Yes, I agree that cperl is the right mode to use. I use it daily in XEmacs.

I've also been using mmm-mode regularly to edit HTML::Mason files, with the mode (and syntax highlighting and background) changing between blocks of html and perl.

I also like your brief version of the tab definitions. However, while I'm not sure exactly what the tab key does in vim perl, cperl's default tab definition took me a bit of getting used to - particularly in that by default hitting tab at the end of a line indents the whole line appropriately instead of moving to the righ to get ready for a comment.

It might be worth noting that

 (setq-default cperl-tab-always-indent nil)
[download]

tells cperl that tab means indent when the cursor is to the left of the text, otherwise it means "insert-tab" - though I believe that's still different from the shift-tab defined as "tab-to-tab-stop" which I use more often.

As far as Damian's named macros for inserting a specific chunk of text or loading a specific template, I'd suggest something like the following.

; A named function to insert some specific text.
(defun my-insert-stuff ()
  "documentation string"
  (interactive "*")       ; "*" => error if read-only
  (insert "This is the text to insert. ")
  )
; Set it to a specific keystroke combo.
(global-set-key [(control c) m] 'my-insert-stuff)

; Load a specific template in a new unattached buffer.
(defun template-one ()
  "documentation string"  ; For help and info.
  (interactive)           ; Make this user accessible.

  (switch-to-buffer "template-one")
  (insert-file "~/template_one")
  )
; It too could be set to some specific key combination.
(global-set-key [(control c) o] 'template-one)
[download]

Finally, you might be amused by these definitions. for », «, ¥

;;; ---- some "unicode" perl6 stuff 
;; The numeric codes are base 10 from iso-8869-1.
;; Keys are control-c followed by control-(>, <, y), 
;; without the shift key
(global-set-key [(control c) (control ?.)] 
 '(lambda () (interactive "*") (insert 187)))
(global-set-key [(control c) (control ?,)] 
 '(lambda () (interactive "*") (insert 171)))
(global-set-key [(control c) (control ?y)] 
 '(lambda () (interactive "*") (insert 165)))
[download]

Regards,

Jim Mahoney

update: fixed a typo; "control" not "crontol"

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