I am trying to learn perl but my basic <stdin> variable assignment will not work.

Im using Ubuntu 9 from the bash... Perl version 5.8.8

Here's the error...
syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

here's the code...

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

printf "\nwhat is your name? \n";
$name = <STDIN>;

copied the code from ur post and ran it, no probs at all!

run this code Just added an extra line to your old code

As harry2006 said, it works ok. In general I'd suggest always using:

use strict;

as the 2nd line. It'll save you from problems later. Also, here's a couple of good Perl guides:
http://perldoc.perl.org/
http://www.perlmonks.org/?node=Tutorials

This is the error that I am getting when I type the ';' after <STDIN>....
If I leave off the ';' after <STDIN>- then I get the 'newline' syntax error
-- This error is so basic could it be an environment issue... I pasted code in from the first reply...




uhollins@uhollins-laptop:~/Perl_Scripts$ . name2

what is your name?
bash: name2: line 3: syntax error near unexpected token `;'
bash: name2: line 3: `$name = <STDIN>;'


This is the name2 code....
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
printf "\nwhat is your name? \n";
$name = <STDIN>;
printf "your name is $name";

Sorry I didnt include what I've tried...

I tried the
use strict; - same error occurred.

I've been reading all of the perldocs for beginner mistakes...

I will keep reading til I find the answer...

any suggestion will be greatly appreciated...

thanks to you 2 guys for your post...

I'm using Ubuntu 8.04 and perl 5.8.8... Help please...

To run your program you should be typing: By typing ". name" (google: bash source) you are running the file in the current shell and the first line (shebang) is ignored. So it is trying to run as a bash, not perl, script, hence the error.

Thanks norobro...

that was it... I was running it as bash not perl... running the script like ./name2

fixed my issue...
thanks everyone for helping I learned a lot from all of the posts....