1File::Spec(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation File::Spec(3)
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6 File::Spec - portably perform operations on file names
7
9 use File::Spec;
10 $x=File::Spec->catfile('a', 'b', 'c');
12 which returns 'a/b/c' under Unix. Or:
14 use File::Spec::Functions;
16 $x = catfile('a', 'b', 'c');
18
20 This module is designed to support operations commonly performed on
21 file specifications (usually called "file names", but not to be
22 confused with the contents of a file, or Perl's file handles), such as
23 concatenating several directory and file names into a single path, or
24 determining whether a path is rooted. It is based on code directly
25 taken from MakeMaker 5.17, code written by Andreas Koenig, Andy
26 Dougherty, Charles Bailey, Ilya Zakharevich, Paul Schinder, and others.
27 Since these functions are different for most operating systems, each
29 set of OS specific routines is available in a separate module,
30 including:
31 File::Spec::Unix
33 File::Spec::Mac
34 File::Spec::OS2
35 File::Spec::Win32
36 File::Spec::VMS
37 The module appropriate for the current OS is automatically loaded by
39 File::Spec. Since some modules (like VMS) make use of facilities
40 available only under that OS, it may not be possible to load all
41 modules under all operating systems.
42 Since File::Spec is object oriented, subroutines should not be called
44 directly, as in:
45 File::Spec::catfile('a','b');
47 but rather as class methods:
49 File::Spec->catfile('a','b');
51 For simple uses, File::Spec::Functions provides convenient functional
53 forms of these methods.
54
56 canonpath
57 No physical check on the filesystem, but a logical cleanup of a path.
58 $cpath = File::Spec->canonpath( $path ) ;
60 Note that this does *not* collapse x/../y sections into y. This is
62 by design. If /foo on your system is a symlink to /bar/baz, then
63 /foo/../quux is actually /bar/quux, not /quux as a naive ../-removal
64 would give you. If you want to do this kind of processing, you
65 probably want "Cwd"'s "realpath()" function to actually traverse the
66 filesystem cleaning up paths like this.
67 catdir
69 Concatenate two or more directory names to form a complete path
70 ending with a directory. But remove the trailing slash from the
71 resulting string, because it doesn't look good, isn't necessary and
72 confuses OS/2. Of course, if this is the root directory, don't cut
73 off the trailing slash :-)
74 $path = File::Spec->catdir( @directories );
76 catfile
78 Concatenate one or more directory names and a filename to form a
79 complete path ending with a filename
80 $path = File::Spec->catfile( @directories, $filename );
82 curdir
84 Returns a string representation of the current directory.
85 $curdir = File::Spec->curdir();
87 devnull
89 Returns a string representation of the null device.
90 $devnull = File::Spec->devnull();
92 rootdir
94 Returns a string representation of the root directory.
95 $rootdir = File::Spec->rootdir();
97 tmpdir
99 Returns a string representation of the first writable directory from
100 a list of possible temporary directories. Returns the current
101 directory if no writable temporary directories are found. The list
102 of directories checked depends on the platform; e.g. File::Spec::Unix
103 checks $ENV{TMPDIR} (unless taint is on) and /tmp.
104 $tmpdir = File::Spec->tmpdir();
106 updir
108 Returns a string representation of the parent directory.
109 $updir = File::Spec->updir();
111 no_upwards
113 Given a list of file names, strip out those that refer to a parent
114 directory. (Does not strip symlinks, only '.', '..', and
115 equivalents.)
116 @paths = File::Spec->no_upwards( @paths );
118 case_tolerant
120 Returns a true or false value indicating, respectively, that
121 alphabetic case is not or is significant when comparing file
122 specifications. Cygwin and Win32 accept an optional drive argument.
123 $is_case_tolerant = File::Spec->case_tolerant();
125 file_name_is_absolute
127 Takes as its argument a path, and returns true if it is an absolute
128 path.
129 $is_absolute = File::Spec->file_name_is_absolute( $path );
131 This does not consult the local filesystem on Unix, Win32, OS/2, or
133 Mac OS (Classic). It does consult the working environment for VMS
134 (see "file_name_is_absolute" in File::Spec::VMS).
135 path
137 Takes no argument. Returns the environment variable "PATH" (or the
138 local platform's equivalent) as a list.
139 @PATH = File::Spec->path();
141 join
143 join is the same as catfile.
144 splitpath
146 Splits a path in to volume, directory, and filename portions. On
147 systems with no concept of volume, returns '' for volume.
148 ($volume,$directories,$file) =
150 File::Spec->splitpath( $path );
151 ($volume,$directories,$file) =
152 File::Spec->splitpath( $path, $no_file );
153 For systems with no syntax differentiating filenames from
155 directories, assumes that the last file is a path unless $no_file is
156 true or a trailing separator or /. or /.. is present. On Unix, this
157 means that $no_file true makes this return ( '', $path, '' ).
158 The directory portion may or may not be returned with a trailing '/'.
160 The results can be passed to "catpath()" to get back a path
162 equivalent to (usually identical to) the original path.
163 splitdir
165 The opposite of "catdir".
166 @dirs = File::Spec->splitdir( $directories );
168 $directories must be only the directory portion of the path on
170 systems that have the concept of a volume or that have path syntax
171 that differentiates files from directories.
172 Unlike just splitting the directories on the separator, empty
174 directory names ('') can be returned, because these are significant
175 on some OSes.
176 catpath()
178 Takes volume, directory and file portions and returns an entire path.
179 Under Unix, $volume is ignored, and directory and file are
180 concatenated. A '/' is inserted if need be. On other OSes, $volume
181 is significant.
182 $full_path = File::Spec->catpath( $volume, $directory, $file );
184 abs2rel
186 Takes a destination path and an optional base path returns a relative
187 path from the base path to the destination path:
188 $rel_path = File::Spec->abs2rel( $path ) ;
190 $rel_path = File::Spec->abs2rel( $path, $base ) ;
191 If $base is not present or '', then Cwd::cwd() is used. If $base is
193 relative, then it is converted to absolute form using "rel2abs()".
194 This means that it is taken to be relative to Cwd::cwd().
195 On systems with the concept of volume, if $path and $base appear to
197 be on two different volumes, we will not attempt to resolve the two
198 paths, and we will instead simply return $path. Note that previous
199 versions of this module ignored the volume of $base, which resulted
200 in garbage results part of the time.
201 On systems that have a grammar that indicates filenames, this ignores
203 the $base filename as well. Otherwise all path components are assumed
204 to be directories.
205 If $path is relative, it is converted to absolute form using
207 "rel2abs()". This means that it is taken to be relative to
208 Cwd::cwd().
209 No checks against the filesystem are made. On VMS, there is
211 interaction with the working environment, as logicals and macros are
212 expanded.
213 Based on code written by Shigio Yamaguchi.
215 rel2abs()
217 Converts a relative path to an absolute path.
218 $abs_path = File::Spec->rel2abs( $path ) ;
220 $abs_path = File::Spec->rel2abs( $path, $base ) ;
221 If $base is not present or '', then Cwd::cwd() is used. If $base is
223 relative, then it is converted to absolute form using "rel2abs()".
224 This means that it is taken to be relative to Cwd::cwd().
225 On systems with the concept of volume, if $path and $base appear to
227 be on two different volumes, we will not attempt to resolve the two
228 paths, and we will instead simply return $path. Note that previous
229 versions of this module ignored the volume of $base, which resulted
230 in garbage results part of the time.
231 On systems that have a grammar that indicates filenames, this ignores
233 the $base filename as well. Otherwise all path components are assumed
234 to be directories.
235 If $path is absolute, it is cleaned up and returned using
237 "canonpath".
238 No checks against the filesystem are made. On VMS, there is
240 interaction with the working environment, as logicals and macros are
241 expanded.
242 Based on code written by Shigio Yamaguchi.
244 For further information, please see File::Spec::Unix, File::Spec::Mac,
246 File::Spec::OS2, File::Spec::Win32, or File::Spec::VMS.
247
249 File::Spec::Unix, File::Spec::Mac, File::Spec::OS2, File::Spec::Win32,
250 File::Spec::VMS, File::Spec::Functions, ExtUtils::MakeMaker
251
253 Currently maintained by Ken Williams "<KWILLIAMS@cpan.org>".
254 The vast majority of the code was written by Kenneth Albanowski
256 "<kjahds@kjahds.com>", Andy Dougherty "<doughera@lafayette.edu>",
257 Andreas Koenig "<A.Koenig@franz.ww.TU-Berlin.DE>", Tim Bunce
258 "<Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>". VMS support by Charles Bailey
259 "<bailey@newman.upenn.edu>". OS/2 support by Ilya Zakharevich
260 "<ilya@math.ohio-state.edu>". Mac support by Paul Schinder
261 "<schinder@pobox.com>", and Thomas Wegner "<wegner_thomas@yahoo.com>".
262 abs2rel() and rel2abs() written by Shigio Yamaguchi
263 "<shigio@tamacom.com>", modified by Barrie Slaymaker
264 "<barries@slaysys.com>". splitpath(), splitdir(), catpath() and
265 catdir() by Barrie Slaymaker.
266
268 Copyright (c) 2004-2013 by the Perl 5 Porters. All rights reserved.
269 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
271 under the same terms as Perl itself.
272perl v5.16.3 2013-01-16 File::Spec(3)