Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation 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: $!"; "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. A synonym for "Path::Class::File->new". 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. A synonym for "Path::Class::File->new_foreign". A synonym for "Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign". 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. 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. Ken Williams, KWILLIAMS@cpan.org 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. Path::Class::Dir, Path::Class::File, File::Spec