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CPAN(1)                               Perl Programmers Reference Guide                               CPAN(1)



NAME
       cpan - easily interact with CPAN from the command line

SYNOPSIS
               # 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]

DESCRIPTION
       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 directories.

       i   Installed the specified modules.

       m   Makes the specified modules.

       t   Runs a `make test` on the specified modules.

       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

TO DO
       * add options for other CPAN::Shell functions autobundle, clean, make, recompile, test

BUGS
       * none noted

SEE ALSO
       Most behaviour, including environment variables and configuration, comes directly from CPAN.pm.

AUTHOR
       brian d foy <bdfoy@cpan.org>



perl v5.8.8                                      2007-09-23                                          CPAN(1)