What is MIME type "application/x-httpd-perl"?

A MIME type is a string that tells browsers and other tools how to handle a particular kind of file.

application/x-httpd-perl is a MIME type used for executing Perl scripts on web servers. Files marked with this type, such as those with the PL extension, are processed by the server rather than shown as plain text.

The server runs the Perl script and returns the output, often in HTML format, to the client. This keeps the code hidden and delivers only the results.

• Server-Side Execution: The file is run on the server, which handles the script’s processing.
• Dynamic Content Generation: Perl scripts can build web pages on the fly.
• CGI Functionality: It is typically used in CGI setups on servers like Apache.

Using this MIME type ensures that the server knows to use a Perl interpreter when the file is called. For more technical details, see the Perl Official Website.

Associated file extensions

.pl

Usage Examples

HTTP Header

When serving content with this MIME type, set the Content-Type header:

    Content-Type: application/x-httpd-perl
  

HTML

In HTML, you can specify the MIME type in various elements:

    <a href="file.dat" type="application/x-httpd-perl">Download file</a>
  

Server-side (Node.js)

Setting the Content-Type header in Node.js:

    const http = require('http');
    
    http.createServer((req, res) => {
      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-httpd-perl');
      res.end('Content here');
    }).listen(3000);
  

Associated file extensions

.pl