MirBSD manpage: cpan(1)
CPAN(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide CPAN(1)
cpan - easily interact with CPAN from the command line
# with arguments, installs specified modules
cpan module_name [ module_name ... ]
# with switches, installs modules with extra behavior
cpan [-cimt] module_name [ module_name ... ]
# without arguments, starts CPAN shell
cpan
# without arguments, but some switches
cpan [-ahrv]
This script provides a command interface (not a shell) to
CPAN.pm.
Meta Options
These options are mutually exclusive, and the script
processes them in this order: [ahvr]. Once the script finds
one, it ignores the others, and then exits after it finishes
the task. The script ignores any other command line
options.
-a Creates the CPAN.pm autobundle with
CPAN::Shell->autobundle.
-h Prints a help message.
-r Recompiles dynamically loaded modules with
CPAN::Shell->recompile.
-v Print the script version and CPAN.pm version.
Module options
These options are mutually exclusive, and the script
processes them in alphabetical order.
c Runs a `make clean` in the specified module's direc-
tories.
i Installed the specified modules.
m Makes the specified modules.
t Runs a `make test` on the specified modules.
perl v5.8.8 2006-06-30 1
CPAN(1) Perl Programmers Reference Guide CPAN(1)
Examples
# print a help message
cpan -h
# print the version numbers
cpan -v
# create an autobundle
cpan -a
# recompile modules
cpan -r
# install modules
cpan -i Netscape::Booksmarks Business::ISBN
* add options for other CPAN::Shell functions autobundle,
clean, make, recompile, test
* none noted
Most behaviour, including environment variables and confi-
guration, comes directly from CPAN.pm.
brian d foy <bdfoy@cpan.org>
perl v5.8.8 2006-06-30 2