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Perl vs PHP: catalog facts
Perl	PHP
Free Free and open source.	Free Free and open source.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Very strong text processing and regular expressions Over 42,000 CPAN distributions	Several supported release branches with frequent bug fix releases Well suited to server-side web development
Terse syntax can be hard to read Less common in new projects than Python	Official downloads for Linux and macOS are source releases; binaries usually come from package managers Older branches require upgrades as they reach end of life
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: Artistic-1.0-Perl OR GPL-1.0-or-later	License: PHP-3.01
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.