phpman > perldoc > Path::Class(3pm)

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 AT 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