How do I make my Perl scripts act like normal programs on Windows?

Note: The actions below require administrative privileges. For steps utilizing the command prompt it must be launched via "Run as administrator" on Windows Vista / Windows 7.

Associate *.pl files with perl

Run the following commands at a shell prompt:

assoc .pl=PerlScript
ftype PerlScript=C:\bin\perl.exe "%1" %*

Replace C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe with the path to your Perl installation. This enables you to run myscript.pl instead of perl myscript.pl.

Default install locations are:

  • ActivePerl: C:\Perl
  • Strawberry Perl: C:\Strawberry

Add .PL to your PATHEXT environment variable.

This makes Windows consider *.pl files to be executable when searching your PATH. It enables you to run myscript instead of myscript.pl.

You can set it for the current cmd session

set PATHEXT=%PATHEXT%;.PL

To set it permanently (under Windows Vista or Windows 7)

setx PATHEXT %PATHEXT%;.PL

Under Windows XP you have to use the GUI:

  1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
  2. Click the Advanced tab.
  3. Click Environment variables.
  4. Select PATHEXT, then click Edit.
  5. Append ;.PL to the current value.

Make I/O redirection work

I/O redirection (e.g. program | myscript) doesn't work for programs started via a file association. There is a registry patch to correct the problem.

  1. Start Registry Editor.
  2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
  3. On the Edit menu, click Add Value, and then add the following registry value:
    • Value name: InheritConsoleHandles
    • Data type: REG_DWORD
    • Radix: Decimal
    • Value data: 1
  4. Quit Registry Editor.

Warning: In principle, this should only be necessary on Windows XP. In my experience it's also necessary in Windows 7. In Windows 10 this is actively harmful—programs execute but produce nothing on stdout/stderr. The registry key needs to be set to 0 instead of 1.

See also:

  • STDIN/STDOUT Redirection May Not Work If Started from a File Association
  • Perl Scripts on Windows 10 run from Explorer but not Command Prompt

If patching the registry isn't an option running program | perl -S myscript.pl is a less annoying work-around for scripts in your PATH.

Add a drop handler

Adding a drop handler for Perl allows you to run a Perl script via drag & drop; e.g. dragging a file over the file icon in Windows Explorer and dropping it there. Run the following script to add the necessary entries to the registry:

use Win32::TieRegistry;
$Registry->Delimiter("/");
$perlKey = $Registry-> {"HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Perl/"};
$perlKey-> {"shellex/"} = {
    "DropHandler/" =>  {
        "/" => "{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}"
}};

After following the instructions in the accepted answer, a double click still led to .pl files opening with Notepad in Windows 10 — even when perl.exe was set as the default file handler.

After finding Jack Wu's comment at ActivePerl. .pl files no longer execute but open in Notepad instead I was able to run perl scripts on double-click as such:

  • Select and right-click a .pl file
  • Use the "Open With" submenu to "Choose another app"
  • Select "Always use this app to open .pl files" (do this now – you won't get the chance after you have selected a program)
  • Scroll to the bottom of the "Other options" to find "More apps", and select "Look for another app on this PC"
  • Navigate to C:/path/to/perl/bin/ and select Perl5.16.3.exe (or the equivalent, depending on which version of Perl you have installed: but not Perl.exe)

Then the Perl icon appears next to .pl files and a double-click leads to them opening in Perl every time, as desired.


Convert your perl scripts into batch files using pl2bat once they are ready to be run by users.

The trick works through the perl -x switch which, according to perldoc perlrun, makes Perl search for the first line looking like #!.*perl.


I tried the assoc and ftype methods and they didn't work for me.

What worked was editing this registry key:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\Applications\perl.exe\shell\open\command

It was set to: "C:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" "%1"

When it should be: "C:\Perl64\bin\perl.exe" "%1" %*

It is the same content as the ftype, but for arcane windows reasons, I had to set it there too.

Tags:

Windows

Perl

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