NAME

       File::stat - by-name interface to Perl's built-in stat() functions

SYNOPSIS

        use File::stat;
        $st = stat($file) or die "No $file: $!";
        if ( ($st->mode & 0111) && $st->nlink > 1) ) {
            print "$file is executable with lotsa links\n";
        }

        if ( -x $st ) {
            print "$file is executable\n";
        }

        use Fcntl "S_IRUSR";
        if ( $st->cando(S_IRUSR, 1) ) {
            print "My effective uid can read $file\n";
        }

        use File::stat qw(:FIELDS);
        stat($file) or die "No $file: $!";
        if ( ($st_mode & 0111) && ($st_nlink > 1) ) {
            print "$file is executable with lotsa links\n";
        }

DESCRIPTION

       This module's default exports override the core stat() and lstat() functions, replacing
       them with versions that return "File::stat" objects.  This object has methods that return
       the similarly named structure field name from the stat(2) function; namely, dev, ino,
       mode, nlink, uid, gid, rdev, size, atime, mtime, ctime, blksize, and blocks.

       As of version 1.02 (provided with perl 5.12) the object provides "-X" overloading, so you
       can call filetest operators ("-f", "-x", and so on) on it. It also provides a "->cando"
       method, called like

        $st->cando( ACCESS, EFFECTIVE )

       where ACCESS is one of "S_IRUSR", "S_IWUSR" or "S_IXUSR" from the Fcntl module, and
       EFFECTIVE indicates whether to use effective (true) or real (false) ids. The method
       interprets the "mode", "uid" and "gid" fields, and returns whether or not the current
       process would be allowed the specified access.

       If you don't want to use the objects, you may import the "->cando" method into your
       namespace as a regular function called "stat_cando".  This takes an arrayref containing
       the return values of "stat" or "lstat" as its first argument, and interprets it for you.

       You may also import all the structure fields directly into your namespace as regular
       variables using the :FIELDS import tag.  (Note that this still overrides your stat() and
       lstat() functions.)  Access these fields as variables named with a preceding "st_" in
       front their method names.  Thus, "$stat_obj->dev()" corresponds to $st_dev if you import
       the fields.

       To access this functionality without the core overrides, pass the "use" an empty import
       list, and then access function functions with their full qualified names.  On the other
       hand, the built-ins are still available via the "CORE::" pseudo-package.

BUGS

       As of Perl 5.8.0 after using this module you cannot use the implicit $_ or the special
       filehandle "_" with stat() or lstat(), trying to do so leads into strange errors.  The
       workaround is for $_ to be explicit

           my $stat_obj = stat $_;

       and for "_" to explicitly populate the object using the unexported and undocumented
       populate() function with CORE::stat():

           my $stat_obj = File::stat::populate(CORE::stat(_));

ERRORS

       -%s is not implemented on a File::stat object
           The filetest operators "-t", "-T" and "-B" are not implemented, as they require more
           information than just a stat buffer.

WARNINGS

       These can all be disabled with

           no warnings "File::stat";

       File::stat ignores use filetest 'access'
           You have tried to use one of the "-rwxRWX" filetests with "use filetest 'access'" in
           effect. "File::stat" will ignore the pragma, and just use the information in the
           "mode" member as usual.

       File::stat ignores VMS ACLs
           VMS systems have a permissions structure that cannot be completely represented in a
           stat buffer, and unlike on other systems the builtin filetest operators respect this.
           The "File::stat" overloads, however, do not, since the information required is not
           available.

NOTE

       While this class is currently implemented using the Class::Struct module to build a
       struct-like class, you shouldn't rely upon this.

AUTHOR

       Tom Christiansen