Perl is a language that generally operates in the same spaces as Python, Ruby, and PHP. It considered “dynamically-typed”, though that term is so overloaded that it can be a bit controversial at times. In short, just about anything you can do with any other programming language you can do with Perl. Your exact needs, of course, will help guide you to selecting the right language for you.

But to address a “bigger picture” question of “What is Perl”:

In the late 90s and early 00s, Perl was considered “the duct tape of the internet.” It largely still is today, as much of the world’s web servers are provisioned by cPanel, which is written mostly in Perl.

It also is the major language behind some major web sites, such as Booking.com, which is currently one of the largest e-commerce web sites on the planet. It also drives ZipRecruiter, a major US job portal. Nestoria Property Search is a large property search engine largely written in Perl and is operating in many major countries (not the US because the law in the US isn’t conducive to their business). And then there’s a company most outside of finance have never heard of: Pirum. They’re also written almost entirely in Perl and they recently announced they hit over 1 trillion dollars of daily calculated Triparty Required Values (RQVs).

Perl’s one of those languages that is pervasive and has many world-wide conferences, workshops, and hackathons every year. It also puts out major releases of the language roughly once a year.

At the end of the day, I remember asking one of the clients of our consulting firm asking why they were replacing a system written in a very-hyped language with Perl. They replied “we’re tired of getting bitten by hype.”

Perl is a bit battle-scarred, but it’s battle-tested, too. If you want to experiment with the latest, flashiest technologies, Perl may not be your first choice. However, if your business depends on having solid software with a track record of getting things done, Perl’s often a great choice.