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.\"
.IX Title "File::Spec 3perl"
.TH File::Spec 3perl 2023-11-30 "perl v5.38.2" "Perl Programmers Reference Guide"
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
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.nh
.SH NAME
File::Spec \- portably perform operations on file names
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
.Vb 1
\&        use File::Spec;
\&
\&        my $x = File::Spec\->catfile(\*(Aqa\*(Aq, \*(Aqb\*(Aq, \*(Aqc\*(Aq);
.Ve
.PP
which returns 'a/b/c' under Unix. Or:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&        use File::Spec::Functions;
\&
\&        my $x = catfile(\*(Aqa\*(Aq, \*(Aqb\*(Aq, \*(Aqc\*(Aq);
.Ve
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
This module is designed to support operations commonly performed on file
specifications (usually called "file names", but not to be confused with the
contents of a file, or Perl's file handles), such as concatenating several
directory and file names into a single path, or determining whether a path
is rooted. It is based on code directly taken from MakeMaker 5.17, code
written by Andreas König, Andy Dougherty, Charles Bailey, Ilya
Zakharevich, Paul Schinder, and others.
.PP
Since these functions are different for most operating systems, each set of
OS specific routines is available in a separate module, including:
.PP
.Vb 5
\&        File::Spec::Unix
\&        File::Spec::Mac
\&        File::Spec::OS2
\&        File::Spec::Win32
\&        File::Spec::VMS
.Ve
.PP
The module appropriate for the current OS is automatically loaded by
File::Spec. Since some modules (like VMS) make use of facilities available
only under that OS, it may not be possible to load all modules under all
operating systems.
.PP
Since File::Spec is object oriented, subroutines should not be called directly,
as in:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&        File::Spec::catfile(\*(Aqa\*(Aq,\*(Aqb\*(Aq);
.Ve
.PP
but rather as class methods:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&        File::Spec\->catfile(\*(Aqa\*(Aq,\*(Aqb\*(Aq);
.Ve
.PP
For simple uses, File::Spec::Functions provides convenient functional
forms of these methods.
.SH METHODS
.IX Header "METHODS"
.IP canonpath 2
.IX Xref "canonpath"
.IX Item "canonpath"
No physical check on the filesystem, but a logical cleanup of a
path.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $cpath = File::Spec\->canonpath( $path ) ;
.Ve
.Sp
Note that this does *not* collapse \fIx/../y\fR sections into \fIy\fR.  This
is by design.  If \fI/foo\fR on your system is a symlink to \fI/bar/baz\fR,
then \fI/foo/../quux\fR is actually \fI/bar/quux\fR, not \fI/quux\fR as a naive
\&\fI../\fR\-removal would give you.  If you want to do this kind of
processing, you probably want \f(CW\*(C`Cwd\*(C'\fR's \f(CWrealpath()\fR function to
actually traverse the filesystem cleaning up paths like this.
.IP catdir 2
.IX Xref "catdir"
.IX Item "catdir"
Concatenate two or more directory names to form a complete path ending
with a directory. But remove the trailing slash from the resulting
string, because it doesn't look good, isn't necessary and confuses
OS/2. Of course, if this is the root directory, don't cut off the
trailing slash :\-)
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $path = File::Spec\->catdir( @directories );
.Ve
.IP catfile 2
.IX Xref "catfile"
.IX Item "catfile"
Concatenate one or more directory names and a filename to form a
complete path ending with a filename
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $path = File::Spec\->catfile( @directories, $filename );
.Ve
.IP curdir 2
.IX Xref "curdir"
.IX Item "curdir"
Returns a string representation of the current directory.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $curdir = File::Spec\->curdir();
.Ve
.IP devnull 2
.IX Xref "devnull"
.IX Item "devnull"
Returns a string representation of the null device.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $devnull = File::Spec\->devnull();
.Ve
.IP rootdir 2
.IX Xref "rootdir"
.IX Item "rootdir"
Returns a string representation of the root directory.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $rootdir = File::Spec\->rootdir();
.Ve
.IP tmpdir 2
.IX Xref "tmpdir"
.IX Item "tmpdir"
Returns a string representation of the first writable directory from a
list of possible temporary directories.  Returns the current directory
if no writable temporary directories are found.  The list of directories
checked depends on the platform; e.g. File::Spec::Unix checks \f(CW$ENV{TMPDIR}\fR
(unless taint is on) and \fI/tmp\fR.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $tmpdir = File::Spec\->tmpdir();
.Ve
.IP updir 2
.IX Xref "updir"
.IX Item "updir"
Returns a string representation of the parent directory.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $updir = File::Spec\->updir();
.Ve
.IP no_upwards 2
.IX Item "no_upwards"
Given a list of files in a directory (such as from \f(CWreaddir()\fR),
strip out \f(CW\*(Aq.\*(Aq\fR and \f(CW\*(Aq..\*(Aq\fR.
.Sp
\&\fBSECURITY NOTE:\fR This does NOT filter paths containing \f(CW\*(Aq..\*(Aq\fR, like
\&\f(CW\*(Aq../../../../etc/passwd\*(Aq\fR, only literal matches to \f(CW\*(Aq.\*(Aq\fR and \f(CW\*(Aq..\*(Aq\fR.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    @paths = File::Spec\->no_upwards( readdir $dirhandle );
.Ve
.IP case_tolerant 2
.IX Item "case_tolerant"
Returns a true or false value indicating, respectively, that alphabetic
case is not or is significant when comparing file specifications.
Cygwin and Win32 accept an optional drive argument.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $is_case_tolerant = File::Spec\->case_tolerant();
.Ve
.IP file_name_is_absolute 2
.IX Item "file_name_is_absolute"
Takes as its argument a path, and returns true if it is an absolute path.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $is_absolute = File::Spec\->file_name_is_absolute( $path );
.Ve
.Sp
This does not consult the local filesystem on Unix, Win32, OS/2, or
Mac OS (Classic).  It does consult the working environment for VMS
(see "file_name_is_absolute" in File::Spec::VMS).
.IP path 2
.IX Xref "path"
.IX Item "path"
Takes no argument.  Returns the environment variable \f(CW\*(C`PATH\*(C'\fR (or the local
platform's equivalent) as a list.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    @PATH = File::Spec\->path();
.Ve
.IP join 2
.IX Xref "join, path"
.IX Item "join"
join is the same as catfile.
.IP splitpath 2
.IX Xref "splitpath split, path"
.IX Item "splitpath"
Splits a path in to volume, directory, and filename portions. On systems
with no concept of volume, returns '' for volume.
.Sp
.Vb 4
\&    ($volume,$directories,$file) =
\&                       File::Spec\->splitpath( $path );
\&    ($volume,$directories,$file) =
\&                       File::Spec\->splitpath( $path, $no_file );
.Ve
.Sp
For systems with no syntax differentiating filenames from directories, 
assumes that the last file is a path unless \f(CW$no_file\fR is true or a
trailing separator or \fI/.\fR or \fI/..\fR is present. On Unix, this means that \f(CW$no_file\fR
true makes this return ( '', \f(CW$path\fR, '' ).
.Sp
The directory portion may or may not be returned with a trailing '/'.
.Sp
The results can be passed to "\fBcatpath()\fR" to get back a path equivalent to
(usually identical to) the original path.
.IP splitdir 2
.IX Xref "splitdir split, dir"
.IX Item "splitdir"
The opposite of "catdir".
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    @dirs = File::Spec\->splitdir( $directories );
.Ve
.Sp
\&\f(CW$directories\fR must be only the directory portion of the path on systems 
that have the concept of a volume or that have path syntax that differentiates
files from directories.
.Sp
Unlike just splitting the directories on the separator, empty
directory names (\f(CW\*(Aq\*(Aq\fR) can be returned, because these are significant
on some OSes.
.IP \fBcatpath()\fR 2
.IX Item "catpath()"
Takes volume, directory and file portions and returns an entire path. Under
Unix, \f(CW$volume\fR is ignored, and directory and file are concatenated.  A '/' is
inserted if need be.  On other OSes, \f(CW$volume\fR is significant.
.Sp
.Vb 1
\&    $full_path = File::Spec\->catpath( $volume, $directory, $file );
.Ve
.IP abs2rel 2
.IX Xref "abs2rel absolute, path relative, path"
.IX Item "abs2rel"
Takes a destination path and an optional base path returns a relative path
from the base path to the destination path:
.Sp
.Vb 2
\&    $rel_path = File::Spec\->abs2rel( $path ) ;
\&    $rel_path = File::Spec\->abs2rel( $path, $base ) ;
.Ve
.Sp
If \f(CW$base\fR is not present or '', then \fBCwd::cwd()\fR is used. If \f(CW$base\fR is
relative, then it is converted to absolute form using
"\fBrel2abs()\fR". This means that it is taken to be relative to
\&\fBCwd::cwd()\fR.
.Sp
On systems with the concept of volume, if \f(CW$path\fR and \f(CW$base\fR appear to be
on two different volumes, we will not attempt to resolve the two
paths, and we will instead simply return \f(CW$path\fR.  Note that previous
versions of this module ignored the volume of \f(CW$base\fR, which resulted in
garbage results part of the time.
.Sp
On systems that have a grammar that indicates filenames, this ignores the 
\&\f(CW$base\fR filename as well. Otherwise all path components are assumed to be
directories.
.Sp
If \f(CW$path\fR is relative, it is converted to absolute form using "\fBrel2abs()\fR".
This means that it is taken to be relative to \fBCwd::cwd()\fR.
.Sp
No checks against the filesystem are made.  On VMS, there is
interaction with the working environment, as logicals and
macros are expanded.
.Sp
Based on code written by Shigio Yamaguchi.
.IP \fBrel2abs()\fR 2
.IX Xref "rel2abs absolute, path relative, path"
.IX Item "rel2abs()"
Converts a relative path to an absolute path.
.Sp
.Vb 2
\&    $abs_path = File::Spec\->rel2abs( $path ) ;
\&    $abs_path = File::Spec\->rel2abs( $path, $base ) ;
.Ve
.Sp
If \f(CW$base\fR is not present or '', then \fBCwd::cwd()\fR is used. If \f(CW$base\fR is relative,
then it is converted to absolute form using "\fBrel2abs()\fR". This means that it
is taken to be relative to \fBCwd::cwd()\fR.
.Sp
On systems with the concept of volume, if \f(CW$path\fR and \f(CW$base\fR appear to be
on two different volumes, we will not attempt to resolve the two
paths, and we will instead simply return \f(CW$path\fR.  Note that previous
versions of this module ignored the volume of \f(CW$base\fR, which resulted in
garbage results part of the time.
.Sp
On systems that have a grammar that indicates filenames, this ignores the 
\&\f(CW$base\fR filename as well. Otherwise all path components are assumed to be
directories.
.Sp
If \f(CW$path\fR is absolute, it is cleaned up and returned using "canonpath".
.Sp
No checks against the filesystem are made.  On VMS, there is
interaction with the working environment, as logicals and
macros are expanded.
.Sp
Based on code written by Shigio Yamaguchi.
.PP
For further information, please see File::Spec::Unix,
File::Spec::Mac, File::Spec::OS2, File::Spec::Win32, or
File::Spec::VMS.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
File::Spec::Unix, File::Spec::Mac, File::Spec::OS2,
File::Spec::Win32, File::Spec::VMS, File::Spec::Functions,
ExtUtils::MakeMaker
.SH AUTHOR
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
Maintained by perl5\-porters <\fIperl5\-porters@perl.org\fR>.
.PP
The vast majority of the code was written by
Kenneth Albanowski \f(CW\*(C`<kjahds@kjahds.com>\*(C'\fR,
Andy Dougherty \f(CW\*(C`<doughera@lafayette.edu>\*(C'\fR,
Andreas König \f(CW\*(C`<A.Koenig@franz.ww.TU\-Berlin.DE>\*(C'\fR,
Tim Bunce \f(CW\*(C`<Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk>\*(C'\fR.
VMS support by Charles Bailey \f(CW\*(C`<bailey@newman.upenn.edu>\*(C'\fR.
OS/2 support by Ilya Zakharevich \f(CW\*(C`<ilya@math.ohio\-state.edu>\*(C'\fR.
Mac support by Paul Schinder \f(CW\*(C`<schinder@pobox.com>\*(C'\fR, and
Thomas Wegner \f(CW\*(C`<wegner_thomas@yahoo.com>\*(C'\fR.
\&\fBabs2rel()\fR and \fBrel2abs()\fR written by Shigio Yamaguchi \f(CW\*(C`<shigio@tamacom.com>\*(C'\fR,
modified by Barrie Slaymaker \f(CW\*(C`<barries@slaysys.com>\*(C'\fR.
\&\fBsplitpath()\fR, \fBsplitdir()\fR, \fBcatpath()\fR and \fBcatdir()\fR by Barrie Slaymaker.
.SH COPYRIGHT
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright (c) 2004\-2013 by the Perl 5 Porters.  All rights reserved.
.PP
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.