We form the perfect infinitive withto have+ the-edform of a verb. We use the perfect infinitiveafter verbs such asclaim, expect, hate, hope, like, love, prefer, pretend:
He pretendedto have losther number and so had been unable to contact her.(orHe pretendedthat he had losther number …)
The perfect infinitive often refers to things that might have happened in the past:
She claimsto have meta number of famous people, but I don’t believe her.(orShe claimsshe has met…)
I would preferto have stayedat a small, family-run hotel than a big international chain.(I prefer to stay at small hotels, but I did not.)
The perfect infinitive can refer to something that will be completed at a point in the future:
We hopeto have finishedthe building works by the end of March.
We can use the perfect infinitive in a clause with a verb that has no subject (a non-finite clause). It can refer to events which did happen in the past or to events that might have happened (but did not happen):
To have gotthe job in the face of such stiff competition was a great achievement.(The person did get the job.)
To have wonthe race would have been fantastic, but even coming second was a great achievement.(The person did not win the race.)
See also:
Non-finite clauses