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.

SEE ALSO

       Path::Class::Dir, Path::Class::File, File::Spec