Path::Class::Dir(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Path::Class::Dir(3)
NAME
Path::Class::Dir - Objects representing directories
SYNOPSIS
use Path::Class qw(dir); # Export a short constructor
my $dir = dir('foo', 'bar'); # Path::Class::Dir object
my $dir = Path::Class::Dir->new('foo', 'bar'); # Same thing
# Stringifies to 'foo/bar' on Unix, 'foo\bar' on Windows, etc.
print "dir: $dir\n";
if ($dir->is_absolute) { ... }
my $v = $dir->volume; # Could be 'C:' on Windows, empty string
# on Unix, 'Macintosh HD:' on Mac OS
$dir->cleanup; # Perform logical cleanup of pathname
my $file = $dir->file('file.txt'); # A file in this directory
my $subdir = $dir->subdir('george'); # A subdirectory
my $parent = $dir->parent; # The parent directory, 'foo'
my $abs = $dir->absolute; # Transform to absolute path
my $rel = $abs->relative; # Transform to relative path
my $rel = $abs->relative('/foo'); # Relative to /foo
print $dir->as_foreign('Mac'); # :foo:bar:
print $dir->as_foreign('Win32'); # foo\bar
# Iterate with IO::Dir methods:
my $handle = $dir->open;
while (my $file = $handle->read) {
$file = $dir->file($file); # Turn into Path::Class::File object
...
}
# Iterate with Path::Class methods:
while (my $file = $dir->next) {
# $file is a Path::Class::File or Path::Class::Dir object
...
}
DESCRIPTION
The "Path::Class::Dir" class contains functionality for manipulating directory names in a cross-platform crossplatform
platform way.
METHODS
$dir = Path::Class::Dir->new( <dir1>, <dir2>, ... )
$dir = dir( <dir1>, <dir2>, ... )
Creates a new "Path::Class::Dir" object and returns it. The arguments specify names of
directories which will be joined to create a single directory object. A volume may also be
specified as the first argument, or as part of the first argument. You can use platform-neutral
syntax:
my $dir = dir( 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' );
or platform-native syntax:
my $dir = dir( 'foo/bar/baz' );
or a mixture of the two:
my $dir = dir( 'foo/bar', 'baz' );
All three of the above examples create relative paths. To create an absolute path, either use
the platform native syntax for doing so:
my $dir = dir( '/var/tmp' );
or use an empty string as the first argument:
my $dir = dir( '', 'var', 'tmp' );
If the second form seems awkward, that's somewhat intentional - paths like "/var/tmp" or
"\Windows" aren't cross-platform concepts in the first place (many non-Unix platforms don't have
a notion of a "root directory"), so they probably shouldn't appear in your code if you're trying
to be cross-platform. The first form is perfectly natural, because paths like this may come from
config files, user input, or whatever.
As a special case, since it doesn't otherwise mean anything useful and it's convenient to define
this way, "Path::Class::Dir->new()" (or "dir()") refers to the current directory
("File::Spec->curdir"). To get the current directory as an absolute path, do "dir()->absolute".
$dir->stringify
This method is called internally when a "Path::Class::Dir" object is used in a string context, so
the following are equivalent:
$string = $dir->stringify;
$string = "$dir";
$dir->volume
Returns the volume (e.g. "C:" on Windows, "Macintosh HD:" on Mac OS, etc.) of the directory
object, if any. Otherwise, returns the empty string.
$dir->is_dir
Returns a boolean value indicating whether this object represents a directory. Not surprisingly,
"Path::Class::File" objects always return false, and "Path::Class::Dir" objects always return
true.
$dir->is_absolute
Returns true or false depending on whether the directory refers to an absolute path specifier
(like "/usr/local" or "\Windows").
$dir->cleanup
Performs a logical cleanup of the file path. For instance:
my $dir = dir('/foo//baz/./foo')->cleanup;
# $dir now represents '/foo/baz/foo';
$file = $dir->file( <dir1>, <dir2>, ..., <file> )
Returns a "Path::Class::File" object representing an entry in $dir or one of its subdirectories.
Internally, this just calls "Path::Class::File->new( @_ )".
$subdir = $dir->subdir( <dir1>, <dir2>, ... )
Returns a new "Path::Class::Dir" object representing a subdirectory of $dir.
$parent = $dir->parent
Returns the parent directory of $dir. Note that this is the logical parent, not necessarily the
physical parent. It really means we just chop off entries from the end of the directory list
until we cain't chop no more. If the directory is relative, we start using the relative forms of
parent directories.
The following code demonstrates the behavior on absolute and relative directories:
$dir = dir('/foo/bar');
for (1..6) {
print "Absolute: $dir\n";
$dir = $dir->parent;
}
$dir = dir('foo/bar');
for (1..6) {
print "Relative: $dir\n";
$dir = $dir->parent;
}
########### Output on Unix ################
Absolute: /foo/bar
Absolute: /foo
Absolute: /
Absolute: /
Absolute: /
Absolute: /
Relative: foo/bar
Relative: foo
Relative: .
Relative: ..
Relative: ../..
Relative: ../../..
@list = $dir->children
Returns a list of "Path::Class::File" and/or "Path::Class::Dir" objects listed in this directory,
or in scalar context the number of such objects. Obviously, it is necessary for $dir to exist
and be readable in order to find its children.
Note that the children are returned as subdirectories of $dir, i.e. the children of foo will be
foo/bar and foo/baz, not bar and baz.
Ordinarily "children()" will not include the self and parent entries "." and ".." (or their
equivalents on non-Unix systems), because that's like I'm-my-own-grandpa business. If you do
want all directory entries including these special ones, pass a true value for the "all"
parameter:
@c = $dir->children(); # Just the children
@c = $dir->children(all => 1); # All entries
$abs = $dir->absolute
Returns a "Path::Class::Dir" object representing $dir as an absolute path. An optional argument,
given as either a string or a "Path::Class::Dir" object, specifies the directory to use as the
base of relativity - otherwise the current working directory will be used.
$rel = $dir->relative
Returns a "Path::Class::Dir" object representing $dir as a relative path. An optional argument,
given as either a string or a "Path::Class::Dir" object, specifies the directory to use as the
base of relativity - otherwise the current working directory will be used.
$boolean = $dir->subsumes($other)
Returns true if this directory spec subsumes the other spec, and false otherwise. Think of
"subsumes" as "contains", but we only look at the specs, not whether $dir actually contains
$other on the filesystem.
The $other argument may be a "Path::Class::Dir" object, a "Path::Class::File" object, or a
string. In the latter case, we assume it's a directory.
# Examples:
dir('foo/bar' )->subsumes(dir('foo/bar/baz')) # True
dir('/foo/bar')->subsumes(dir('/foo/bar/baz')) # True
dir('foo/bar' )->subsumes(dir('bar/baz')) # False
dir('/foo/bar')->subsumes(dir('foo/bar')) # False
$boolean = $dir->contains($other)
Returns true if this directory actually contains $other on the filesystem. $other doesn't have
to be a direct child of $dir, it just has to be subsumed.
$foreign = $dir->as_foreign($type)
Returns a "Path::Class::Dir" object representing $dir as it would be specified on a system of
type $type. Known types include "Unix", "Win32", "Mac", "VMS", and "OS2", i.e. anything for
which there is a subclass of "File::Spec".
Any generated objects (subdirectories, files, parents, etc.) will also retain this type.
$foreign = Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign($type, @args)
Returns a "Path::Class::Dir" object representing $dir as it would be specified on a system of
type $type. Known types include "Unix", "Win32", "Mac", "VMS", and "OS2", i.e. anything for
which there is a subclass of "File::Spec".
The arguments in @args are the same as they would be specified in "new()".
@list = $dir->dir_list([OFFSET, [LENGTH]])
Returns the list of strings internally representing this directory structure. Each successive
member of the list is understood to be an entry in its predecessor's directory list. By
contract, "Path::Class->new( $dir->dir_list )" should be equivalent to $dir.
The semantics of this method are similar to Perl's "splice" or "substr" functions; they return
"LENGTH" elements starting at "OFFSET". If "LENGTH" is omitted, returns all the elements
starting at "OFFSET" up to the end of the list. If "LENGTH" is negative, returns the elements
from "OFFSET" onward except for "-LENGTH" elements at the end. If "OFFSET" is negative, it
counts backward "OFFSET" elements from the end of the list. If "OFFSET" and "LENGTH" are both
omitted, the entire list is returned.
In a scalar context, "dir_list()" with no arguments returns the number of entries in the
directory list; "dir_list(OFFSET)" returns the single element at that offset; "dir_list(OFFSET,
LENGTH)" returns the final element that would have been returned in a list context.
$fh = $dir->open()
Passes $dir to "IO::Dir->open" and returns the result as an "IO::Dir" object. If the opening
fails, "undef" is returned and $! is set.
$dir->mkpath($verbose, $mode)
Passes all arguments, including $dir, to "File::Path::mkpath()" and returns the result (a list of
all directories created).
$dir->rmtree($verbose, $cautious)
Passes all arguments, including $dir, to "File::Path::rmtree()" and returns the result (the
number of files successfully deleted).
$dir->remove()
Removes the directory, which must be empty. Returns a boolean value indicating whether or not
the directory was successfully removed. This method is mainly provided for consistency with
"Path::Class::File"'s "remove()" method.
$dir_or_file = $dir->next()
A convenient way to iterate through directory contents. The first time "next()" is called, it
will "open()" the directory and read the first item from it, returning the result as a
"Path::Class::Dir" or "Path::Class::File" object (depending, of course, on its actual type).
Each subsequent call to "next()" will simply iterate over the directory's contents, until there
are no more items in the directory, and then the undefined value is returned. For example, to
iterate over all the regular files in a directory:
while (my $file = $dir->next) {
next unless -f $file;
my $fh = $file->open('r') or die "Can't read $file: $!";
...
}
If an error occurs when opening the directory (for instance, it doesn't exist or isn't readable),
"next()" will throw an exception with the value of $!.
$dir->recurse( callback => sub {...} )
Iterates through this directory and all of its children, and all of its children's children,
etc., calling the "callback" subroutine for each entry. This is a lot like what the "File::Find"
module does, and of course "File::Find" will work fine on "Path::Class" objects, but the
advantage of the "recurse()" method is that it will also feed your callback routine "Path::Class"
objects rather than just pathname strings.
The "recurse()" method requires a "callback" parameter specifying the subroutine to invoke for
each entry. It will be passed the "Path::Class" object as its first argument.
"recurse()" also accepts two boolean parameters, "depthfirst" and "preorder" that control the
order of recursion. The default is a preorder, breadth-first search, i.e. "depthfirst => 0,
preorder => 1". At the time of this writing, all combinations of these two parameters are
supported except "depthfirst => 0, preorder => 0".
$st = $file->stat()
Invokes "File::stat::stat()" on this directory and returns a "File::stat" object representing the
result.
$st = $file->lstat()
Same as "stat()", but if $file is a symbolic link, "lstat()" stats the link instead of the
directory the link points to.
AUTHOR
Ken Williams, ken@mathforum.org
SEE ALSO
Path::Class, Path::Class::File, File::Spec
perl v5.8.8 2006-12-24 Path::Class::Dir(3)
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