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file(3tcl) | Tcl Built-In Commands | file(3tcl) |
NAME¶
file - Manipulate file names and attributesSYNOPSIS¶
file option name ?arg arg ...?DESCRIPTION¶
This command provides several operations on a file's name or attributes. Name is the name of a file; if it starts with a tilde, then tilde substitution is done before executing the command (see the manual entry for filename for details). Option indicates what to do with the file name. Any unique abbreviation for option is acceptable. The valid options are:- file atime name ?time?
- Returns a decimal string giving the time at which file name was last accessed. If time is specified, it is an access time to set for the file. The time is measured in the standard POSIX fashion as seconds from a fixed starting time (often January 1, 1970). If the file doesn't exist or its access time cannot be queried or set then an error is generated. On Windows, FAT file systems do not support access time.
- file attributes name
- file attributes name ?option?
- file attributes name ?option value option value...?
This subcommand returns or sets platform
specific values associated with a file. The first form returns a list of the
platform specific flags and their values. The second form returns the value
for the specific option. The third form sets one or more of the values. The
values are as follows:
On Unix, -group gets or sets the group name for the file. A group id can
be given to the command, but it returns a group name. -owner gets or
sets the user name of the owner of the file. The command returns the owner
name, but the numerical id can be passed when setting the owner.
-permissions sets or retrieves the octal code that chmod(1) uses. This
command does also has limited support for setting using the symbolic
attributes for chmod(1), of the form [ugo]?[[+-=][rwxst],[...]], where
multiple symbolic attributes can be separated by commas (example:
u+s,go-rw add sticky bit for user, remove read and write permissions
for group and other). A simplified ls style string, of the form
rwxrwxrwx (must be 9 characters), is also supported (example: rwxr-xr-t
is equivalent to 01755).
On Windows, -archive gives the value or sets or clears the archive
attribute of the file. -hidden gives the value or sets or clears the
hidden attribute of the file. -longname will expand each path element
to its long version. This attribute cannot be set. -readonly gives the
value or sets or clears the readonly attribute of the file. -shortname
gives a string where every path element is replaced with its short (8.3)
version of the name. This attribute cannot be set. -system gives or
sets or clears the value of the system attribute of the file.
On Macintosh, -creator gives or sets the Finder creator type of the file.
-hidden gives or sets or clears the hidden attribute of the file.
-readonly gives or sets or clears the readonly attribute of the file.
Note that directories can only be locked if File Sharing is turned on.
-type gives or sets the Finder file type for the file.
- file channels ?pattern?
- If pattern isn't specified, returns a list of names of all registered open channels in this interpreter. If pattern is specified, only those names matching pattern are returned. Matching is determined using the same rules as for string match.
- file copy ?-force? ?--? source target
- file copy ?-force? ?--? source ? source ...? targetDir
The first form makes a copy of the file or
directory source under the pathname target. If target is
an existing directory, then the second form is used. The second form makes a
copy inside targetDir of each source file listed. If a directory
is specified as a source, then the contents of the directory will be
recursively copied into targetDir. Existing files will not be
overwritten unless the -force option is specified. When copying within
a single filesystem, file copy will copy soft links (i.e. the links
themselves are copied, not the things they point to). Trying to overwrite a
non-empty directory, overwrite a directory with a file, or overwrite a file
with a directory will all result in errors even if -force was
specified. Arguments are processed in the order specified, halting at the
first error, if any. A -- marks the end of switches; the argument
following the -- will be treated as a source even if it starts
with a -.
- file delete ?-force? ?--? pathname ? pathname ... ?
- Removes the file or directory specified by each pathname argument. Non-empty directories will be removed only if the -force option is specified. When operating on symbolic links, the links themselves will be deleted, not the objects they point to. Trying to delete a non-existent file is not considered an error. Trying to delete a read-only file will cause the file to be deleted, even if the -force flags is not specified. If the -force option is specified on a directory, Tcl will attempt both to change permissions and move the current directory 'pwd' out of the given path if that is necessary to allow the deletion to proceed. Arguments are processed in the order specified, halting at the first error, if any. A -- marks the end of switches; the argument following the -- will be treated as a pathname even if it starts with a -.
- file dirname name
- Returns a name comprised of all of the path components in name excluding the last element. If name is a relative file name and only contains one path element, then returns `` .'' (or ``:'' on the Macintosh). If name refers to a root directory, then the root directory is returned. For example,
file dirname c:/
file dirname ~/src/foo.c
file dirname ~
- file executable name
- Returns 1 if file name is executable by the current user, 0 otherwise.
- file exists name
- Returns 1 if file name exists and the current user has search privileges for the directories leading to it, 0 otherwise.
- file extension name
- Returns all of the characters in name after and including the last dot in the last element of name. If there is no dot in the last element of name then returns the empty string.
- file isdirectory name
- Returns 1 if file name is a directory, 0 otherwise.
- file isfile name
- Returns 1 if file name is a regular file, 0 otherwise.
- file join name ?name ...?
- Takes one or more file names and combines them, using the correct path separator for the current platform. If a particular name is relative, then it will be joined to the previous file name argument. Otherwise, any earlier arguments will be discarded, and joining will proceed from the current argument. For example,
file join a b /foo bar
- file link ?-linktype? linkName ?target?
- If only one argument is given, that argument is assumed to be linkName, and this command returns the value of the link given by linkName (i.e. the name of the file it points to). If linkName isn't a link or its value cannot be read (as, for example, seems to be the case with hard links, which look just like ordinary files), then an error is returned. If 2 arguments are given, then these are assumed to be linkName and target. If linkName already exists, or if target doesn't exist, an error will be returned. Otherwise, Tcl creates a new link called linkName which points to the existing filesystem object at target, where the type of the link is platform-specific (on Unix a symbolic link will be the default). This is useful for the case where the user wishes to create a link in a cross-platform way, and doesn't care what type of link is created. If the user wishes to make a link of a specific type only, (and signal an error if for some reason that is not possible), then the optional -linktype argument should be given. Accepted values for -linktype are "-symbolic" and "-hard". When creating links on filesystems that either do not support any links, or do not support the specific type requested, an error message will be returned. In particular Windows 95, 98 and ME do not support any links at present, but most Unix platforms support both symbolic and hard links (the latter for files only), MacOS supports symbolic links and Windows NT/2000/XP (on NTFS drives) support symbolic directory links and hard file links.
- file lstat name varName
- Same as stat option (see below) except uses the lstat kernel call instead of stat. This means that if name refers to a symbolic link the information returned in varName is for the link rather than the file it refers to. On systems that don't support symbolic links this option behaves exactly the same as the stat option.
- file mkdir dir ?dir ...?
- Creates each directory specified. For each pathname dir specified, this command will create all non-existing parent directories as well as dir itself. If an existing directory is specified, then no action is taken and no error is returned. Trying to overwrite an existing file with a directory will result in an error. Arguments are processed in the order specified, halting at the first error, if any.
- file mtime name ?time?
- Returns a decimal string giving the time at which file name was last modified. If time is specified, it is a modification time to set for the file (equivalent to Unix touch). The time is measured in the standard POSIX fashion as seconds from a fixed starting time (often January 1, 1970). If the file doesn't exist or its modified time cannot be queried or set then an error is generated.
- file nativename name
- Returns the platform-specific name of the file. This is useful if the filename is needed to pass to a platform-specific call, such as exec under Windows or AppleScript on the Macintosh.
- file normalize name
Returns a unique normalized path
representation for the file-system object (file, directory, link, etc), whose
string value can be used as a unique identifier for it. A normalized path is
an absolute path which has all '../', './' removed. Also it is one which is in
the ``standard'' format for the native platform. On MacOS, Unix, this means
the segments leading up to the path must be free of symbolic links/aliases
(but the very last path component may be a symbolic link), and on Windows it
also means we want the long form with that form's case-dependence (which gives
us a unique, case-dependent path). The one exception concerning the last link
in the path is necessary, because Tcl or the user may wish to operate on the
actual symbolic link itself (for example 'file delete', 'file rename', 'file
copy' are defined to operate on symbolic links, not on the things that they
point to).
- file owned name
- Returns 1 if file name is owned by the current user, 0 otherwise.
- file pathtype name
- Returns one of absolute, relative, volumerelative. If name refers to a specific file on a specific volume, the path type will be absolute. If name refers to a file relative to the current working directory, then the path type will be relative. If name refers to a file relative to the current working directory on a specified volume, or to a specific file on the current working volume, then the path type is volumerelative.
- file readable name
- Returns 1 if file name is readable by the current user, 0 otherwise.
- file readlink name
- Returns the value of the symbolic link given by name (i.e. the name of the file it points to). If name isn't a symbolic link or its value cannot be read, then an error is returned. On systems that don't support symbolic links this option is undefined.
- file rename ?-force? ?--? source target
- file rename ?-force? ?--? source ? source ...? targetDir
The first form takes the file or directory
specified by pathname source and renames it to target, moving
the file if the pathname target specifies a name in a different
directory. If target is an existing directory, then the second form is
used. The second form moves each source file or directory into the
directory targetDir. Existing files will not be overwritten unless the
-force option is specified. When operating inside a single filesystem,
Tcl will rename symbolic links rather than the things that they point to.
Trying to overwrite a non-empty directory, overwrite a directory with a file,
or a file with a directory will all result in errors. Arguments are processed
in the order specified, halting at the first error, if any. A -- marks
the end of switches; the argument following the -- will be treated as a
source even if it starts with a -.
- file rootname name
- Returns all of the characters in name up to but not including the last ``.'' character in the last component of name. If the last component of name doesn't contain a dot, then returns name.
- file separator ?name?
- If no argument is given, returns the character which is used to separate path segments for native files on this platform. If a path is given, the filesystem responsible for that path is asked to return its separator character. If no file system accepts name, an error is generated.
- file size name
- Returns a decimal string giving the size of file name in bytes. If the file doesn't exist or its size cannot be queried then an error is generated.
- file split name
- Returns a list whose elements are the path components in name. The first element of the list will have the same path type as name. All other elements will be relative. Path separators will be discarded unless they are needed ensure that an element is unambiguously relative. For example, under Unix
file split /foo/~bar/baz
- file stat name varName
- Invokes the stat kernel call on name, and uses the variable given by varName to hold information returned from the kernel call. VarName is treated as an array variable, and the following elements of that variable are set: atime, ctime, dev, gid, ino, mode, mtime, nlink, size, type, uid. Each element except type is a decimal string with the value of the corresponding field from the stat return structure; see the manual entry for stat for details on the meanings of the values. The type element gives the type of the file in the same form returned by the command file type. This command returns an empty string.
- file system name
- Returns a list of two elements, the first of which is the name of the filesystem to use for the file, and the second an arbitrary string representing the filesystem-specific nature or type of the location within that filesystem. If a filesystem only supports one type of file, the second element may be null. For example the native files have a first element 'native', and a second element which is a platform-specific type name for the file's system (e.g. 'NTFS', 'FAT', etc), or possibly the empty string if no further information is available or if this is not implemented. A generic virtual file system might return the list 'vfs ftp' to represent a file on a remote ftp site mounted as a virtual filesystem through an extension called 'vfs'. If the file does not belong to any filesystem, an error is generated.
- file tail name
- Returns all of the characters in name after the last directory separator. If name contains no separators then returns name.
- file type name
- Returns a string giving the type of file name, which will be one of file, directory, characterSpecial, blockSpecial, fifo, link, or socket.
- file volumes
- Returns the absolute paths to the volumes mounted on the system, as a proper Tcl list. On the Macintosh, this will be a list of the mounted drives, both local and network. N.B. if two drives have the same name, they will both appear on the volume list, but there is currently no way, from Tcl, to access any but the first of these drives. On UNIX, the command will always return "/", since all filesystems are locally mounted. On Windows, it will return a list of the available local drives (e.g. {a:/ c:/}).
- file writable name
- Returns 1 if file name is writable by the current user, 0 otherwise.
PORTABILITY ISSUES¶
- Unix
- These commands always operate using the real user and group identifiers, not the effective ones.
EXAMPLES¶
This procedure shows how to search for C files in a given directory that have a correspondingly-named object file in the current directory:proc findMatchingCFiles {dir} { set files {} switch $::tcl_platform(platform) { windows { set ext .obj } unix { set ext .o } } foreach file [glob -nocomplain -directory $dir *.c] { set objectFile [ file tail [file rootname $file]]$ext if {[ file exists $objectFile]} { lappend files $file } } return $files }
set oldName foobar.txt set newName foo/bar.txt # Make sure that where we're going to move to exists... if {![ file isdirectory [file dirname $newName]]} { file mkdir [file dirname $newName] } file rename $oldName $newName file link -symbolic $oldName $newName
SEE ALSO¶
filename(3tcl), open(3tcl), close(3tcl), eof(3tcl), gets(3tcl), tell(3tcl), seek(3tcl), fblocked(3tcl), flush(3tcl)KEYWORDS¶
attributes, copy files, delete files, directory, file, move files, name, rename files, stat8.3 | Tcl |