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PERLEXPERIMENT

Section: Perl Programmers Reference Guide (1)
Updated: 2017-06-30
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NAME

perlexperiment - A listing of experimental features in Perl

DESCRIPTION

This document lists the current and past experimental features in the perl core. Although all of these are documented with their appropriate topics, this succinct listing gives you an overview and basic facts about their status.

So far we've merely tried to find and list the experimental features and infer their inception, versions, etc. There's a lot of speculation here.

Current experiments

our can now have an experimental optional attribute unique

Introduced in Perl 5.8.0

Deprecated in Perl 5.10.0

The ticket for this feature is [perl #119313] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=119313>.

Smart match (~~)

Introduced in Perl 5.10.0

Modified in Perl 5.10.1, 5.12.0

Using this feature triggers warnings in the category "experimental::smartmatch".

The ticket for this feature is [perl #119317] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=119317>.

Pluggable keywords

The ticket for this feature is [perl #119455] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=119455>.

See ``PL_keyword_plugin'' in perlapi for the mechanism.

Introduced in Perl 5.11.2

Lexical subroutines

Introduced in Perl 5.18

See also: ``Lexical Subroutines'' in perlsub

Using this feature triggers warnings in the category "experimental::lexical_subs".

The ticket for this feature is [perl #120085] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=120085>.

Regular Expression Set Operations

Introduced in Perl 5.18

The ticket for this feature is [perl #119451] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=119451>.

See also: ``Extended Bracketed Character Classes'' in perlrecharclass

Using this feature triggers warnings in the category "experimental::regex_sets".

Subroutine signatures

Introduced in Perl 5.20.0

Using this feature triggers warnings in the category "experimental::signatures".

The ticket for this feature is [perl #121481] <https://rt.perl.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=121481>.

Aliasing via reference

Introduced in Perl 5.22.0

Using this feature triggers warnings in the category "experimental::refaliasing".

The ticket for this feature is [perl #122947] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=122947>.

See also: ``Assigning to References'' in perlref

The const attribute

Introduced in Perl 5.22.0

Using this feature triggers warnings in the category "experimental::const_attr".

The ticket for this feature is [perl #123630] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=123630>.

See also: ``Constant Functions'' in perlsub

use re 'strict';

Introduced in Perl 5.22.0

Using this feature triggers warnings in the category "experimental::re_strict".

See ``'strict' mode'' in re

String- and number-specific bitwise operators

Introduced in Perl 5.22.0

See also: ``Bitwise String Operators'' in perlop

Using this feature triggers warnings in the category "experimental::bitwise".

The ticket for this feature is [perl #123707] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=123707>.

The <:win32> IO pseudolayer

The ticket for this feature is [perl #119453] <https://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=119453>.

Accepted features

These features were so wildly successful and played so well with others that we decided to remove their experimental status and admit them as full, stable features in the world of Perl, lavishing all the benefits and luxuries thereof. They are also awarded +5 Stability and +3 Charisma.

64-bit support

Introduced in Perl 5.005

die accepts a reference

Introduced in Perl 5.005

DB module

Introduced in Perl 5.6.0

Removed features

These features are no longer considered experimental and their functionality has disappeared. It's your own fault if you wrote production programs using these features after we explicitly told you not to (see perlpolicy).

5.005-style threading

Introduced in Perl 5.005

Removed in Perl 5.10

perlcc

Introduced in Perl 5.005

Moved from Perl 5.9.0 to CPAN

The pseudo-hash data type

Introduced in Perl 5.6.0

Removed in Perl 5.9.0

GetOpt::Long Options can now take multiple values at once (experimental)