Basics of the document format

Writing a PerlPoint document is simple. Here is a first document:

   =Documents are simple text files
  
   Writing PerlPoint can be as easy as writing notes
   to a file. Just open a text editor and start.
  
   Of course there are more sophisticated features.
   But like Perl, PerlPoint allows you to do easy
   things with ease.

These are two text paragraphs and a headline. The rules for text are simple:

• Text paragraphs start at the left margin.
• Optionally, they can be started with a dot (with PerlPoint::Package 0.40 and better).

   .This is a text as well.

• They can be wrapped in any way.
• A line of whitespaces (or the end of the document) completes the paragraph.

As for the headline, there is a special thing: the prefix = at the beginning. This prefix marks this paragraph as a headline. There can be more than one = characters: their number shows the headline level.

   Here is the outline of a document, in traditional
   form.
  
     1. Formats
  
     1.1. Input Formats
  
     2.2. Output Formats
  
     2.2.1. HTML
  
     2.2.2. XML
  
     3. Conclusion
  
   In PerlPoint, it would be written this way:
  
     =Formats
  
     ==Input Formats
  
     ==Output Formats
  
     ===HTML
  
     ===XML
  
     =Conclusion
  
   The = characters are just placeholders, the
   final numbering will be made when the document
   will be processed.

Like paragraphs, headlines can be wrapped, and likewise they end with a line of whitespaces.

   =Usually headlines are short,
    but in case you need a very long headline,
    it is no problem to write it down in
    PerlPoint, wrapped to as many lines as
    you like to keep it readable

This paragraph concept is essential. All basic elements of a PerlPoint document are paragraphs. And as with the headline, a special prefix marks the paragraphs type.

If you want to start quickly, this is almost all you need to know about the format. Here is the one thing that is missed: backslashes ( \) are special characters. To write a literal backslash, just write two of them: \\.

   Backslashes ("\\") are special.

Now, if you are in a hurry, you can directly proceed with the converter call. But if you have a few minutes more, the following sections of this chapter will teach you how to write lists, examples, tables and comments, and this isn't more difficult than what we had till.

• Bullet lists
• Numbered lists
• Definition lists
• Examples
• Tables
• Comments