The point of #! is to instruct the system which intepreter to start for the script contained below it. If you've already started an interpreter (via calling perl on the command line), the #! is just a comment.

Perl is courteous, though, so even when it's not being called via #!, the interpreter will check the command-line options on that line and attempt to respect them. For example, using #!/usr/bin/perl -w will turn warnings on even when you launch your script like perl script.pl.

Shell expansion isn't done on the shebang line by design: the spec for that mechanism demands a real path for various reasons.

<-radiant.matrix->
Larry Wall is Yoda: there is no try{} (ok, except in Perl6; way to ruin a joke, Larry! ;P)
The Code that can be seen is not the true Code
"In any sufficiently large group of people, most are idiots" - Kaa's Law

In reply to Re: #! -- wherefore exist thou? by radiantmatrix
in thread #! -- why doth thou exist? by punkish

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