


IO::File(3p)     Perl Programmers Reference Guide    IO::File(3p)


NAME
       IO::File - supply object methods for filehandles

SYNOPSIS
           use IO::File;

           $fh = new IO::File;
           if ($fh->open("< file")) {
               print <$fh>;
               $fh->close;
           }

           $fh = new IO::File "> file";
           if (defined $fh) {
               print $fh "bar\n";
               $fh->close;
           }

           $fh = new IO::File "file", "r";
           if (defined $fh) {
               print <$fh>;
               undef $fh;       # automatically closes the file
           }

           $fh = new IO::File "file", O_WRONLY|O_APPEND;
           if (defined $fh) {
               print $fh "corge\n";

               $pos = $fh->getpos;
               $fh->setpos($pos);

               undef $fh;       # automatically closes the file
           }

           autoflush STDOUT 1;

DESCRIPTION
       "IO::File" inherits from "IO::Handle" and "IO::Seekable".
       It extends these classes with methods that are specific to
       file handles.

CONSTRUCTOR
       new ( FILENAME [,MODE [,PERMS]] )
           Creates an "IO::File".  If it receives any parameters,
           they are passed to the method "open"; if the open
           fails, the object is destroyed.  Otherwise, it is
           returned to the caller.

       new_tmpfile
           Creates an "IO::File" opened for read/write on a newly
           created temporary file.  On systems where this is
           possible, the temporary file is anonymous (i.e. it is
           unlinked after creation, but held open).  If the
           temporary file cannot be created or opened, the



perl v5.10.1                2008-09-29                          1





IO::File(3p)     Perl Programmers Reference Guide    IO::File(3p)


           "IO::File" object is destroyed.  Otherwise, it is
           returned to the caller.

METHODS
       open( FILENAME [,MODE [,PERMS]] )
       open( FILENAME, IOLAYERS )
           "open" accepts one, two or three parameters.  With one
           parameter, it is just a front end for the built-in
           "open" function.  With two or three parameters, the
           first parameter is a filename that may include
           whitespace or other special characters, and the second
           parameter is the open mode, optionally followed by a
           file permission value.

           If "IO::File::open" receives a Perl mode string (">",
           "+<", etc.)  or an ANSI C fopen() mode string ("w",
           "r+", etc.), it uses the basic Perl "open" operator
           (but protects any special characters).

           If "IO::File::open" is given a numeric mode, it passes
           that mode and the optional permissions value to the
           Perl "sysopen" operator.  The permissions default to
           0666.

           If "IO::File::open" is given a mode that includes the
           ":" character, it passes all the three arguments to
           the three-argument "open" operator.

           For convenience, "IO::File" exports the O_XXX
           constants from the Fcntl module, if this module is
           available.

       binmode( [LAYER] )
           "binmode" sets "binmode" on the underlying "IO"
           object, as documented in "perldoc -f binmode".

           "binmode" accepts one optional parameter, which is the
           layer to be passed on to the "binmode" call.

NOTE
       Some operating systems may perform  "IO::File::new()" or
       "IO::File::open()" on a directory without errors.  This
       behavior is not portable and not suggested for use.  Using
       "opendir()" and "readdir()" or "IO::Dir" are suggested
       instead.

SEE ALSO
       perlfunc, "I/O Operators" in perlop, IO::Handle,
       IO::Seekable, IO::Dir

HISTORY
       Derived from FileHandle.pm by Graham Barr
       <gbarr@pobox.com>.




perl v5.10.1                2008-09-29                          2


