1Path::Class::Dir(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Path::Class::Dir(3)
2
6 Path::Class::Dir - Objects representing directories
7
9 use Path::Class qw(dir); # Export a short constructor
10 my $dir = dir('foo', 'bar'); # Path::Class::Dir object
12 my $dir = Path::Class::Dir->new('foo', 'bar'); # Same thing
13 # Stringifies to 'foo/bar' on Unix, 'foo\bar' on Windows, etc.
15 print "dir: $dir\n";
16 if ($dir->is_absolute) { ... }
18 my $v = $dir->volume; # Could be 'C:' on Windows, empty string
20 # on Unix, 'Macintosh HD:' on Mac OS
21 $dir->cleanup; # Perform logical cleanup of pathname
23 my $file = $dir->file('file.txt'); # A file in this directory
25 my $subdir = $dir->subdir('george'); # A subdirectory
26 my $parent = $dir->parent; # The parent directory, 'foo'
27 my $abs = $dir->absolute; # Transform to absolute path
29 my $rel = $abs->relative; # Transform to relative path
30 my $rel = $abs->relative('/foo'); # Relative to /foo
31 print $dir->as_foreign('Mac'); # :foo:bar:
33 print $dir->as_foreign('Win32'); # foo\bar
34 # Iterate with IO::Dir methods:
36 my $handle = $dir->open;
37 while (my $file = $handle->read) {
38 $file = $dir->file($file); # Turn into Path::Class::File object
39 ...
40 }
41 # Iterate with Path::Class methods:
43 while (my $file = $dir->next) {
44 # $file is a Path::Class::File or Path::Class::Dir object
45 ...
46 }
47
49 The "Path::Class::Dir" class contains functionality for manipulating
50 directory names in a cross-platform way.
51
53 $dir = Path::Class::Dir->new( <dir1>, <dir2>, ... )
54 $dir = dir( <dir1>, <dir2>, ... )
55 Creates a new "Path::Class::Dir" object and returns it. The argu‐
56 ments specify names of directories which will be joined to create a
57 single directory object. A volume may also be specified as the
58 first argument, or as part of the first argument. You can use
59 platform-neutral syntax:
60 my $dir = dir( 'foo', 'bar', 'baz' );
62 or platform-native syntax:
64 my $dir = dir( 'foo/bar/baz' );
66 or a mixture of the two:
68 my $dir = dir( 'foo/bar', 'baz' );
70 All three of the above examples create relative paths. To create
72 an absolute path, either use the platform native syntax for doing
73 so:
74 my $dir = dir( '/var/tmp' );
76 or use an empty string as the first argument:
78 my $dir = dir( '', 'var', 'tmp' );
80 If the second form seems awkward, that's somewhat intentional -
82 paths like "/var/tmp" or "\Windows" aren't cross-platform concepts
83 in the first place (many non-Unix platforms don't have a notion of
84 a "root directory"), so they probably shouldn't appear in your code
85 if you're trying to be cross-platform. The first form is perfectly
86 natural, because paths like this may come from config files, user
87 input, or whatever.
88 As a special case, since it doesn't otherwise mean anything useful
90 and it's convenient to define this way, "Path::Class::Dir->new()"
91 (or "dir()") refers to the current directory ("File::Spec->cur‐
92 dir"). To get the current directory as an absolute path, do
93 "dir()->absolute".
94 $dir->stringify
96 This method is called internally when a "Path::Class::Dir" object
97 is used in a string context, so the following are equivalent:
98 $string = $dir->stringify;
100 $string = "$dir";
101 $dir->volume
103 Returns the volume (e.g. "C:" on Windows, "Macintosh HD:" on Mac
104 OS, etc.) of the directory object, if any. Otherwise, returns the
105 empty string.
106 $dir->is_dir
108 Returns a boolean value indicating whether this object represents a
109 directory. Not surprisingly, "Path::Class::File" objects always
110 return false, and "Path::Class::Dir" objects always return true.
111 $dir->is_absolute
113 Returns true or false depending on whether the directory refers to
114 an absolute path specifier (like "/usr/local" or "\Windows").
115 $dir->cleanup
117 Performs a logical cleanup of the file path. For instance:
118 my $dir = dir('/foo//baz/./foo')->cleanup;
120 # $dir now represents '/foo/baz/foo';
121 $file = $dir->file( <dir1>, <dir2>, ..., <file> )
123 Returns a "Path::Class::File" object representing an entry in $dir
124 or one of its subdirectories. Internally, this just calls
125 "Path::Class::File->new( @_ )".
126 $subdir = $dir->subdir( <dir1>, <dir2>, ... )
128 Returns a new "Path::Class::Dir" object representing a subdirectory
129 of $dir.
130 $parent = $dir->parent
132 Returns the parent directory of $dir. Note that this is the logi‐
133 cal parent, not necessarily the physical parent. It really means
134 we just chop off entries from the end of the directory list until
135 we cain't chop no more. If the directory is relative, we start
136 using the relative forms of parent directories.
137 The following code demonstrates the behavior on absolute and rela‐
139 tive directories:
140 $dir = dir('/foo/bar');
142 for (1..6) {
143 print "Absolute: $dir\n";
144 $dir = $dir->parent;
145 }
146 $dir = dir('foo/bar');
148 for (1..6) {
149 print "Relative: $dir\n";
150 $dir = $dir->parent;
151 }
152 ########### Output on Unix ################
154 Absolute: /foo/bar
155 Absolute: /foo
156 Absolute: /
157 Absolute: /
158 Absolute: /
159 Absolute: /
160 Relative: foo/bar
161 Relative: foo
162 Relative: .
163 Relative: ..
164 Relative: ../..
165 Relative: ../../..
166 @list = $dir->children
168 Returns a list of "Path::Class::File" and/or "Path::Class::Dir"
169 objects listed in this directory, or in scalar context the number
170 of such objects. Obviously, it is necessary for $dir to exist and
171 be readable in order to find its children.
172 Note that the children are returned as subdirectories of $dir, i.e.
174 the children of foo will be foo/bar and foo/baz, not bar and baz.
175 Ordinarily "children()" will not include the self and parent
177 entries "." and ".." (or their equivalents on non-Unix systems),
178 because that's like I'm-my-own-grandpa business. If you do want
179 all directory entries including these special ones, pass a true
180 value for the "all" parameter:
181 @c = $dir->children(); # Just the children
183 @c = $dir->children(all => 1); # All entries
184 $abs = $dir->absolute
186 Returns a "Path::Class::Dir" object representing $dir as an abso‐
187 lute path. An optional argument, given as either a string or a
188 "Path::Class::Dir" object, specifies the directory to use as the
189 base of relativity - otherwise the current working directory will
190 be used.
191 $rel = $dir->relative
193 Returns a "Path::Class::Dir" object representing $dir as a relative
194 path. An optional argument, given as either a string or a
195 "Path::Class::Dir" object, specifies the directory to use as the
196 base of relativity - otherwise the current working directory will
197 be used.
198 $boolean = $dir->subsumes($other)
200 Returns true if this directory spec subsumes the other spec, and
201 false otherwise. Think of "subsumes" as "contains", but we only
202 look at the specs, not whether $dir actually contains $other on the
203 filesystem.
204 The $other argument may be a "Path::Class::Dir" object, a
206 "Path::Class::File" object, or a string. In the latter case, we
207 assume it's a directory.
208 # Examples:
210 dir('foo/bar' )->subsumes(dir('foo/bar/baz')) # True
211 dir('/foo/bar')->subsumes(dir('/foo/bar/baz')) # True
212 dir('foo/bar' )->subsumes(dir('bar/baz')) # False
213 dir('/foo/bar')->subsumes(dir('foo/bar')) # False
214 $boolean = $dir->contains($other)
216 Returns true if this directory actually contains $other on the
217 filesystem. $other doesn't have to be a direct child of $dir, it
218 just has to be subsumed.
219 $foreign = $dir->as_foreign($type)
221 Returns a "Path::Class::Dir" object representing $dir as it would
222 be specified on a system of type $type. Known types include
223 "Unix", "Win32", "Mac", "VMS", and "OS2", i.e. anything for which
224 there is a subclass of "File::Spec".
225 Any generated objects (subdirectories, files, parents, etc.) will
227 also retain this type.
228 $foreign = Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign($type, @args)
230 Returns a "Path::Class::Dir" object representing $dir as it would
231 be specified on a system of type $type. Known types include
232 "Unix", "Win32", "Mac", "VMS", and "OS2", i.e. anything for which
233 there is a subclass of "File::Spec".
234 The arguments in @args are the same as they would be specified in
236 "new()".
237 @list = $dir->dir_list([OFFSET, [LENGTH]])
239 Returns the list of strings internally representing this directory
240 structure. Each successive member of the list is understood to be
241 an entry in its predecessor's directory list. By contract,
242 "Path::Class->new( $dir->dir_list )" should be equivalent to $dir.
243 The semantics of this method are similar to Perl's "splice" or
245 "substr" functions; they return "LENGTH" elements starting at "OFF‐
246 SET". If "LENGTH" is omitted, returns all the elements starting at
247 "OFFSET" up to the end of the list. If "LENGTH" is negative,
248 returns the elements from "OFFSET" onward except for "-LENGTH" ele‐
249 ments at the end. If "OFFSET" is negative, it counts backward
250 "OFFSET" elements from the end of the list. If "OFFSET" and
251 "LENGTH" are both omitted, the entire list is returned.
252 In a scalar context, "dir_list()" with no arguments returns the
254 number of entries in the directory list; "dir_list(OFFSET)" returns
255 the single element at that offset; "dir_list(OFFSET, LENGTH)"
256 returns the final element that would have been returned in a list
257 context.
258 $fh = $dir->open()
260 Passes $dir to "IO::Dir->open" and returns the result as an
261 "IO::Dir" object. If the opening fails, "undef" is returned and $!
262 is set.
263 $dir->mkpath($verbose, $mode)
265 Passes all arguments, including $dir, to "File::Path::mkpath()" and
266 returns the result (a list of all directories created).
267 $dir->rmtree($verbose, $cautious)
269 Passes all arguments, including $dir, to "File::Path::rmtree()" and
270 returns the result (the number of files successfully deleted).
271 $dir->remove()
273 Removes the directory, which must be empty. Returns a boolean
274 value indicating whether or not the directory was successfully
275 removed. This method is mainly provided for consistency with
276 "Path::Class::File"'s "remove()" method.
277 $dir_or_file = $dir->next()
279 A convenient way to iterate through directory contents. The first
280 time "next()" is called, it will "open()" the directory and read
281 the first item from it, returning the result as a
282 "Path::Class::Dir" or "Path::Class::File" object (depending, of
283 course, on its actual type). Each subsequent call to "next()" will
284 simply iterate over the directory's contents, until there are no
285 more items in the directory, and then the undefined value is
286 returned. For example, to iterate over all the regular files in a
287 directory:
288 while (my $file = $dir->next) {
290 next unless -f $file;
291 my $fh = $file->open('r') or die "Can't read $file: $!";
292 ...
293 }
294 If an error occurs when opening the directory (for instance, it
296 doesn't exist or isn't readable), "next()" will throw an exception
297 with the value of $!.
298 $dir->recurse( callback => sub {...} )
300 Iterates through this directory and all of its children, and all of
301 its children's children, etc., calling the "callback" subroutine
302 for each entry. This is a lot like what the "File::Find" module
303 does, and of course "File::Find" will work fine on "Path::Class"
304 objects, but the advantage of the "recurse()" method is that it
305 will also feed your callback routine "Path::Class" objects rather
306 than just pathname strings.
307 The "recurse()" method requires a "callback" parameter specifying
309 the subroutine to invoke for each entry. It will be passed the
310 "Path::Class" object as its first argument.
311 "recurse()" also accepts two boolean parameters, "depthfirst" and
313 "preorder" that control the order of recursion. The default is a
314 preorder, breadth-first search, i.e. "depthfirst => 0, preorder =>
315 1". At the time of this writing, all combinations of these two
316 parameters are supported except "depthfirst => 0, preorder => 0".
317 $st = $file->stat()
319 Invokes "File::stat::stat()" on this directory and returns a
320 "File::stat" object representing the result.
321 $st = $file->lstat()
323 Same as "stat()", but if $file is a symbolic link, "lstat()" stats
324 the link instead of the directory the link points to.
325
327 Ken Williams, ken@mathforum.org
328
330 Path::Class, Path::Class::File, File::Spec
331perl v5.8.8 2007-02-12 Path::Class::Dir(3)