What is the difference between the “print” and “say” statements in Perl?

Understanding the Difference between "print" and "say" Statements in Perl

When it comes to outputting text in Perl, the "print" and "say" statements are commonly used. While both of them serve the same purpose of displaying content on the screen, there are subtle differences between the two.

1. Print Statement:

The "print" statement is a traditional way of displaying text in Perl. It does not automatically append a new line character at the end of the output. For example:

print "Hello, World!";  # Output: Hello, World!
print "This is a test.";  # Output: This is a test.

2. Say Statement:

The "say" statement was introduced in Perl 5.10 and is part of the "feature" pragma. Unlike "print," the "say" statement automatically appends a new line character at the end of the output. For example:

use feature 'say';
say "Hello, World!";  # Output: Hello, World!n
say "This is a test.";  # Output: This is a test.n

Key Differences:

• The "print" statement does not automatically add a new line character, while "say" does.
• Using "say" can make code cleaner and more readable, especially for printing text with new lines.
• For compatibility with older Perl versions, "print" is still widely used.

Overall, the choice between "print" and "say" depends on the specific requirements of your Perl script in terms of formatting and readability.