---
name: "pmdesc"
section: "1p"
platform: "linux"
package: "pmtools"
version: "2.2.0-3"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pmdesc"
---

# pmdesc(1p)

print out version and whatis description of perl modules

## NAME

pmdesc - print out version and whatis description of perl modules

## DESCRIPTION

Given one or more module names, show the version number (if known) and the 'whatis' line, that is, the NAME section's description, typically used for generation of whatis databases.

## EXAMPLES

```
    $ pmdesc IO::Socket
    IO::Socket (1.25) - Object interface to socket communications
    $ oldperl pmdesc IO::Socket
    IO::Socket (1.1603) - Object interface to socket communications
    $ pmdesc `pminst -s | perl -lane 'print $F[1] if $F[0] =~ /site/'`
    XML::Parser::Expat (2.19) - Lowlevel access to James Clark's expat XML parser
    XML::Parser (2.19) - A perl module for parsing XML documents
```

## RESTRICTIONS

This only works on modules.  It should also work on filenames, but then it's a bit tricky finding out the package to call the VERSION method on.

## SEE ALSO

**pmdesc**(1) **pminst**(1) **pmpath**(1) **pmvers**(1)

## AUTHORS and COPYRIGHTS

Copyright (C) 1999 Tom Christiansen.

Copyright (C) 2006-2014, 2018 Mark Leighton Fisher.

## LICENSE

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either: (a) the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any later version, or (b) the Perl "Artistic License". (This is the Perl 5 licensing scheme.)

Please note this is a change from the original pmtools-1.00 (still available on CPAN), as pmtools-1.00 were licensed only under the Perl "Artistic License".