.pl files open in notepad

Question

I am new to xampp, and also, I am new to Perl programming. I just tried to open the file C:\xampp\cgi-bin\printenv.pl and I made a mistake.

I chose the default program to open that file extension as Notepad, with the option always use the selected program to open this kind of file.

Now when I try to run .pl files from cmd it opens them in Notepad instead of executing. Please reply. Thanks in advance.

Try using pl2bat or some modern variation of it (I haven't used windows for ages, so I don't really know). The point is turning a .pl into a .bat file which generally looks like `@C:\path\to\perl \nexit\n#!/usr/bin/perl -x`. -x means "ignore anything before the `#!perl` line. — Dallaylaen, Jun 13 '12 at 06:36
[How do I make my Perl scripts act like normal programs on Windows?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4727480/how-do-i-make-my-perl-scripts-act-like-normal-programs-on-windows) — daxim, Jun 13 '12 at 08:54

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 05:00

9

Type the following at a shell prompt:

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

(Replace ... with the correct path.)

answered Jun 13 '12 at 05:00

ikegami

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

ikegami's suggestion did not work for me in Windows 10, but after finding Jack Wu's comment at ActivePerl. .pl files no longer execute but open in Notepad instead I was able to solve the problem 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.

2 Answers2