I want to start learning Perl and be able to run programs on my PC. I am using Windows XP. I have books on Perl and I have downloaded a version of Perl from
www.strawberryperl.com, but I don't know where to go to start putting in commands. Anything that I try to enter at the C:\ prompt is not recognized. Can you help me get started?
Were you trying to execute a Perl script or were you trying to execute a Perl "one liner" where the perl commands/code is entered directly at the command prompt instead of from a text file?
If perl was installed correctly, the installation process should have added the location of perl to the path environment var as well as create a .pl filetype association. However, both of those are install options which could have been unchecked and hence not done. If that's the case, then you'll want to do that manually. Once that is complete, you won't need to specify the full path to perl.exe, as suggested by Shizzo, when executing your code.
Creating the file type association:
How to change or select which program starts when you double-click a file in Windows XP
Adding perl to the path:
How To Manage Environment Variables in Windows XP
When writing Perl scripts ALWAYS begin your scripts with the strict and warnings pragmas.
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Those pragmas will point out lots of common coding mistakes.