Path::Class(3pm)

1Path::Class(3)        User Contributed Perl Documentation       Path::Class(3)
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NAME

6       Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation
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VERSION

9       version 0.23
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SYNOPSIS

12         use Path::Class;
13
14         my $dir  = dir('foo', 'bar');       # Path::Class::Dir object
15         my $file = file('bob', 'file.txt'); # Path::Class::File object
16
17         # Stringifies to 'foo/bar' on Unix, 'foo\bar' on Windows, etc.
18         print "dir: $dir\n";
19
20         # Stringifies to 'bob/file.txt' on Unix, 'bob\file.txt' on Windows
21         print "file: $file\n";
22
23         my $subdir  = $dir->subdir('baz');  # foo/bar/baz
24         my $parent  = $subdir->parent;      # foo/bar
25         my $parent2 = $parent->parent;      # foo
26
27         my $dir2 = $file->dir;              # bob
28
29         # Work with foreign paths
30         use Path::Class qw(foreign_file foreign_dir);
31         my $file = foreign_file('Mac', ':foo:file.txt');
32         print $file->dir;                   # :foo:
33         print $file->as_foreign('Win32');   # foo\file.txt
34
35         # Interact with the underlying filesystem:
36
37         # $dir_handle is an IO::Dir object
38         my $dir_handle = $dir->open or die "Can't read $dir: $!";
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40         # $file_handle is an IO::File object
41         my $file_handle = $file->open($mode) or die "Can't read $file: $!";
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DESCRIPTION

44       "Path::Class" is a module for manipulation of file and directory
45       specifications (strings describing their locations, like
46       '/home/ken/foo.txt' or 'C:\Windows\Foo.txt') in a cross-platform
47       manner.  It supports pretty much every platform Perl runs on, including
48       Unix, Windows, Mac, VMS, Epoc, Cygwin, OS/2, and NetWare.
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50       The well-known module "File::Spec" also provides this service, but it's
51       sort of awkward to use well, so people sometimes avoid it, or use it in
52       a way that won't actually work properly on platforms significantly
53       different than the ones they've tested their code on.
54
55       In fact, "Path::Class" uses "File::Spec" internally, wrapping all the
56       unsightly details so you can concentrate on your application code.
57       Whereas "File::Spec" provides functions for some common path
58       manipulations, "Path::Class" provides an object-oriented model of the
59       world of path specifications and their underlying semantics.
60       "File::Spec" doesn't create any objects, and its classes represent the
61       different ways in which paths must be manipulated on various platforms
62       (not a very intuitive concept).  "Path::Class" creates objects
63       representing files and directories, and provides methods that relate
64       them to each other.  For instance, the following "File::Spec" code:
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66        my $absolute = File::Spec->file_name_is_absolute(
67                         File::Spec->catfile( @dirs, $file )
68                       );
69
70       can be written using "Path::Class" as
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72        my $absolute = Path::Class::File->new( @dirs, $file )->is_absolute;
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74       or even as
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76        my $absolute = file( @dirs, $file )->is_absolute;
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78       Similar readability improvements should happen all over the place when
79       using "Path::Class".
80
81       Using "Path::Class" can help solve real problems in your code too - for
82       instance, how many people actually take the "volume" (like "C:" on
83       Windows) into account when writing "File::Spec"-using code?  I thought
84       not.  But if you use "Path::Class", your file and directory objects
85       will know what volumes they refer to and do the right thing.
86
87       The guts of the "Path::Class" code live in the "Path::Class::File" and
88       "Path::Class::Dir" modules, so please see those modules' documentation
89       for more details about how to use them.
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91   EXPORT
92       The following functions are exported by default.
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94       file
95           A synonym for "Path::Class::File->new".
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97       dir A synonym for "Path::Class::Dir->new".
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99       If you would like to prevent their export, you may explicitly pass an
100       empty list to perl's "use", i.e. "use Path::Class ()".
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102       The following are exported only on demand.
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104       foreign_file
105           A synonym for "Path::Class::File->new_foreign".
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107       foreign_dir
108           A synonym for "Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign".
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Notes on Cross-Platform Compatibility

111       Although it is much easier to write cross-platform-friendly code with
112       this module than with "File::Spec", there are still some issues to be
113       aware of.
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115       ·   Some platforms, notably VMS and some older versions of DOS (I
116           think), all filenames must have an extension.  Thus if you create a
117           file called foo/bar and then ask for a list of files in the
118           directory foo, you may find a file called bar. instead of the bar
119           you were expecting.  Thus it might be a good idea to use an
120           extension in the first place.
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AUTHOR

123       Ken Williams, KWILLIAMS@cpan.org
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COPYRIGHT

126       Copyright (c) Ken Williams.  All rights reserved.
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128       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
129       under the same terms as Perl itself.
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