Path::Class(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Path::Class(3)NAMEPath::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation
VERSION
version 0.25
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".
Notes on Cross-Platform Compatibility
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.
ยท 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
perl v5.14.2 2012-02-16 Path::Class(3)
