A good answer from the perlfaqs, stefan_k++. Just let me mention in this context the nice search feature of perldoc again, the easiest way (and probably the way you did it) to find this: perldoc -q here.*doc This looks in all faqs for the regular expression /here.*doc/. And for completeness sake, this is how you search for the doc of a perl function (e.g. map): perldoc -f map

-- Hofmator