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 $dist = File::HomeDir->my_dist_data('File-HomeDir');
20 $dist = File::HomeDir->my_dist_config('File-HomeDir');
21 # Modern Interface (Other Users)
23 $home = File::HomeDir->users_home('foo');
24 $desktop = File::HomeDir->users_desktop('foo');
25 $docs = File::HomeDir->users_documents('foo');
26 $music = File::HomeDir->users_music('foo');
27 $pics = File::HomeDir->users_pictures('foo');
28 $video = File::HomeDir->users_videos('foo');
29 $data = File::HomeDir->users_data('foo');
30
32 File::HomeDir is a module for locating the directories that are "owned"
33 by a user (typically your user) and to solve the various issues that
34 arise trying to find them consistently across a wide variety of
35 platforms.
36 The end result is a single API that can find your resources on any
38 platform, making it relatively trivial to create Perl software that
39 works elegantly and correctly no matter where you run it.
40 Platform Neutrality
42 In the Unix world, many different types of data can be mixed together
43 in your home directory (although on some Unix platforms this is no
44 longer the case, particularly for "desktop"-oriented platforms).
45 On some non-Unix platforms, separate directories are allocated for
47 different types of data and have been for a long time.
48 When writing applications on top of File::HomeDir, you should thus
50 always try to use the most specific method you can. User documents
51 should be saved in "my_documents", data that supports an application
52 but isn't normally editing by the user directory should go into
53 "my_data".
54 On platforms that do not make any distinction, all these different
56 methods will harmlessly degrade to the main home directory, but on
57 platforms that care File::HomeDir will always try to Do The Right
58 Thing(tm).
59
61 Two types of methods are provided. The "my_method" series of methods
62 for finding resources for the current user, and the "users_method"
63 (read as "user's method") series for finding resources for arbitrary
64 users.
65 This split is necessary, as on most platforms it is much easier to find
67 information about the current user compared to other users, and indeed
68 on a number you cannot find out information such as "users_desktop" at
69 all, due to security restrictions.
70 All methods will double check (using a "-d" test) that a directory
72 actually exists before returning it, so you may trust in the values
73 that are returned (subject to the usual caveats of race conditions of
74 directories being deleted at the moment between a directory being
75 returned and you using it).
76 However, because in some cases platforms may not support the concept of
78 home directories at all, any method may return "undef" (both in scalar
79 and list context) to indicate that there is no matching directory on
80 the system.
81 For example, most untrusted 'nobody'-type users do not have a home
83 directory. So any modules that are used in a CGI application that at
84 some level of recursion use your code, will result in calls to
85 File::HomeDir returning undef, even for a basic home() call.
86 my_home
88 The "my_home" method takes no arguments and returns the main
89 home/profile directory for the current user.
90 If the distinction is important to you, the term "current" refers to
92 the real user, and not the effective user.
93 This is also the case for all of the other "my" methods.
95 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
97 does not have a home directory, or dies on error.
98 my_desktop
100 The "my_desktop" method takes no arguments and returns the "desktop"
101 directory for the current user.
102 Due to the diversity and complexity of implementations required to deal
104 with implementing the required functionality fully and completely, the
105 "my_desktop" method may or may not be implemented on each platform.
106 That said, I am extremely interested in code to implement "my_desktop"
108 on Unix, as long as it is capable of dealing (as the Windows
109 implementation does) with internationalization. It should also avoid
110 false positive results by making sure it only returns the appropriate
111 directories for the appropriate platforms.
112 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
114 does not have a desktop directory, or dies on error.
115 my_documents
117 The "my_documents" method takes no arguments and returns the directory
118 (for the current user) where the user's documents are stored.
119 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
121 does not have a documents directory, or dies on error.
122 my_music
124 The "my_music" method takes no arguments and returns the directory
125 where the current user's music is stored.
126 No bias is made to any particular music type or music program, rather
128 the concept of a directory to hold the user's music is made at the
129 level of the underlying operating system or (at least) desktop
130 environment.
131 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
133 does not have a suitable directory, or dies on error.
134 my_pictures
136 The "my_pictures" method takes no arguments and returns the directory
137 where the current user's pictures are stored.
138 No bias is made to any particular picture type or picture program,
140 rather the concept of a directory to hold the user's pictures is made
141 at the level of the underlying operating system or (at least) desktop
142 environment.
143 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
145 does not have a suitable directory, or dies on error.
146 my_videos
148 The "my_videos" method takes no arguments and returns the directory
149 where the current user's videos are stored.
150 No bias is made to any particular video type or video program, rather
152 the concept of a directory to hold the user's videos is made at the
153 level of the underlying operating system or (at least) desktop
154 environment.
155 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
157 does not have a suitable directory, or dies on error.
158 my_data
160 The "my_data" method takes no arguments and returns the directory where
161 local applications should store their internal data for the current
162 user.
163 Generally an application would create a subdirectory such as ".foo",
165 beneath this directory, and store its data there. By creating your
166 directory this way, you get an accurate result on the maximum number of
167 platforms. But see the documentation about my_dist_config() or
168 my_dist_data() below.
169 For example, on Unix you get "~/.foo" and on Win32 you get "~/Local
171 Settings/Application Data/.foo"
172 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if the current user
174 does not have a data directory, or dies on error.
175 my_dist_config
177 File::HomeDir->my_dist_config( $dist [, \%params] );
178 # For example...
180 File::HomeDir->my_dist_config( 'File-HomeDir' );
182 File::HomeDir->my_dist_config( 'File-HomeDir', { create => 1 } );
183 The "my_dist_config" method takes a distribution name as argument and
185 returns an application-specific directory where they should store their
186 internal configuration.
187 The base directory will be either "my_config" if the platform supports
189 it, or "my_documents" otherwise. The subdirectory itself will be
190 "BASE/Perl/Dist-Name". If the base directory is the user's home
191 directory, "my_dist_config" will be in "~/.perl/Dist-Name" (and thus be
192 hidden on all Unixes).
193 The optional last argument is a hash reference to tweak the method
195 behaviour. The following hash keys are recognized:
196 • create
198 Passing a true value to this key will force the creation of the
200 directory if it doesn't exist (remember that "File::HomeDir"'s
201 policy is to return "undef" if the directory doesn't exist).
202 Defaults to false, meaning no automatic creation of directory.
204 my_dist_data
206 File::HomeDir->my_dist_data( $dist [, \%params] );
207 # For example...
209 File::HomeDir->my_dist_data( 'File-HomeDir' );
211 File::HomeDir->my_dist_data( 'File-HomeDir', { create => 1 } );
212 The "my_dist_data" method takes a distribution name as argument and
214 returns an application-specific directory where they should store their
215 internal data.
216 This directory will be of course a subdirectory of "my_data". Platforms
218 supporting data-specific directories will use
219 "DATA_DIR/perl/dist/Dist-Name" following the common
220 "DATA/vendor/application" pattern. If the "my_data" directory is the
221 user's home directory, "my_dist_data" will be in
222 "~/.perl/dist/Dist-Name" (and thus be hidden on all Unixes).
223 The optional last argument is a hash reference to tweak the method
225 behaviour. The following hash keys are recognized:
226 • create
228 Passing a true value to this key will force the creation of the
230 directory if it doesn't exist (remember that "File::HomeDir"'s
231 policy is to return "undef" if the directory doesn't exist).
232 Defaults to false, meaning no automatic creation of directory.
234 users_home
236 $home = File::HomeDir->users_home('foo');
237 The "users_home" method takes a single parameter and is used to locate
239 the parent home/profile directory for an identified user on the system.
240 While most of the time this identifier would be some form of user name,
242 it is permitted to vary per-platform to support user ids or UUIDs as
243 applicable for that platform.
244 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
246 have a home directory, or dies on error.
247 users_documents
249 $docs = File::HomeDir->users_documents('foo');
250 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
252 have a documents directory, or dies on error.
253 users_data
255 $data = File::HomeDir->users_data('foo');
256 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
258 have a data directory, or dies on error.
259 users_desktop
261 $docs = File::HomeDir->users_desktop('foo');
262 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
264 have a desktop directory, or dies on error.
265 users_music
267 $docs = File::HomeDir->users_music('foo');
268 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
270 have a music directory, or dies on error.
271 users_pictures
273 $docs = File::HomeDir->users_pictures('foo');
274 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
276 have a pictures directory, or dies on error.
277 users_videos
279 $docs = File::HomeDir->users_videos('foo');
280 Returns the directory path as a string, "undef" if that user does not
282 have a videos directory, or dies on error.
283
285 home
286 use File::HomeDir;
287 $home = home();
288 $home = home('foo');
289 $home = File::HomeDir::home();
290 $home = File::HomeDir::home('foo');
291 The "home" function is exported by default and is provided for
293 compatibility with legacy applications. In new applications, you should
294 use the newer method-based interface above.
295 Returns the directory path to a named user's home/profile directory.
297 If provided no parameter, returns the directory path to the current
299 user's home/profile directory.
300
302 • Add more granularity to Unix, and add support to VMS and other
303 esoteric platforms, so we can consider going core.
304 • Add consistent support for users_* methods
306
308 This module is stored in an Open Repository at the following address.
309 <http://svn.ali.as/cpan/trunk/File-HomeDir>
311 Write access to the repository is made available automatically to any
313 published CPAN author, and to most other volunteers on request.
314 If you are able to submit your bug report in the form of new (failing)
316 unit tests, or can apply your fix directly instead of submitting a
317 patch, you are strongly encouraged to do so as the author currently
318 maintains over 100 modules and it can take some time to deal with non-
319 Critical bug reports or patches.
320 This will guarantee that your issue will be addressed in the next
322 release of the module.
323 If you cannot provide a direct test or fix, or don't have time to do
325 so, then regular bug reports are still accepted and appreciated via the
326 CPAN bug tracker.
327 <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=File-HomeDir>
329 For other issues, for commercial enhancement or support, or to have
331 your write access enabled for the repository, contact the author at the
332 email address above.
333
335 The biggest acknowledgement goes to Chris Nandor, who wielded his
336 legendary Mac-fu and turned my initial fairly ordinary Darwin
337 implementation into something that actually worked properly everywhere,
338 and then donated a Mac OS X license to allow it to be maintained
339 properly.
340
342 Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org>
343 Sean M. Burke <sburke@cpan.org>
345 Chris Nandor <cnandor@cpan.org>
347 Stephen Steneker <stennie@cpan.org>
349
351 File::ShareDir, File::HomeDir::Win32 (legacy)
352
354 Copyright 2005 - 2012 Adam Kennedy.
355 Copyright 2017 - 2020 Jens Rehsack
357 Some parts copyright 2000 Sean M. Burke.
359 Some parts copyright 2006 Chris Nandor.
361 Some parts copyright 2006 Stephen Steneker.
363 Some parts copyright 2009-2011 Jérôme Quelin.
365 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
367 under the same terms as Perl itself.
368 The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included
370 with this module.
371perl v5.38.0 2023-07-20 File::HomeDir(3)