Ubuntu Manpage: Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation

Provided by: libpath-class-perl_0.37-1_all

NAME

       Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation

VERSION

       version 0.37

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".

tempdir
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(@_))".

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.

       •   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.