Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl

[matthewst]

In terminal (on XServe) I can run "perl -v" and "which perl". When I run "perl test1.pl" I get an error.

test1.pl:

#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Hello World.";

error:

perl test1.pl
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 1, near "rtf1\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 1, near "mac\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 1, near "ansicpg10000\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 1, near "cocoartf824\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 2, near "fonttbl\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 2, near "f0\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 2, near "fswiss\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 3, near "red255\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 3, near "green255\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 4, near "margl1440\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 4, near "margr1440\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 4, near "vieww9000\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 4, near "viewh8400\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "viewkind0
\"
        (Missing semicolon on previous line?)
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "pard\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx720\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx1440\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx2160\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx2880\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx3600\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx4320\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx5040\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx5760\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx6480\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx7200\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx7920\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "tx8640\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "ql\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 5, near "qnatural\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 7, near "pardirnatural

\"
        (Missing semicolon on previous line?)
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 7, near "f0\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 7, near "fs24 \"
        (Do you need to predeclare fs24?)
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "cf0 #!/usr/bin/perl\
\"
        (Missing semicolon on previous line?)
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "pard\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx560\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx1120\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx1680\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx2240\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx2800\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx3360\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx3920\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx4480\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx5040\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx5600\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx6160\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "tx6720\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "ql\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 8, near "qnatural\"
Backslash found where operator expected at test1.pl line 9, near "pardirnatural
\"
        (Missing semicolon on previous line?)
syntax error at test1.pl line 1, near "rtf1\"
syntax error at test1.pl line 3, near "red255\"
syntax error at test1.pl line 4, near "margl1440\"
Execution of test1.pl aborted due to compilation errors.

[matthewst]

I had previously saved it in rtf format. So perl was seeing this:

{\rtf1\mac\ansicpg10000\cocoartf824\cocoasubrtf420
{\fonttbl\f0\fswiss\fcharset77 Helvetica;}
{\colortbl;\red255\green255\blue255;}
\margl1440\margr1440\vieww9000\viewh8400\viewkind0
\pard\tx720\tx1440\tx2160\tx2880\tx3600\tx4320\tx5040\tx5760\tx6480\tx7200\tx7920\tx8640\ql\qnatural\pardirnatural

\f0\fs24 \cf0 #!/usr/bin/perl\
\pard\tx560\tx1120\tx1680\tx2240\tx2800\tx3360\tx3920\tx4480\tx5040\tx5600\tx6160\tx6720\ql\qnatural\pardirnatural
\cf0 print "Hello World.";}