator
Perl strings can be repeated a number of times with (x) variable.
1. $text = "Thank You ";
2. $output = $text x 3;
3. print "$output\n";
Output:
Thank You Thank You Thank You
Initializing and Declaring a String
In Perl, to declare a string use my keyword before variable name.
A string can be initialised and declared with the following syntax:
my $variableName = "";
In this example, we have shown how to initialize and declare a string. We have
printed several strings together by using a dot (.) operator.
se strict;
use warnings;
# Declaring and initializing a string.
my $msg1 = "Welcome at JavaTpoint.";
my $msg2 = "This is our Perl Tutorial.";
#printing using . operator.
print $msg1 . "" . $msg2. "\n";
#print as separate arguments.
print $msg1, "",$msg2, "\n";

57
 #embedd string in a bigger string.
print "$msg1$msg2\n";
Output:
Welcome at JavaTpoint. This is our Perl Tutorial.
Welcome at JavaTpoint. This is our Perl Tutorial.
Welcome at JavaTpoint. This is our Perl Tutorial.
Determining String Length, length()
string length can be determined with length() function.
my $msg = "Our site javaTpoint provides all type of tutorials";
print "String Length : ", length($msg), "\n";
Output:
String Length : 50
Replacing a string with another string, s///g
A string can be replaced with another string in two ways.
In first one, we have replaced Tigers with Lions which occurs single time in the string
with s///.
In second one, we have replaced roses with flowers globally with s///g.
my $var1 = "Tigers are big and frightening.";
$var1 =~ s/Tigers/Lions/;
print "$var1\n";
my $var2 = "Red roses are very popular. Yellow roses are less seen.";
$var2 =~ s/roses/flowers/g;
print "$var2\n";
Output:
Lions are big and frightening.
Red flowers are very popular. Yellow flowers are less seen.
Perl Concatenating two Strings (.=)
Two strings can be joined together using (.=) operator.
my $str1 = "Where there is a will,";
my $str2 = "there is a way.\n";
my $joining = '';
$joining = $str1 . ' ';
$joining .= $str2;
print $joining;
Output:
Where there is a will, there is a way.

58
Lists
A list is a collection of scalar values. We can access the elements of a list using
indexes. Index starts with 0 (0th index refers to the first element of the list). We use
parenthesis and comma operators to construct a list. In Perl, scalar variables start with
a $ symbol whereas list variables start with @ symbol.

Example :
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Empty List assigned to an array
@empty_list = ();
# List of integers
@integer_list = (1, 2, 3);
# List of strings assigned to an array
@string_list = ("hai", "for", "hai");
print "Empty list: @empty_list\n";
print "Integer list: @integer_list\n";
print "String list: @string_list\n";
Output:
Empty list:
Integer list: 1 2 3
String list: hai for hai
Builtin functions
The chr() function in Perl returns a string representing a character whose Unicode
code point is an integer.
join()function
join() function is used to combine the elements of a List into a single string with the
use of a separator provided to separate each element.
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Initializing list with alphabets A to Z
@list = (A..Z);
# Printing the original list
print "List: @list\n";
# Using join function introducing
# hyphen between each alphabets
print "\nString after join operation:\n";
print join("-", @list);
Output:
List: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

59
String after join operation:
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
reverse()function
Reverse() function in Perl returns the elements of List in reverse order in a list context.
# Initializing a list
@list = ("Raj", "E123", 12000);
# Reversing the list
@rname = reverse(@list);
# Printing the reversed list
print "Reversed list is @rname";
# Initializing a scalar
$string = "for";
# Reversing a scalar
$r = reverse($string);
print "\nReversed string is $r";
Reversed list is 12000 E123 Raj
Reversed string is rof

Regular Expressions
A regular expression is a string of characters that defines the pattern or patterns you
are viewing.
There are three regular expression operators within Perl.
 Match Regular Expression - m//
 Substitute Regular Expression - s///
 Transliterate Regular Expression - tr///
1.The Match Operator
The match operator, m//, is used to match a string or statement to a regular expression.
For example, to match the character sequence "foo" against the scalar $bar, you might
use a statement like this −
#!/usr/bin/perl
$bar = "This is foo and again foo";
if ($bar =~ /foo/) {
print "First time is matching\n";
} else {
print "First time is not matching\n";
}
$bar = "foo";
if ($bar =~ /foo/) {
print "Second time is matching\n";
} else {

60
 print "Second time is not matching\n";
}
When above program is executed, it produces the following result −
First time is matching
Second time is matching
2.The Substitution Operator
The substitution operator, s///, is really just an extension of the match operator that
allows you to replace the text matched with some new text. The basic form of the
operator is −
s/PATTERN/REPLACEMENT/;
#/user/bin/perl
$string = "The cat sat on the mat";
$string =~ s/cat/dog/;
print "$string\n";
When above program is executed, it produces the following result −
The dog sat on the mat
3.The Translation Operator
Translation is similar, but not identical, to the principles of substitution, but unlike
substitution, translation (or transliteration) does not use regular expressions for its
search on replacement values. The translation operators are −
tr/SEARCHLIST/REPLACEMENTLIST/cds
y/SEARCHLIST/REPLACEMENTLIST/cds
#/user/bin/perl
$string = 'The cat sat on the mat';
$string =~ tr/a/o/;
print "$string\n";
When above program is executed, it produces the following result −
The cot sot on the mot.

61
 UNIT-IV

The PHP Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is a programming language that allows

web developers to create dynamic content that interacts with databases. PHP is
basically used for developing web based software applications.
PHP is a MUST for students and working professionals to become a great Software
Engineer specially when they are working in Web Development Domain. I will list
down some of the key advantages of learning PHP:
 PHP is a recursive acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor".
 PHP is a server side scripting language that is embedded in HTML. It is used to
manage dynamic content, databases, session tracking, even build entire e-
commerce sites.
 It is integrated with a number of popular databases, including MySQL,
PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, and Microsoft SQL Server.
 PHP is pleasingly zippy in its execution, especially when compiled as an Apache
module on the Unix side. The MySQL server, once started, executes even very
complex queries with huge result sets in record-setting time.
 PHP supports a large number of major protocols such as POP3, IMAP, and
LDAP. PHP4 added support for Java and distributed object architectures (COM
and CORBA), making n-tier development a possibility for the first time.
 PHP is forgiving: PHP language tries to be as forgiving as possible.
 PHP Syntax is C-Like.
Characteristics of PHP
Five important characteristics make PHP's practical nature possible −
 Simplicity
 Efficiency
 Security
 Flexibility
 Familiarity

Applications of PHP
As mentioned before, PHP is one of the most widely used language over the web. I'm
going to list few of them here:
 PHP performs system functions, i.e. from files on a system it can create, open,
read, write, and close them.
 PHP can handle forms, i.e. gather data from files, save data to a file, through
email you can send data, return data to the user.
 You add, delete, modify elements within your database through PHP.
 Access cookies variables and set cookies.
 Using PHP, you can restrict users to access some pages of your website.

62
  It can encrypt data.

Variables
Variables are "containers" for storing information.
Creating (Declaring) PHP Variables
In PHP, a variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable:

Example
<?php
$txt="Helloworld!";
$x=5;
$y=10.5;
?>
output:
Hey
Helloworld!
5
10.5
Data Types
Variables can store data of different types, and different data types can do different
things.
PHP supports the following data types:
 String
 Integer
 Float (floating point numbers - also called double)
 Boolean
String
A string is a sequence of characters, like "Hello world!".
A string can be any text inside quotes. You can use single or double quotes:
<?php
$x="Helloworld!";
$y='Helloworld!';
echo$x;
echo"<br>";
echo$y;
?>
Helloworld!
Hello world!
Integer
An integer data type is a non-decimal number between -2,147,483,648 and
2,147,483,647.

63
Rules for integers:
 An integer must have at least one digit
 An integer must not have a decimal point
 An integer can be either positive or negative
 Integers can be specified in: decimal (base 10), hexadecimal (base 16), octal
(base 8), or binary (base 2) notation
In the following example $x is an integer. The PHP var_dump() function returns the
data type and value:
<?php
$x=5985;
var_dump($x);
?>
int(5985)
Float
A float (floating point number) is a number with a decimal point or a number in
exponential form.
In the following example $x is a float. The PHP var_dump() function returns the data
type and value:

Example
<?php
$x=10.365;
var_dump($x);
?>
float(10.365)
Boolean
A Boolean represents two possible states: TRUE or FALSE.
$x=true;
$y = false;
Operators
4 + 5 is equal to 9. Here 4 and 5 are called operands and + is called operator.
Arithmetic Operators

64
Comparison Operators

65
Logical Operators

Assignment Operators

66
 Conditional Operator
There is one more operator called conditional operator. This first evaluates an
expression for a true or false value and then execute one of the two given statements

depending upon the result of the evaluation.

Conditional statements
The If...Else Statement
If you want to execute some code if a condition is true and another code if a condition
is false, use the if....else statement.

Syntax
if (condition)
code to be executed if condition is true;
else
code to be executed if condition is false;
The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the current day is
Friday, Otherwise, it will output "Have a nice day!":
<html>
<body>
<?php
$d = date("D");
if ($d == "Fri")
echo "Have a nice weekend!";
else
echo "Have a nice day!";
?>
</body>
</html>
It will produce the following result −
Have a nice weekend!
ElseIf Statement
If you want to execute some code if one of the several conditions are true use the
elseif statement

67
Syntax
if (condition)
code to be executed if condition is true;
elseif (condition)
code to be executed if condition is true;
else
code to be executed if condition is false;

Example
The following example will output "Have a nice weekend!" if the current day is
Friday, and "Have a nice Sunday!" if the current day is Sunday. Otherwise, it will
output "Have a nice day!"
<html>
<body>
<?php
$d = date("D");
if ($d == "Fri")
echo "Have a nice weekend!";
elseif ($d == "Sun")
echo "Have a nice Sunday!";
else
echo "Have a nice day!";
?>
</body>
</html>
It will produce the following result −
o/p:Have a nice Weekend!

68
Loops
Loops in PHP are used to execute the same block of code a specified number of times.
PHP supports following four loop types.
 for − loops through a block of code a specified number of times.
 while − loops through a block of code if and as long as a specified condition is
true.
 do...while − loops through a block of code once, and then repeats the loop as
long as a special condition is true.
 foreach − loops through a block of code for each element in an array.
for loop
The for statement is used when you know how many times you want to execute a
statement or a block of statements.

Syntax
for (initialization; condition; increment){
code to be executed;
}
while loop

Syntax
while (condition) {
code to be executed;
}
do-while loop
do {
code to be executed;
}
while (condition);
foreach
foreach (array as value) {
code to be executed;
}
Arrays
array is an ordered map (contains value on the basis of key). It is used to hold multiple
values of similar type in a single variable.
Indexed Array
index is represented by number which starts from 0. We can store number, string and
object in the PHP array. All PHP array elements are assigned to an index number by
default.
to define indexed array:
$season=array("summer","winter","spring","autumn");

69
Associative Array
We can associate name with each array elements in PHP using => symbol.
to define associative array:
$salary=array("Sonoo"=>"350000","John"=>"450000","Kartik"=>"200000");

String Functions

70
Functions
function is a piece of code that can be reused many times. It can take input as
argument list and return value. There are thousands of built-in functions in PHP.
User-defined Functions
We can declare and call user-defined functions easily. Let's see the syntax to declare
user-defined functions.
Syntax
1. function functionname()
2. {
3. //code to be executed
4. }
<?php
function sayHello(){
echo "Hello PHP Function";
}
sayHello();//calling function
?>
o/p:Hello PHP Function
Call by value
In call by value, actual value is not modified if it is modified inside the function.
<?php
function increment($i)
{
$i++;
}
$i = 10;
increment($i);
echo $i;
?>
o/p:10
Call By Reference
Value passed to the function doesn't modify the actual value by default (call by value).
But we can do so by passing value as a reference.
By default, value passed to the function is call by value. To pass value as a reference,
you need to use ampersand (&) symbol before the argument name.
<?php
function adder(&$str2)
{
$str2 .= 'Call By Reference';

71
 }
$str = 'Hello ';
adder($str);
echo $str;
?>
Hello Call By Reference
Parameterized Function
PHP Parameterized functions are the functions with parameters. You can pass any
number of parameters inside a function. These passed parameters act as variables
inside your function.
They are specified inside the parentheses, after the function name.
The output depends upon the dynamic values passed as the parameters into the
function.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Parameter Addition and Subtraction Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
//Adding two numbers
function add($x, $y) {
$sum = $x + $y;
echo "Sum of two numbers is = $sum <br><br>";
}
add(467, 943);
//Subtracting two numbers
function sub($x, $y) {
$diff = $x - $y;
echo "Difference between two numbers is = $diff";
}
sub(943, 467);
?>
</body>
</html>

72
File Handling
PHP File System allows us to create file, read file line by line, read file character by
character, write file, append file, delete file and close file.
Open File - fopen()
fopen() function is used to open a file.
Syntax
resource fopen ( string $filename , string $mode [, bool $use_include_path = fa
lse [, resource $context
<?php
$handle = fopen("c:\\folder\\file.txt", "r");
?>
Close File - fclose()
fclose() function is used to close an open file pointer.
Syntax
ool fclose ( resource $handle )
Example
<?php
fclose($handle);
?>
Read File - fread()
The PHP fread() function is used to read the content of the file. It accepts two
arguments: resource and file size.
Syntax
string fread ( resource $handle , int $length )
<?php
$filename = "c:\\myfile.txt";
$handle = fopen($filename, "r");//open file in read mode

$contents = fread($handle, filesize($filename));//read file

echo $contents;//printing data of file

fclose($handle);//close file
?>
Output
hello php file

Write File - fwrite()

fwrite() function is used to write content of the string into file
Syntax

73
 int fwrite ( resource $handle , string $string [, int $length ] )
Example
<?php
$fp = fopen('data.txt', 'w');//open file in write mode
fwrite($fp, 'hello ');
fwrite($fp, 'php file');
fclose($fp);

echo "File written successfully";

?>
Output
File written successfully
Form Handling
We can create and use forms in PHP. To get form data, we need to use PHP
superglobals $_GET and $_POST.
The form request may be get or post. To retrieve data from get request, we need to use
$_GET, for post request $_POST.
Get Form
Get request is the default form request. The data passed through get request is visible
on the URL browser so it is not secured. You can send limited amount of data through
get request.
<form action="welcome.php" method="get">
Name: <input type="text" name="name"/>
<input type="submit" value="visit"/>
</form>
<?php
$name=$_GET["name"];//receiving name field value in $name variable
echo "Welcome, $name";
?>
Post Form
Post request is widely used to submit form that have large amount of data such as file
upload, image upload, login form, registration form etc.
The data passed through post request is not visible on the URL browser so it is
secured. You can send large amount of data through post request.
<form action="login.php" method="post">
<table>
<tr><td>Name:</td><td> <input type="text" name="name"/></td></tr>
<tr><td>Password:</td><td> <input type="password" name="password"/></td
></tr>

74
 <tr><td colspan="2"><input type="submit" value="login"/> </td></tr>
</table>
</form>
<?php
$name=$_POST["name"];//receiving name field value in $name variable
$password=$_POST["password"];//receiving password field value in $passwor
d variable
echo "Welcome: $name, your password is: $password";
?>

75
 UNIT-V

Ruby is a object-oriented, reflective, general-purpose, dynamic programming

language. Ruby was developed to make it act as a sensible buffer between human
programmers and the underlying computing machinery. It is an interpreted scripting
language which means most of its implementations execute instructions directly and
freely, without previously compiling a program into machine-language instructions.
Ruby is used to create web applications of different sorts. It is one of the hot
technology at present to create web applications.
Data types
Data types represents a type of data such as text, string, numbers, etc. There are
different data types in Ruby:
 Numbers
 Strings
 Symbols
 Hashes
 Arrays
Numbers
Integers and floating point numbers come in the category of numbers.
Integers are held internally in binary form. Integer numbers are numbers without a
fraction. According to their size, there are two types of integers. One is Bignum and
other is Fixnum.
Strings
A string is a group of letters that represent a sentence or a word. Strings are defined by
enclosing a text within single (') or double (") quote.
Symbols
Symbols are like strings. A symbol is preceded by a colon (:). For example,
1. :abcd
They do not contain spaces. Symbols containing multiple words are written with (_).
One difference between string and symbol is that, if text is a data then it is a string but
if it is a code it is a symbol.
Symbols are unique identifiers and represent static values, while string represent
values that change.
Hashes
A hash assign its values to its keys. They can be looked up by their keys. Value to a
key is assigned by => sign. A key/value pair is separated with a comma between them
and all the pairs are enclosed within curly braces. For example,
 {"Akash" => "Physics", "Ankit" => "Chemistry", "Aman" => "Maths"}

76
 Arrays
An array stroes data or list of data. It can contain all types of data. Data in an array are
separated by comma in between them and are enclosed by square bracket. For
example,
1. ["Akash", "Ankit", "Aman"]

Variables
Variables are the memory locations, which hold any data to be used by any program.
Local variables begin with a lowercase letter or _. The scope of a local variable ranges
from class, module, def, or do to the corresponding end or from a block's opening
brace to its close brace {}.When an uninitialized local variable is referenced, it is
interpreted as a call to a method that has no arguments.Global variables begin with $.
Uninitialized global variables have the value nil and produce warnings with the -w
option.Assignment to global variables alters the global status. It is not recommended
to use global variables. They make programs cryptic.

Operators
Ruby supports a rich set of operators, as you'd expect from a modern language. Most
operators are actually method calls. For example, a + b is interpreted as a.+(b), where
the + method in the object referred to by variable a is called with b as its argument.
Arithmetic Operators

77
Comparison Operators

Assignment Operators

78
Bitwise Operators

Logical Operators

79
 Ternary Operator
It first evaluates an expression for a true or false value and then executes one of the
two given
statements depending upon the result of the evaluation.

Conditional statements
Ruby offers conditional structures that are pretty common to modern languages.
Ruby if...else Statement
Syntax
if conditional [then]
code...
[elsif conditional [then]
code...]...
[else
code...]
end
#!/usr/bin/ruby
x=1
if x > 2
puts "x is greater than 2"
elsif x <= 2 and x!=0
puts "x is 1"
else
puts "I can't guess the number"
end
x is 1
Ruby unless Statement
Syntax
unless conditional [then]
code
[else
code ]

80
end
Executes code if conditional is false. If the conditional is true, code specified in the
else clause is executed.
#!/usr/bin/ruby
x=1
unless x>=2
puts "x is less than 2"
else
puts "x is greater than 2"
end
This will produce the following result −
x is less than 2
Loops
Loops in Ruby are used to execute the same block of code a specified number of
times.
Ruby while Statement
Syntax
while conditional [do]
code
end
#!/usr/bin/ruby
$i = 0
$num = 5
while $i < $num do
puts("Inside the loop i = #$i" )
$i +=1
end
This will produce the following result −
Inside the loop i = 0
Inside the loop i = 1
Inside the loop i = 2
Inside the loop i = 3
Inside the loop i = 4

for statement
Syntax
for variable [, variable ...] in expression [do]
code
end

81
#!/usr/bin/ruby
for i in 0..5
puts "Value of local variable is #{i}"
end
Here, we have defined the range 0..5. The statement for i in 0..5 will allow i to take
values in the range from 0 to 5 (including 5). This will produce the following result −
Value of local variable is 0
Value of local variable is 1
Value of local variable is 2
Value of local variable is 3
Value of local variable is 4
Value of local variable is 5
Methods
Ruby methods are very similar to functions in any other programming language. Ruby
methods are used to bundle one or more repeatable statements into a single unit.
def method_name
expr..
end
#!/usr/bin/ruby
def test(a1 = "Ruby", a2 = "Perl")
puts "The programming language is #{a1}"
puts "The programming language is #{a2}"
end
test "C", "C++"
test
This will produce the following result −
The programming language is C
The programming language is C++
The programming language is Ruby
The programming language is Perl
return Statement
The return statement in ruby is used to return one or more values from a Ruby
Method.
def test
i = 100
j = 200
k = 300
return i, j, k
end
var = test

82
puts var
This will produce the following result −
100
200
300
Blocks
A block consists of chunks of code.
 You assign a name to a block.
 The code in the block is always enclosed within braces ({}).
 A block is always invoked from a function with the same name as that of the
block. This means that if you have a block with the name test, then you use the
function test to invoke this block.
 You invoke a block by using the yield statement.
syntax
block_name {
statement1
statement2
..........
}
#!/usr/bin/ruby
def test
puts "You are in the method"
yield
puts "You are again back to the method"
yield
end
test {puts "You are in the block"}
This will produce the following result −
You are in the method
You are in the block
You are again back to the method
You are in the block
Modules
Modules are a way of grouping together methods, classes, and constants. Modules
give you two major benefits.
 Modules provide a namespace and prevent name clashes.
 Modules implement the mixin facility.
Modules define a namespace, a sandbox in which your methods and constants can
play without having to worry about being stepped on by other methods and constants.

83
Syntax
module Identifier
statement1
statement2
...........
end
Module constants are named just like class constants, with an initial uppercase letter.
The method definitions look similar, too: Module methods are defined just like class
methods.
As with class methods, you call a module method by preceding its name with the
module's name and a period, and you reference a constant using the module name and
two colons.

Example
#!/usr/bin/ruby
# Module defined in trig.rb file
module Trig
PI = 3.141592654
def Trig.sin(x)
# ..
end
def Trig.cos(x)
# ..
end
end
We can define one more module with the same function name but different
functionality
#!/usr/bin/ruby
# Module defined in moral.rb file
module Moral
VERY_BAD = 0
BAD = 1
def Moral.sin(badness)
# ...
end
end
Like class methods, whenever you define a method in a module, you specify the
module name followed by a dot and then the method name.

84
Arrays
Ruby arrays are ordered, integer-indexed collections of any object. Each element in an
array is associated with and referred to by an index.
Array indexing starts at 0, as in C or Java. A negative index is assumed relative to the
end of the array --- that is, an index of -1 indicates the last element of the array, -2 is
the next to last element in the array, and so on.
Creating Arrays
There are many ways to create or initialize an array. One way is with the new class
method −
names = Array.new
You can set the size of an array at the time of creating array −
names = Array.new(20)
The array names now has a size or length of 20 elements.
#!/usr/bin/ruby
names = Array.new(20)
puts names.size # This returns 20
puts names.length # This also returns 20
This will produce the following result −
20
20
You can assign a value to each element in the array as follows
#!/usr/bin/ruby
names = Array.new(4, "mac")
puts "#{names}"
This will produce the following result −
["mac", "mac", "mac", "mac"]
You can also use a block with new, populating each element with what the block
evaluates to
#!/usr/bin/ruby
nums = Array.new(10) { |e| e = e * 2 }
puts "#{nums}"
This will produce the following result −
[0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18]
There is another method of Array, []. It works like this −
nums = Array.[](1, 2, 3, 4,5)
One more form of array creation is as follows −
nums = Array[1, 2, 3, 4,5]

85
Strings
A String object in Ruby holds and manipulates an arbitrary sequence of one or more
bytes, typically representing characters that represent human language.
The simplest string literals are enclosed in single quotes (the apostrophe character).
The text within the quote marks is the value of the string −
'This is a simple Ruby string literal'
Expression Substitution
Expression substitution is a means of embedding the value of any Ruby expression
into a string using #{ and } −
#!/usr/bin/ruby
x, y, z = 12, 36, 72
puts "The value of x is #{ x }."
puts "The sum of x and y is #{ x + y }."
puts "The average was #{ (x + y + z)/3 }."
This will produce the following result −
The value of x is 12.
The sum of x and y is 48.
The average was 40.

We need to have an instance of String object to call a String method. Following is the
way to create an instance of String object −
new [String.new(str = "")]
This will return a new string object containing a copy of str. Now, using str object, we
can all use any available instance methods.
#!/usr/bin/ruby
myStr = String.new("THIS IS TEST")
foo = myStr.downcase
puts "#{foo}"
This will produce the following result −
this is test

Hashes
A Hash is a collection of key-value pairs like this: "employee" = > "salary". It is
similar to an Array, except that indexing is done via arbitrary keys of any object type,
not an integer index.
The order in which you traverse a hash by either key or value may seem arbitrary and
will generally not be in the insertion order. If you attempt to access a hash with a key
that does not exist, the method will return nil.

86
Creating Hashes
As with arrays, there is a variety of ways to create hashes. You can create an empty
hash with the new class method −
months = Hash.new
#!/usr/bin/ruby
months = Hash.new( "month" )
puts "#{months[0]}"
puts "#{months[72]}"
This will produce the following result −
month
month
#!/usr/bin/ruby
H = Hash["a" => 100, "b" => 200]
puts "#{H['a']}"
puts "#{H['b']}"
This will produce the following result −
100
200

File I/O
Ruby provides a whole set of I/O-related methods implemented in the Kernel module.
All the I/O methods are derived from the class IO.
The class IO provides all the basic methods, such as read, write, gets, puts, readline,
getc, and printf.
The puts Statement
In the previous chapters, you have assigned values to variables and then printed the
output using puts statement.
The puts statement instructs the program to display the value stored in the variable.
This will add a new line at the end of each line it writes.
#!/usr/bin/ruby
val1 = "This is variable one"
val2 = "This is variable two"
puts val1
puts val2
This will produce the following result −
This is variable one
This is variable two
The gets Statement
The gets statement can be used to take any input from the user from standard screen
called STDIN.

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Example
The following code shows you how to use the gets statement. This code will prompt
the user to enter a value, which will be stored in a variable val and finally will be
printed on STDOUT.
#!/usr/bin/ruby
puts "Enter a value :"
val = gets
puts val
This will produce the following result −
Enter a value :
This is entered value
This is entered value
The putc Statement
Unlike the puts statement, which outputs the entire string onto the screen, the putc
statement can be used to output one character at a time.

Example
The output of the following code is just the character H −
#!/usr/bin/ruby
str = "Hello Ruby!"
putc str
This will produce the following result −
H
The print Statement
The print statement is similar to the puts statement. The only difference is that the puts
statement goes to the next line after printing the contents, whereas with the print
statement the cursor is positioned on the same line.
#!/usr/bin/ruby
print "Hello World"
print "Good Morning"
This will produce the following result −
Hello WorldGood Morning
Opening and Closing Files
Until now, you have been reading and writing to the standard input and output. Now,
we will see how to play with actual data files.
The File.new Method
You can create a File object using File.new method for reading, writing, or both,
according to the mode string. Finally, you can use File.close method to close that file.

Syntax
aFile = File.new("filename", "mode")

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 # ... process the file
aFile.close
The File.open Method
You can use File.open method to create a new file object and assign that file object to
a file. However, there is one difference in between File.open and File.new methods.
The difference is that the File.open method can be associated with a block, whereas
you cannot do the same using the File.new method.
File.open("filename", "mode") do |aFile|
# ... process the file
end
Here is a list of The Different Modes of opening a File −
Reading and Writing Files
The same methods that we've been using for 'simple' I/O are available for all file
objects. So, gets reads a line from standard input, and aFile.gets reads a line from the
file object aFile.
The sysread Method
You can use the method sysread to read the contents of a file. You can open the file in
any of the modes when using the method sysread. For example −
Following is the input text file −
This is a simple text file for testing purpose.
Now let's try to read this file −
#!/usr/bin/ruby
aFile = File.new("input.txt", "r")
if aFile
content = aFile.sysread(20)
puts content
else
puts "Unable to open file!"
end
This statement will output the first 20 characters of the file. The file pointer will now
be placed at the 21st character in the file.
The syswrite Method
You can use the method syswrite to write the contents into a file. You need to open
the file in write mode when using the method syswrite. For example −
#!/usr/bin/ruby
aFile = File.new("input.txt", "r+")
if aFile
aFile.syswrite("ABCDEF")
else
puts "Unable to open file!"

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end
Renaming and Deleting Files
You can rename and delete files programmatically with Ruby with the rename and
delete methods.
Following is the example to rename an existing file test1.txt −
#!/usr/bin/ruby
# Rename a file from test1.txt to test2.txt
File.rename( "test1.txt", "test2.txt" )
Following is the example to delete an existing file test2.txt −
#!/usr/bin/ruby
# Delete file test2.txt
File.delete("test2.txt")

Form Handling

Form
To create a form tag with the specified action, and with POST request, use the
following syntax −
<%= form_tag :action => 'update', :id => @some_object %>

<%= form_tag( { :action => :save, }, { :method => :post }) %>

Use :multipart => true to define a MIME-multipart form (for file uploads).
<%= form_tag( {:action => 'upload'}, :multipart => true ) %>

File Upload
Define a multipart form in your view −
<%= form_tag( { :action => 'upload' }, :multipart => true ) %>
Upload file: <%= file_field( "form", "file" ) %>
<br />

<%= submit_tag( "Upload file" ) %>

<%= end_form_tag %>
Handle the upload in the controller −
def upload
file_field = @params['form']['file'] rescue nil

# file_field is a StringIO object

file_field.content_type # 'text/csv'
file_field.full_original_filename
...
end

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Text Fields
To create a text field use the following syntax −
<%= text_field :modelname, :attribute_name, options %>
Have a look at the following example −
<%= text_field "person", "name", "size" => 20 %>
This will generate following code −
<input type = "text" id = "person_name" name = "person[name]"
size = "20" value = "<%= @person.name %>" />
To create hidden fields, use the following syntax;
<%= hidden_field ... %>
To create password fields, use the following syntax;
<%= password_field ... %>
To create file upload fields, use the following syntax;
<%= file_field ... %>

Text Area
To create a text area, use the following syntax −
<%= text_area ... %>
Have a look at the following example −
<%= text_area "post", "body", "cols" => 20, "rows" => 40%>
This will generate the following code −
<textarea cols = "20" rows = "40" id = "post_body" name =" post[body]">
<%={@post.body}%>
</textarea>

Radio Button
To create a Radio Button, use the following syntax −
<%= radio_button :modelname, :attribute, :tag_value, options %>
Have a look at the following example −
radio_button("post", "category", "rails")
radio_button("post", "category", "java")
This will generate the following code −
<input type = "radio" id = "post_category" name = "post[category]"
value = "rails" checked = "checked" />
<input type = "radio" id = "post_category" name = "post[category]" value = "java" />

Checkbox Button
To create a Checkbox Button use the following syntax −
<%= check_box :modelname, :attribute,options,on_value,off_value%>
Have a look at the following example −
check_box("post", "validated")
This will generate the following code −

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<input type = "checkbox" id = "post_validate" name = "post[validated]"
value = "1" checked = "checked" />
<input name = "post[validated]" type = "hidden" value = "0" />
Let's check another example −
check_box("puppy", "gooddog", {}, "yes", "no")
This will generate following code −
<input type = "checkbox" id = "puppy_gooddog" name = "puppy[gooddog]" value =
"yes" />
<input name = "puppy[gooddog]" type = "hidden" value = "no" />

Options
To create a dropdopwn list, use the following syntax −
<%= select :variable,:attribute,choices,options,html_options%>
Have a look at the following example −
select("post", "person_id", Person.find(:all).collect {|p| [ p.name, p.id ] })
This could generate the following code. It depends on what value is available in your
database. −
<select name = "post[person_id]">
<option value = "1">David</option>
<option value = "2">Sam</option>
<option value = "3">Tobias</option>
</select>

Date Time
Following is the syntax to use data and time −
<%= date_select :variable, :attribute, options %>
<%= datetime_select :variable, :attribute, options %>
Following are examples of usage −
<%=date_select "post", "written_on"%>
<%=date_select "user", "birthday", :start_year => 1910%>
<%=date_select "user", "cc_date", :start_year => 2005,
:use_month_numbers => true, :discard_day => true, :order => [:year, :month]%>
<%=datetime_select "post", "written_on"%>

End Form Tag

Use following syntax to create </form> tag −
<%= end_form_tag %>

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