Data::Dumper - stringified perl data structures, suitable for both printing and eval.   Written by Gurusamy Sarathy.

tilly pointed me to this Fine Module a while back.   It's served me faithfully since then, as an excellent debugging tool when my perl isn't perling.   Data::Dumper is included in standard Perl distributions, so there are no excuses for *not* using it {grin}

geektron reviewed Data::Dumper right here.

Other modules I frequent:

• Pod::Usage   eliminate redundant &Usage()
• Getopt::Long   works with above to support --help, --man arguments
• Tie::IxHash   insertion-order retrieval of hash elements
• File::Temp   secure temp files
• Net::Telnet
• Net::Telnet::Cisco   automate management of Cisco routers+switches
• Net::SNMP   automate queries against network devices
• Spreadsheet::WriteExcel   output reports from above net tools in format that management likes

Update: For fresh perlers not familiar with installation and use of modules^*, perusing the old sub-thread starting at "My Favorite Module: CPAN" might be beneficial.   But remember to upgrade CPAN.pm manually *before* actually using it to install other modules.   Nevermind that I'm a Luddite, preferring to install all my modules manually.   Heh.

Update 2: davorg provides excellent instructions for getting your feet wet with Perl modules at "Re: difficulty using CPAN.pm".

    cheers,
    Don
    striving toward Perl Adept
    (it's pronounced "why-bick")

^{* Old-timers here at the Monastery will recall when this was me {grin}}

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.