NAME¶
Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation
VERSION¶
version 0.26
SYNOPSIS¶
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: $!";
DESCRIPTION¶
"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 "File::Spec" 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
"Path::Class::File" and "Path::Class::Dir" modules, so
please see those modules' documentation for more details about how to use
them.
EXPORT¶
The following functions are exported by default.
- file
- A synonym for "Path::Class::File->new".
- dir
- 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.
- foreign_file
- A synonym for
"Path::Class::File->new_foreign".
- foreign_dir
- A synonym for
"Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign".
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.
AUTHOR¶
Ken Williams, KWILLIAMS@cpan.org
COPYRIGHT¶
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.
SEE ALSO¶
Path::Class::Dir, Path::Class::File, File::Spec