How to execute perl file from shell script

Question

I have a question about how to execute the perl file inside of a shell script

I have 2 files now, "test.sh" and "test.pl", here are example of my scripts

SHELL script

#!/bin/bash
perl FILEPATH/test.pl
......

PERL script

#!/usr/bin/perl
my $a = "hello"
sub saysomething
{
    print $a;
}
.....

The way I call the shell script is : under the path of shell scripts, execute "./test.sh"

All mentioned above are working under the environment GUN bash, version 4.2.24(1)-release (i686-pc-linux-gnu) + perl (v5.14.2)

But if I put those scripts on server (which I couldn't change the bash / perl version) GNU bash, version 4.2.10(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) + perl (v5.12.4), I got the followign message:

FILEPATH/test.pl: line 2: my: command not found

Does anybody know how can I solve this problem?

BTW, if I execute the perl script individually (perl FILEPATH/FILENAME.pl), it works perfectly.

is FILEPATH an absolute or relative path? Should be absolute — chrsblck
– chrsblck, Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 22:37
Is FILEPATH supposed to be an environment variable? If so, then it should be $FILEPATH. — Brigham
– Brigham, Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 22:38
You said I have 2 files: test.sh & test.pl, so what's filename.pl ? — Diego Torres Milano
– Diego Torres Milano, Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 22:45
Are you sure that the first line of your Perl script is #!/usr/bin/perl? If you're going to show us code, it's best to copy-and-paste it; if you re-type it, you risk losing vital information. — Keith Thompson
– Keith Thompson, Commented Apr 15, 2013 at 22:49
Is there any way that the perl in perl FILEPATH/test.pl can be 'lost'. For example, you might have ${PERL-perl} instead of just perl (or the better ${PERL:-perl}), or you have alias perl='' or something equally weird? The error you're seeing indicates that the shell is executing the file, not Perl. And the only way I can see for that to happen is there's some hidden change to the code. — Jonathan Leffler
– Jonathan Leffler, Commented Apr 16, 2013 at 6:04

Nagama Inamdar · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-05 08:05:10Z

4

In order to execute a perl script by .sh script you dont need to use perl prefix, but only:

#!/bin/sh

/somewhere/perlScript.pl

It will work without problem.

edited Apr 5, 2016 at 8:05

Nagama Inamdar

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answered Apr 5, 2016 at 7:18

Massimo

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2 Comments

tripleee Over a year ago

This presupposes that the script has executable permission and a proper shebang. You should properly explain this; but then, yours will basically be a duplicate of one of the existing answers.

Shubham Sharma Over a year ago

any other ideas for the same .

Ken Schumack · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-26 19:41:32Z

This problem is at least two-fold. One, you have to have the location of Perl in your environment PATH. Two, the location of Perl may be different on different machines. One solution to both problems that I, and others, have used for years is to make use of a "magic header" of some sort at the top of Perl programs. The header identifies itself as a sh shell script and leverages the fact that /bin/sh exists in every version/flavor of Linux/UNIX. The header's job is to fortify the PATH with various possible Perl locations and then run the Perl script in place of itself (via exec). Here is a "Hello World" example:

1  #! /bin/sh --
2  eval '(exit $?0)' && eval 'PERL_BADLANG=x;PATH="/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH";export PERL_BADLANG;: \
3  ;exec perl -x -S -- "$0" ${1+"$@"};#'if 0;
4  exec 'setenv PERL_BADLANG x;exec perl -x -S -- "$0" $argv:q;#'.q
5  #!/bin/perl -w
6  +($0=~/(.*)/s);do(index($1,"/")<0?"./$1":$1);die$@if$@;__END__+if 0;
7  # Above is magic header ... real Perl code begins here
8  use strict;
9  use warnings;
10 print "hello world!\n";

Note: I added line numbers just to make it clear where lines start and end.

imran · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-16 12:55:44Z

1

First check where perl is installed on your system, e.g. which perl and use that location in the shebang line instead of /usr/bin/perl, if it is different.

If all other recommendations fail, check the first line of the script on the machine where it is not running properly by doing this: head -1 test.pl | xxd. Does the output show the last two bytes as 0d 0a? If so, you probably copied over the file via Windows and didn't do a dos2unix conversion.

edited Apr 16, 2013 at 12:55

answered Apr 16, 2013 at 2:33

imran

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Comments

choroba · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-15 22:50:28Z

0

"command not found" is an error emitted by the shell. You are trying to run your Perl script by the shell, not by Perl.

answered Apr 15, 2013 at 22:50

choroba

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2 Comments

user1672190 Over a year ago

Then how can I fix it? and also why it works on another machine?

choroba Over a year ago

@user1672190: Are you sure you pasted the actual scripts? Are you sure you correctly transferred the files to the remote machine? How is the environment different on the two machines?

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