How to open a code or text file online
Three steps, a few seconds, no software.
Open your .PL file
Drop it on the box, choose it from your device, or paste the text straight in.
View it instantly
Your .PL file opens neatly formatted with line numbers.
Search, copy or download
Search the text, jump to any line, then copy what you need or download a clean copy.
What is a .PL file?
Plain text that programs, servers and people write every day.
A PL file is a Perl script, plain-text source code written in the Perl programming language. Open it in any text editor (Notepad, VS Code, Notepad++) to read or edit it. To run it, install Perl first; on macOS and Linux it is already included. On Windows, install Strawberry Perl, then run `perl script.pl` from a terminal.
Programs that open .PL files
| Full name | Perl script source code file |
|---|---|
| Developer | Larry Wall (Perl, 1987); now maintained by the Perl core team / The Perl Foundation |
| First released | Perl 1.0 released December 18, 1987 |
| Category | Text & Code |
| MIME type | application/x-perl |
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Frequently asked questions
Is my .PL file uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read and highlighted for you.
Why do some characters look wrong (é, ł)?
That usually means the file was saved in one encoding and opened in another. We detect UTF-8, UTF-16 and the Windows-1250/1252 code pages automatically and show which one was used.
Can it handle huge log files?
Yes, up to 50 MB. Only the lines on screen are drawn, so scrolling stays smooth. Syntax colours are switched off for files over 1.5 MB to keep things fast.
How do the log level filters work?
We find levels like ERROR, WARN, INFO and DEBUG on each line. Lines without a level, such as stack traces, stay with the entry above them, so filtering to errors keeps the full trace.
Can I edit the file?
This is a viewer. To change code, download it or copy it into your editor. Converting encodings and line endings is planned.
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