| Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation |
Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation
version 0.35
use Path::Class;
my $dir = dir('foo', 'bar'); # Path::Class::Dir object
my $file = file('bob', 'file.txt'); # Path::Class::File object
# Stringifies to 'foo/bar' on Unix, 'foo\bar' on Windows, etc.
print "dir: $dir\n";
# Stringifies to 'bob/file.txt' on Unix, 'bob\file.txt' on Windows
print "file: $file\n";
my $subdir = $dir->subdir('baz'); # foo/bar/baz
my $parent = $subdir->parent; # foo/bar
my $parent2 = $parent->parent; # foo
my $dir2 = $file->dir; # bob
# Work with foreign paths
use Path::Class qw(foreign_file foreign_dir);
my $file = foreign_file('Mac', ':foo:file.txt');
print $file->dir; # :foo:
print $file->as_foreign('Win32'); # foo\file.txt
# Interact with the underlying filesystem:
# $dir_handle is an IO::Dir object
my $dir_handle = $dir->open or die "Can't read $dir: $!";
# $file_handle is an IO::File object
my $file_handle = $file->open($mode) or die "Can't read $file: $!";
Path::Class is a module for manipulation of file and directory
specifications (strings describing their locations, like
'/home/ken/foo.txt' or 'C:\Windows\Foo.txt') in a cross-platform
manner. It supports pretty much every platform Perl runs on,
including Unix, Windows, Mac, VMS, Epoc, Cygwin, OS/2, and NetWare.
The well-known module the File::Spec manpage also provides this service, but it's sort of awkward to use well, so people sometimes avoid it, or use it in a way that won't actually work properly on platforms significantly different than the ones they've tested their code on.
In fact, Path::Class uses File::Spec internally, wrapping all
the unsightly details so you can concentrate on your application code.
Whereas File::Spec provides functions for some common path
manipulations, Path::Class provides an object-oriented model of the
world of path specifications and their underlying semantics.
File::Spec doesn't create any objects, and its classes represent
the different ways in which paths must be manipulated on various
platforms (not a very intuitive concept). Path::Class creates
objects representing files and directories, and provides methods that
relate them to each other. For instance, the following File::Spec
code:
my $absolute = File::Spec->file_name_is_absolute(
File::Spec->catfile( @dirs, $file )
);
can be written using Path::Class as
my $absolute = Path::Class::File->new( @dirs, $file )->is_absolute;
or even as
my $absolute = file( @dirs, $file )->is_absolute;
Similar readability improvements should happen all over the place when
using Path::Class.
Using Path::Class can help solve real problems in your code too -
for instance, how many people actually take the "volume" (like C:
on Windows) into account when writing File::Spec-using code? I
thought not. But if you use Path::Class, your file and directory objects
will know what volumes they refer to and do the right thing.
The guts of the Path::Class code live in the the Path::Class::File manpage
and the Path::Class::Dir manpage modules, so please see those
modules' documentation for more details about how to use them.
The following functions are exported by default.
A synonym for Path::Class::File->new.
A synonym for Path::Class::Dir->new.
If you would like to prevent their export, you may explicitly pass an
empty list to perl's use, i.e. use Path::Class ().
The following are exported only on demand.
A synonym for Path::Class::File->new_foreign.
A synonym for Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign.
Create a new Path::Class::Dir instance pointed to temporary directory.
my $temp = Path::Class::tempdir(CLEANUP => 1);
A synonym for Path::Class::Dir->new(File::Temp::tempdir(@_)).
Although it is much easier to write cross-platform-friendly code with
this module than with File::Spec, there are still some issues to be
aware of.
On some platforms, notably VMS and some older versions of DOS (I think), all filenames must have an extension. Thus if you create a file called foo/bar and then ask for a list of files in the directory foo, you may find a file called bar. instead of the bar you were expecting. Thus it might be a good idea to use an extension in the first place.
Ken Williams, KWILLIAMS@cpan.org
Copyright (c) Ken Williams. All rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
the Path::Class::Dir manpage, the Path::Class::File manpage, the File::Spec manpage
| Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation |