Pod::ParseLink (Perl in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition)

8.175. Pod::ParseLink

Parses an L<> formatting code in POD text. It implements a single function, parselink(), which takes the text of an L<> formatting code and parses it. parselink() returns the anchor text for the link, the anchor text possibly inferred from the name and section, the name or URL, and the section and the type of link. The link type will be url, pod, or man. For example:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w
use Pod::ParseLink;
my $link = 'L<http://www.some-site.com/indexes/index.html>';
my ($text, $inferred, $name, $section, $type) = parselink ($link);