1URI::file(3)          User Contributed Perl Documentation         URI::file(3)
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3
4

NAME

6       URI::file - URI that maps to local file names
7

SYNOPSIS

9        use URI::file;
10
11        $u1 = URI->new("file:/foo/bar");
12        $u2 = URI->new("foo/bar", "file");
13
14        $u3 = URI::file->new($path);
15        $u4 = URI::file->new("c:\\windows\\", "win32");
16
17        $u1->file;
18        $u1->file("mac");
19

DESCRIPTION

21       The "URI::file" class supports "URI" objects belonging to the file URI
22       scheme.  This scheme allows us to map the conventional file names found
23       on various computer systems to the URI name space.  An old
24       specification of the file URI scheme is found in RFC 1738.  Some older
25       background information is also in RFC 1630. There are no newer
26       specifications as far as I know.
27
28       If you simply want to construct file URI objects from URI strings, use
29       the normal "URI" constructor.  If you want to construct file URI
30       objects from the actual file names used by various systems, then use
31       one of the following "URI::file" constructors:
32
33       $u = URI::file->new( $filename, [$os] )
34           Maps a file name to the file: URI name space, creates a URI object
35           and returns it.  The $filename is interpreted as belonging to the
36           indicated operating system ($os), which defaults to the value of
37           the $^O variable.  The $filename can be either absolute or
38           relative, and the corresponding type of URI object for $os is
39           returned.
40
41       $u = URI::file->new_abs( $filename, [$os] )
42           Same as URI::file->new, but makes sure that the URI returned
43           represents an absolute file name.  If the $filename argument is
44           relative, then the name is resolved relative to the current
45           directory, i.e. this constructor is really the same as:
46
47             URI::file->new($filename)->abs(URI::file->cwd);
48
49       $u = URI::file->cwd
50           Returns a file URI that represents the current working directory.
51           See Cwd.
52
53       The following methods are supported for file URI (in addition to the
54       common and generic methods described in URI):
55
56       $u->file( [$os] )
57           Returns a file name.  It maps from the URI name space to the file
58           name space of the indicated operating system.
59
60           It might return "undef" if the name can not be represented in the
61           indicated file system.
62
63       $u->dir( [$os] )
64           Some systems use a different form for names of directories than for
65           plain files.  Use this method if you know you want to use the name
66           for a directory.
67
68       The "URI::file" module can be used to map generic file names to names
69       suitable for the current system.  As such, it can work as a nice
70       replacement for the "File::Spec" module.  For instance, the following
71       code translates the UNIX-style file name Foo/Bar.pm to a name suitable
72       for the local system:
73
74         $file = URI::file->new("Foo/Bar.pm", "unix")->file;
75         die "Can't map filename Foo/Bar.pm for $^O" unless defined $file;
76         open(FILE, $file) || die "Can't open '$file': $!";
77         # do something with FILE
78

MAPPING NOTES

80       Most computer systems today have hierarchically organized file systems.
81       Mapping the names used in these systems to the generic URI syntax
82       allows us to work with relative file URIs that behave as they should
83       when resolved using the generic algorithm for URIs (specified in RFC
84       2396).  Mapping a file name to the generic URI syntax involves mapping
85       the path separator character to "/" and encoding any reserved
86       characters that appear in the path segments of the file name.  If path
87       segments consisting of the strings "." or ".." have a different meaning
88       than what is specified for generic URIs, then these must be encoded as
89       well.
90
91       If the file system has device, volume or drive specifications as the
92       root of the name space, then it makes sense to map them to the
93       authority field of the generic URI syntax.  This makes sure that
94       relative URIs can not be resolved "above" them, i.e. generally how
95       relative file names work in those systems.
96
97       Another common use of the authority field is to encode the host on
98       which this file name is valid.  The host name "localhost" is special
99       and generally has the same meaning as a missing or empty authority
100       field.  This use is in conflict with using it as a device
101       specification, but can often be resolved for device specifications
102       having characters not legal in plain host names.
103
104       File name to URI mapping in normally not one-to-one.  There are usually
105       many URIs that map to any given file name.  For instance, an authority
106       of "localhost" maps the same as a URI with a missing or empty
107       authority.
108
109       Example 1: The Mac uses ":" as path separator, but not in the same way
110       as a generic URI. ":foo" is a relative name.  "foo:bar" is an absolute
111       name.  Also, path segments can contain the "/" character as well as the
112       literal "." or "..".  So the mapping looks like this:
113
114         Mac                   URI
115         ----------            -------------------
116         :foo:bar     <==>     foo/bar
117         :            <==>     ./
118         ::foo:bar    <==>     ../foo/bar
119         :::          <==>     ../../
120         foo:bar      <==>     file:/foo/bar
121         foo:bar:     <==>     file:/foo/bar/
122         ..           <==>     %2E%2E
123         <undef>      <==      /
124         foo/         <==      file:/foo%2F
125         ./foo.txt    <==      file:/.%2Ffoo.txt
126
127       Note that if you want a relative URL, you *must* begin the path with a
128       :.  Any path that begins with [^:] is treated as absolute.
129
130       Example 2: The UNIX file system is easy to map, as it uses the same
131       path separator as URIs, has a single root, and segments of "." and ".."
132       have the same meaning.  URIs that have the character "\0" or "/" as
133       part of any path segment can not be turned into valid UNIX file names.
134
135         UNIX                  URI
136         ----------            ------------------
137         foo/bar      <==>     foo/bar
138         /foo/bar     <==>     file:/foo/bar
139         /foo/bar     <==      file://localhost/foo/bar
140         file:         ==>     ./file:
141         <undef>      <==      file:/fo%00/bar
142         /            <==>     file:/
143

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES

145       The following configuration variables influence how the class and its
146       methods behave:
147
148       %URI::file::OS_CLASS
149           This hash maps OS identifiers to implementation classes.  You might
150           want to add or modify this if you want to plug in your own file
151           handler class.  Normally the keys should match the $^O values in
152           use.
153
154           If there is no mapping then the "Unix" implementation is used.
155
156       $URI::file::DEFAULT_AUTHORITY
157           This determine what "authority" string to include in absolute file
158           URIs.  It defaults to "".  If you prefer verbose URIs you might set
159           it to be "localhost".
160
161           Setting this value to "undef" force behaviour compatible to URI
162           v1.31 and earlier.  In this mode host names in UNC paths and drive
163           letters are mapped to the authority component on Windows, while we
164           produce authority-less URIs on Unix.
165

SEE ALSO

167       URI, File::Spec, perlport
168
170       Copyright 1995-1998,2004 Gisle Aas.
171
172       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
173       under the same terms as Perl itself.
174
175
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177perl v5.12.0                      2009-05-28                      URI::file(3)
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