Online syntax highlighting for the masses! Language: "Perl"

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What's New

2026-08-21: The languages you actually paste now auto-detect

I have been watching the (anonymous) usage stats for a month now, and it turns out a fair few of the most-pasted languages could not be recognised automatically, so you had to pick them from the list every time. Fixed: Batch files, MySQL, R, Verilog, JavaCC, Windows Script Files and Groovy Server Pages now all auto-detect from the pasted code alone. Everything in the top 25 that reasonably can be detected now is. While I was at it, every popular language now has example code on the languages page too.

2026-07-25: A filter shortcut and a fix for the HTML+CSS output

A few small ones:

1. Ctrl+S jumps straight to the "Filter types" box so you can find a language without reaching for the mouse (the underlined "s" is the hint).
2. Fixed the HTML + CSS classes output, which had a stray "Created with colorer library" line stuck at the very top. It comes back clean now.

Spot anything else off? Let me know.

2026-07-23: 100+ more languages, and an easy way to find them

A big one:

1. The language list jumped from 154 to 284. Loads of rare and obscure ones now, since colouring the weird stuff is meant to be this site's thing. A handful of long-broken entries are fixed too, and everything is properly sorted into categories.
2. Two filters sit above the Type list now: pick a category, or just start typing to search, so the long list is quick to get around.
3. A new auto-detected languages page listing what I can recognise from your code on its own, and a few more languages detect automatically now.
4. You can dismiss the What's New and Something Interesting boxes if you would rather not see them (there is a "Restore info panels" link at the bottom to bring them back).
5. Plus tidier spacing and labels, a couple more colour styles, and the numbers behind the popular languages page now live in a proper database so they stick around.

Spot anything odd? Let me know.

Full changelog, back to 2015 »