Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

Appendix F. HTML::Embperl—Embedding Perl Code in HTML

—Adapted and condensed from the HTML::Embperl manual pages by Gerald Richter

HTML::Embperl is a text processor module which takes your ASCII text, extracts embedded Perl code, executes the code, and, as far as necessary, inserts the result in your text. While Embperl can also be used with non-HTML documents, it has several features that are specifically for HTML.

This appendix gives you an overview of what you can do with Embperl. It is not a complete description of Embperl. For detailed information, please look at the documentation provided with Embperl or at the Embperl website (http://perl.apache.org/embperl/).

Embperl is not the only processor for embedded Perl code. ASP used with the ActiveState Perl port provides this for Microsoft IIS, and ePerl does this job very well for all sorts of ASCII files. There are other Perl solutions around as well. PHP is a well-known solution for easily building web pages with embedded code and database connections, but it uses its own language instead of Perl.

The main advantage of Embperl is its built-in HTML awareness. It provides features for handling form data and HTML tables, along with converting log files and error pages to HTML and linking them together. It also allows for escaping and unescaping.

Embperl can be used offline (as a normal CGI script or as a module from other Perl code), but its real power comes when running under mod_perl and Apache. It's directly integrated with ...