If you want to see context, then I think your best bet would be to use a visual debugger. Devel::ptkdb is available from the usual places, works on both Windows and Unix, and is fairly easy to setup and install. Just run: perl -d:ptkdb <your program.pl>. If you don't like the rather primitive user interface, or you need to remotely debug on a device that dose not support graphics, then you could also consider the EPIC plugin for eclipse, which incorporates a visual debugger that supports remote debugging over a network, but it is slightly more difficult to install and setup.

Having said that, I would have thought that stepping over every statement that perl runs will get very tedious quite quickly, especially if your program is running any sort of loop. When I am debugging, I usually type l <lines> to view 30-50 lines of code in one function or block, and then with them on screen just use n to step over the code. One line of context it enough if the code is already on screen. If I find myself in a repetitive loop, I just type c <line> to continue after the loop.

In reply to Re: Can I make the debugger press 'v' for me after every step? by chrestomanci
in thread Can I make the debugger press 'v' for me after every step? by will_

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