File::Next - File-finding iterator Version 1.02 File::Next is a lightweight, taint-safe file-finding module. It's lightweight and has no non-core prerequisites. use File::Next; my $files = File::Next::files( '/tmp' ); while ( defined ( my $file = $files->() ) ) { # do something... } The two major functions, files() and dirs(), return an iterator that will walk through a directory tree. The simplest use case is: use File::Next; my $iter = File::Next::files( '/tmp' ); while ( defined ( my $file = $iter->() ) ) { print $file, "\n"; } # Prints... /tmp/foo.txt /tmp/bar.pl /tmp/baz/1 /tmp/baz/2.txt /tmp/baz/wango/tango/purple.txt Note that only files are returned by "files()"'s iterator. Directories are ignored. In list context, the iterator returns a list containing $dir, $file and $fullpath, where $fullpath is what would get returned in scalar context. The first parameter to any of the iterator factory functions may be a hashref of options. For the three iterators, the \%options are optional.

files( [ \%options, ] @starting_points )
Returns an iterator that walks directories starting with the items in @starting_points. Each call to the iterator returns another regular file.

dirs( [ \%options, ] @starting_points )
Returns an iterator that walks directories starting with the items in @starting_points. Each call to the iterator returns another directory.

everything( [ \%options, ] @starting_points )
Returns an iterator that walks directories starting with the items in @starting_points. Each call to the iterator returns another file, whether it's a regular file, directory, symlink, socket, or whatever.

sort_standard( $a, $b )
A sort function for passing as a "sort_files" option: my $iter = File::Next::files( { sort_files => \&File::Next::sort_standard, }, 't/swamp' ); This function is the default, so the code above is identical to: my $iter = File::Next::files( { sort_files => 1, }, 't/swamp' );

sort_reverse( $a, $b )
Same as "sort_standard", but in reverse.

reslash( $path )
Takes a path with all forward slashes and rebuilds it with whatever is appropriate for the platform. For example 'foo/bar/bat' will become 'foo\bar\bat' on Windows. This is really just a convenience function. I'd make it private, but ack wants it, too.

file_filter -> \&file_filter
The file_filter lets you check to see if it's really a file you want to get back. If the file_filter returns a true value, the file will be returned; if false, it will be skipped. The file_filter function takes no arguments but rather does its work through a collection of variables. $_ is the current filename within that directory $File::Next::dir is the current directory name $File::Next::name is the complete pathname to the file These are analogous to the same variables in File::Find. my $iter = File::Next::files( { file_filter => sub { /\.txt$/ } }, '/tmp' ); By default, the file_filter is "sub {1}", or "all files". This filter has no effect if your iterator is only returning directories.

descend_filter => \&descend_filter
The descend_filter lets you check to see if the iterator should descend into a given directory. Maybe you want to skip CVS and .svn directories. my $descend_filter = sub { $_ ne "CVS" && $_ ne ".svn" } The descend_filter function takes no arguments but rather does its work through a collection of variables. $_ is the current filename of the directory $File::Next::dir is the complete directory name The descend filter is NOT applied to any directory names specified in as @starting_points in the constructor. For example, my $iter = File::Next::files( { descend_filter => sub{0} }, '/tmp' ); always descends into /tmp, as you would expect. By default, the descend_filter is "sub {1}", or "always descend".

error_handler => \&error_handler
If error_handler is set, then any errors will be sent through it. By default, this value is "CORE::die".

sort_files => [ 0 | 1 | \&sort_sub]
If you want files sorted, pass in some true value, as in "sort_files => 1". If you want a special sort order, pass in a sort function like "sort_files => sub { $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] }". Note that the parms passed in to the sub are arrayrefs, where $a->[0] is the directory name, $a->[1] is the file name and $a->[2] is the full path. Typically you're going to be sorting on $a->[2].

follow_symlinks => [ 0 | 1 ]
If set to false, the iterator will ignore any files and directories that are actually symlinks. This has no effect on non-Unixy systems such as Windows. By default, this is true. Note that this filter does not apply to any of the @starting_points passed in to the constructor.

_setup( $default_parms, @whatever_was_passed_to_files() )
Handles all the scut-work for setting up the parms passed in. Returns a hashref of operational options, combined between $passed_parms and $defaults, plus the queue. The queue prep stuff takes the strings in @starting_points and puts them in the format that queue needs. The @queue that gets passed around is an array that has three elements for each of the entries in the queue: $dir, $file and $fullpath. Items must be pushed and popped off the queue three at a time (spliced, really).

_candidate_files( $parms, $dir )
Pulls out the files/dirs that might be worth looking into in $dir. If $dir is the empty string, then search the current directory. $parms is the hashref of parms passed into File::Next constructor. Andy Lester, "<andy at petdance.com>" Please report any bugs or feature requests to <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=File-Next>. Note that File::Next does NOT use rt.cpan.org for bug tracking. You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. perldoc File::Next You can also look for information at: File::Next's bug queue <http://code.google.com/p/file-next/issues/list> AnnoCPAN: Annotated CPAN documentation <http://annocpan.org/dist/File-Next> CPAN Ratings <http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/File-Next> Search CPAN <http://search.cpan.org/dist/File-Next> Subversion repository <https://file-next.googlecode.com/svn/trunk> All file-finding in this module is adapted from Mark Jason Dominus' marvelous Higher Order Perl, page 126. Copyright 2006-2008 Andy Lester, all rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.