From: PerlFAQ Server on
This is an excerpt from the latest version perlfaq8.pod, which
comes with the standard Perl distribution. These postings aim to
reduce the number of repeated questions as well as allow the community
to review and update the answers. The latest version of the complete
perlfaq is at http://faq.perl.org .

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8.20: How can I call my system's unique C functions from Perl?

In most cases, you write an external module to do it--see the answer to
"Where can I learn about linking C with Perl? [h2xs, xsubpp]". However,
if the function is a system call, and your system supports syscall(),
you can use the syscall function (documented in perlfunc).

Remember to check the modules that came with your distribution, and CPAN
as well--someone may already have written a module to do it. On Windows,
try Win32::API. On Macs, try Mac::Carbon. If no module has an interface
to the C function, you can inline a bit of C in your Perl source with
Inline::C.



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