Chapter 1

By Category

The By Category view brings you to a directory hierarchy based on the categories 

in the Module List, listed earlier in this chapter. Inside each category you have an 

interface similar to the Module By Name interface described next.

By Name

Navigating CPAN modules by name allows you to traverse the module names 

directly, where each :: is translated into a path separator. This can be helpful when 

you know part of the name for the module you're looking for and need to see a list 

of possibilities. If you know the exact name of a module, then the search interface 

described later in this chapter is a faster alternative.

By Recentness

The By Recentness view shows you the most recent 150 uploads to CPAN. The 

format is a bit nicer than the Recent Arrivals list available on the opening screen, 

but it's not as nice as the format provided by http://search.cpan.org.

Searching CPAN

CPAN also sports a variety of search engines. Currently, the most useful is 

http://search.cpan.org (see Figure 1 6 for the entry screen). Not only does this 

search engine provide search capabilities, it also serves HTML versions of module 

documentation and gives access to a pleasantly formatted list of recently updated 

modules. This enables you to evaluate a group of modules without the trouble of 

installing them.

To use the search engine, just type a word in the search box and click the 

Search button. You can also enter a regular expression or choose a specific part of 

CPAN if you need to narrow your search. When you find a module that sounds 

interesting, just click the name, and you'll be brought to a details screen where you 

can view the module documentation.

The search interface also includes interfaces that mimic features offered 

by http://www.cpan.org. You can browse by category and see a list of recently 

uploaded files with an arguably prettier interface. You should try both interfaces 

and choose the one you like the best.

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