1File::HomeDir(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation File::HomeDir(3)
2
6 File::HomeDir - Find your home and other directories, on any platform
7
9 use File::HomeDir;
10 # Modern Interface (Current User)
12 $home = File::HomeDir->my_home;
13 $desktop = File::HomeDir->my_desktop;
14 $docs = File::HomeDir->my_documents;
15 $music = File::HomeDir->my_music;
16 $pics = File::HomeDir->my_pictures;
17 $videos = File::HomeDir->my_videos;
18 $data = File::HomeDir->my_data;
19 # Modern Interface (Other Users)
21 $home = File::HomeDir->users_home('foo');
22 $desktop = File::HomeDir->users_desktop('foo');
23 $docs = File::HomeDir->users_documents('foo');
24 $music = File::HomeDir->users_music('foo');
25 $pics = File::HomeDir->users_pictures('foo');
26 $video = File::HomeDir->users_videos('foo');
27 $data = File::HomeDir->users_data('foo');
28 # Legacy Interfaces
30 print "My dir is ", home(), " and root's is ", home('root'), "\n";
31 print "My dir is $~{''} and root's is $~{root}\n";
32 # These both print the same thing, something like:
33 # "My dir is /home/user/mojo and root's is /"
34
36 File::HomeDir is a module for dealing with issues relating to the
37 location of directories that are "owned" by a user, primarily your
38 user, and to solve these issues consistently across a wide variety of
39 platforms.
40 Thus, a single API is presented that can find your resources on any
42 platform.
43 This module provides two main interfaces.
45 The first is a modern File::Spec-style interface with a consistent OO
47 API and different implementation modules to support various platforms.
48 You are strongly recommended to use this interface.
49 The second interface is for legacy support of the original 0.07
51 interface that exported a "home()" function by default and tied the
52 "%~" variable.
53 It is generally not recommended that you use this interface, but due to
55 back-compatibility reasons they will remain supported until at least
56 2010.
57 After this date, the home() function will remain, but we will consider
59 deprecating the (namespace-polluting) "%~" tied hash, to be removed by
60 2015 (maintaining the general Perl convention of a 10 year support
61 period for legacy APIs potentially or actually in common use).
62 Platform Neutrality
64 In the Unix world, many different types of data can be mixed together
65 in your home directory (although on some Unix platforms this is no
66 longer the case, particularly for "desktop"-oriented platforms).
67 On some non-Unix platforms, seperate directories are allocated for
69 different types of data and have been for a long time.
70 When writing applications on top of File::HomeDir, you should thus
72 always try to use the most specific method you can. User documents
73 should be saved in "my_documents", data that supports an application
74 but isn't normally editing by the user directory should go into
75 "my_data".
76 On platforms that do not make any distinction, all these different
78 methods will harmlessly degrade to the main home directory, but on
79 platforms that care File::HomeDir will always try to Do The Right
80 Thing(tm).
81
83 Two types of methods are provided. The "my_method" series of methods
84 for finding resources for the current user, and the "users_method"
85 (read as "user's method") series for finding resources for arbitrary
86 users.
87 This split is necesary, as on most platforms it is much easier to find
89 information about the current user compared to other users, and indeed
90 on a number you cannot find out information such as "users_desktop" at
91 all, due to security restrictions.
92 All methods will double check (using a "-d" test) that a directory
94 actually exists before returning it, so you may trust in the values
95 that are returned (subject to the usual caveats of race conditions of
96 directories being deleted at the moment between a directory being
97 returned and you using it).
98 However, because in some cases platforms may not support the concept of
100 home directories at all, any method may return "undef" (both in scalar
101 and list context) to indicate that there is no matching directory on
102 the system.
103 For example, most untrusted 'nobody'-type users do not have a home
105 directory. So any modules that are used in a CGI application that at
106 some level of recursion use your code, will result in calls to
107 File::HomeDir returning undef, even for a basic home() call.
108 my_home
110 The "my_home" method takes no arguments and returns the main
111 home/profile directory for the current user.
112 If the distinction is important to you, the term "current" refers to
114 the real user, and not the effective user.
115 This is also the case for all of the other "my" methods.
117 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
119 does not have a home directory, or dies on error.
120 my_desktop
122 The "my_desktop" method takes no arguments and returns the "desktop"
123 directory for the current user.
124 Due to the diversity and complexity of implementions required to deal
126 with implementing the required functionality fully and completely, for
127 the moment "my_desktop" is not going to be implemented.
128 That said, I am extremely interested in code to implement "my_desktop"
130 on Unix, as long as it is capable of dealing (as the Windows
131 implementation does) with internationalisation. It should also avoid
132 false positive results by making sure it only returns the appropriate
133 directories for the appropriate platforms.
134 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
136 does not have a desktop directory, or dies on error.
137 my_documents
139 The "my_documents" method takes no arguments and returns the directory
140 (for the current user) where the user's documents are stored.
141 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
143 does not have a documents directory, or dies on error.
144 my_music
146 The "my_music" method takes no arguments and returns the directory
147 where the current user's music is stored.
148 No bias is made to any particular music type or music program, rather
150 the concept of a directory to hold the user's music is made at the
151 level of the underlying operating system or (at least) desktop
152 environment.
153 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
155 does not have a suitable directory, or dies on error.
156 my_pictures
158 The "my_pictures" method takes no arguments and returns the directory
159 where the current user's pictures are stored.
160 No bias is made to any particular picture type or picture program,
162 rather the concept of a directory to hold the user's pictures is made
163 at the level of the underlying operating system or (at least) desktop
164 environment.
165 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
167 does not have a suitable directory, or dies on error.
168 my_videos
170 The "my_videos" method takes no arguments and returns the directory
171 where the current user's videos are stored.
172 No bias is made to any particular video type or video program, rather
174 the concept of a directory to hold the user's videos is made at the
175 level of the underlying operating system or (at least) desktop
176 environment.
177 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
179 does not have a suitable directory, or dies on error.
180 my_data
182 The "my_data" method takes no arguments and returns the directory where
183 local applications should stored their internal data for the current
184 user.
185 Generally an application would create a subdirectory such as ".foo",
187 beneath this directory, and store its data there. By creating your
188 directory this way, you get an accurate result on the maximum number of
189 platforms.
190 For example, on Unix you get "~/.foo" and on Win32 you get "~/Local
192 Settings/Application Data/.foo"
193 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
195 does not have a data directory, or dies on error.
196 users_home
198 $home = File::HomeDir->users_home('foo');
199 The "users_home" method takes a single param and is used to locate the
201 parent home/profile directory for an identified user on the system.
202 While most of the time this identifier would be some form of user name,
204 it is permitted to vary per-platform to support user ids or UUIDs as
205 applicable for that platform.
206 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
208 have a home directory, or dies on error.
209 users_documents
211 $docs = File::HomeDir->users_documents('foo');
212 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
214 have a documents directory, or dies on error.
215 users_data
217 $data = File::HomeDir->users_data('foo');
218 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
220 have a data directory, or dies on error.
221
223 home
224 use File::HomeDir;
225 $home = home();
226 $home = home('foo');
227 $home = File::HomeDir::home();
228 $home = File::HomeDir::home('foo');
229 The "home" function is exported by default and is provided for
231 compatibility with legacy applications. In new applications, you should
232 use the newer method-based interface above.
233 Returns the directory path to a named user's home/profile directory.
235 If provided no param, returns the directory path to the current user's
237 home/profile directory.
238
240 %~
241 $home = $~{""};
242 $home = $~{undef};
243 $home = $~{$user};
244 $home = $~{username};
245 print "... $~{''} ...";
246 print "... $~{$user} ...";
247 print "... $~{username} ...";
248 This calls "home($user)" or "home('username')" -- except that if you
250 ask for $~{some_user} and there is no such user, it will die.
251 Note that this is especially useful in double-quotish strings, like:
253 print "Jojo's .newsrc is ", -s "$~{jojo}/.newsrc", "b long!\n";
255 # (helpfully dies if there is no user 'jojo')
256 If you want to avoid the fatal errors, first test the value of
258 "home('jojo')", which will return undef (instead of dying) in case of
259 there being no such user.
260 Note, however, that if the hash key is "" or undef (whether thru being
262 a literal "", or a scalar whose value is empty-string or undef), then
263 this returns zero-argument "home()", i.e., your home directory:
264 Further, please note that because the "%~" hash compulsorily modifies a
266 hash outside of it's namespace, and presents an overly simplistic
267 approach to home directories, it is likely to ultimately be removed.
268 The interface is currently expected to be formally deprecated from 2010
270 (but no earlier) and removed from 2015 (but no earlier). If very heavy
271 use is found in the wild, these plans may be pushed back.
272
274 · Become generally clearer on situations in which a user might not
275 have a particular resource.
276 · Add more granularity to Unix, and add support to VMS and other
278 esoteric platforms, so we can consider going core.
279 · Add consistent support for users_* methods
281
283 This module is stored in an Open Repository at the following address.
284 <http://svn.ali.as/cpan/trunk/File-HomeDir>
286 Write access to the repository is made available automatically to any
288 published CPAN author, and to most other volunteers on request.
289 If you are able to submit your bug report in the form of new (failing)
291 unit tests, or can apply your fix directly instead of submitting a
292 patch, you are strongly encouraged to do so as the author currently
293 maintains over 100 modules and it can take some time to deal with non-
294 Critical bug reports or patches.
295 This will guarantee that your issue will be addressed in the next
297 release of the module.
298 If you cannot provide a direct test or fix, or don't have time to do
300 so, then regular bug reports are still accepted and appreciated via the
301 CPAN bug tracker.
302 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=File-HomeDir>
304 For other issues, for commercial enhancement or support, or to have
306 your write access enabled for the repository, contact the author at the
307 email address above.
308
310 The biggest acknowledgement must go to Chris Nandor, who wielded his
311 legendary Mac-fu and turned my initial fairly ordinary Darwin
312 implementation into something that actually worked properly everywhere,
313 and then donated a Mac OS X license to allow it to be maintained
314 properly.
315
317 Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>
318 Sean M. Burke <sburke@cpan.org>
320 Chris Nandor <cnandor@cpan.org>
322 Stephen Steneker <stennie@cpan.org>
324
326 File::ShareDir, File::HomeDir::Win32 (legacy)
327
329 Copyright 2005 - 2009 Adam Kennedy.
330 Some parts copyright 2000 Sean M. Burke.
332 Some parts copyright 2006 Chris Nandor.
334 Some parts copyright 2006 Stephen Steneker.
336 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
338 under the same terms as Perl itself.
339 The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included
341 with this module.
342perl v5.10.1 2009-03-27 File::HomeDir(3)