ActivePerl. .pl files no longer execute but open in Notepad instead

Question

I have perl scripts which were running in Windows 7 just fine as of this morning. I made the mistake of using NotePad as the default for opening/editng my .pl files. Now, when I attempt to run the unedited .pl files from a DOS prompt, the script does not execute but opens the associated source code file in Windows Explorer. This is the same for all my .pl files no matter the complexity (including classic "hello world".

I have been researching changes need to the registry - it all looks fine. Tried assoc and ftype changes - nothing. Tried reinstalling ActivePerl - no solution.

Answer 1

Sounds like your .pl extention association is now set to Notepad rather than perl.exe. If you are too busy to fix that, just type "perl yourscript.pl" in a command promot window to start the perl interpreter and to send your script to it to run.

See this answer to fix the association:

File Type .pl Association and Using cmd.exe to Run the Script

Answer 2

You don't need to go into the Registry.

• Go into Windows Explorer.
• Find a file that ends in a *.pl suffix.
• Right click on it and bring up the Context menu.
• Select "Open With" (It might just be Open... with an ellipse after it. I don't have a Windows machine at the moment to verify this). This will bring up a dialog box with all the various programs. NOTE: Perl may not be listed in the initial set of programs. No worry, just navigate to it.
• On the bottom of the dialog box is a checkbox (Something like open all extensions with this program). Make sure that checkbox is checked.

After this, all files that end with *.pl will open with Perl instead of Notepad.

It is highly likely that someone did this with a Perl script in order to edit it, and messed up the file association.

However, who ever did this should be doped slap -- not for messing up the file association, but for editing a program with Notepad. Bad Developer! No doughnuts for you!

Programs should be opened with a Program Editor. If you're a real he-man, you can use VIM. VIM is a fast, and powerful program editor, but you will need to spend an internship at the feet of a VIM Ninja master in order to learn how to use it. Your first three to six months with VIM will be What a idiotic program! This is awful. Who wrote this crap?. Then, one day, you will understand its power and efficiency. You will be one with the program.

If you aren't brave or fearless or don't have six months to waste learning a programming editor, you can use Notepad++. Compared to VIM Notepad++ is like driving a Minivan. It's safe, it's practical, and it gets the job done.

Both editors do Syntax Highlighting which can help you find issues. Both, (VIM can -- I think Notepad++ can too) offer help with syntax and usage. Both can edit a file without messing up the line endings (They'll both detect whether a file has Unix or Windows line endings and keep those or allow you to convert them). Both will number your lines, have extensive cut/paste buffers, powerful search and replace features. And will not mess up your file encoding. Both offer visual diffing between files and do automatic backups when you edit a file.

Finally, these two editors will embed themselves into the context menu you get when you right click on a file. You can edit a file by clicking on it, and selecting VIM or Notepad++ directly from the context menu. No need to select "Open with..." and possibly mess up the file suffix association.

Never ever use Notepad to edit a program.

Answer 3

I have the same problem. None of the method mentioned above solve the problem. The problem actually came from Windows 7! Windows 7 Doesn't allow you to associate .pl to perl.exe in c:\Perl64 directory, for whatever reason. Here is the solution: If you look at c:\Perl64\Bin directory (or the path where your ActivePerl binary installed), you'll see another file: Perl5.14.2.exe. This is the same file as perl.exe in same directory but with version number attached as postfix in the name. You can associate .pl file to that Perl5.14.2.exe instead of perl.exe. Bingo, it works now.