In addition to trying to find out if a module is installed by using perldoc MODULE, how about suggesting:
perl -MMODULE::NAME -e1 I'd also suggest pointing to the CPAN.pm documentation, where people can find interesting things like 'autobundle'. Cheers, Kevin On Sun, Nov 10, 2002 at 12:17:55PM -0600, _brian_d_foy ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) said something similar to: > * completely new answer. added to perlfaq.pod too. > > Index: perlfaq.pod > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/public/perlfaq/perlfaq.pod,v > retrieving revision 1.13 > diff -u -d -r1.13 perlfaq.pod > --- perlfaq.pod 10 Nov 2002 17:35:47 -0000 1.13 > +++ perlfaq.pod 10 Nov 2002 18:15:42 -0000 > @@ -182,6 +182,10 @@ > > =item * > > +How do I find which modules are installed on my system? > + > +=item * > + > How do I debug my Perl programs? > > =item * > Index: perlfaq3.pod > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/public/perlfaq/perlfaq3.pod,v > retrieving revision 1.28 > diff -u -d -r1.28 perlfaq3.pod > --- perlfaq3.pod 30 Oct 2002 18:41:25 -0000 1.28 > +++ perlfaq3.pod 10 Nov 2002 18:15:43 -0000 > @@ -59,6 +59,34 @@ > from the source distribution is simplistic and uninteresting, but > may still be what you want. > > +=head2 How do I find which modules are installed on my system? > + > +You can use the ExtUtils::Installed module to show all > +installed distributions, although it can take awhile to do > +its magic. The standard library which comes with Perl just > +shows up as "Perl" (although you can get those with > +Mod::CoreList). > + > + use ExtUtils::Installed; > + > + my $inst = ExtUtils::Installed->new(); > + my @modules = $inst->modules(); > + > +If you want a list of all of the Perl module filenames, you > +can use File::Find::Rule. > + > + use File::Find::Rule; > + > + my @files = File::Find::Rule->file()->name( '*.pm' )->in( @INC ); > + > +If you simply need to quickly check to see if a module is > +available, you can check for its documentation. If you can > +read the documentation the module is most likely installed. > +If you cannot read the documentation, the module might not > +have any (in rare cases). > + > + prompt% perldoc Module::Name > + > =head2 How do I debug my Perl programs? > > Have you tried C<use warnings> or used C<-w>? They enable warnings -- [Writing CGI Applications with Perl - http://perlcgi-book.com] Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs. --Larry Wall in <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
