MAN page from Old RedHat 5.X perl-5.004-4.i386.rpm

File::Basename

Section: Perl Programmers Reference Guide (3)
Updated: perl 5.004, patch 04
Index

NAME

fileparse - split a pathname into pieces

basename - extract just the filename from a path

dirname - extract just the directory from a path

SYNOPSIS

    use File::Basename;

    ($name,$path,$suffix) = fileparse($fullname,@suffixlist)    fileparse_set_fstype($os_string);    $basename = basename($fullname,@suffixlist);    $dirname = dirname($fullname);

    ($name,$path,$suffix) = fileparse("lib/File/Basename.pm","\.pm");    fileparse_set_fstype("VMS");    $basename = basename("lib/File/Basename.pm",".pm");    $dirname = dirname("lib/File/Basename.pm");

DESCRIPTION

These routines allow you to parse file specifications into usefulpieces using the syntax of different operating systems.

fileparse_set_fstype

You select the syntax via the routine fileparse_set_fstype().

If the argument passed to it contains one of the substrings``VMS'', ``MSDOS'', ``MacOS'', ``AmigaOS'' or ``MSWin32'', the file specification syntax of that operating system is used in future calls to fileparse(), basename(), and dirname(). If it contains none ofthese substrings, UNIX syntax is used. This pattern matching iscase-insensitive. If you've selected VMS syntax, and the filespecification you pass to one of these routines contains a ``/'',they assume you are using UNIX emulation and apply the UNIX syntaxrules instead, for that function call only.

If the argument passed to it contains one of the substrings ``VMS'',``MSDOS'', ``MacOS'', ``AmigaOS'', ``os2'', ``MSWin32'' or ``RISCOS'', then the patternmatching for suffix removal is performed without regard for case,since those systems are not case-sensitive when opening existing files(though some of them preserve case on file creation).

If you haven't called fileparse_set_fstype(), the syntax is chosenby examining the builtin variable $^O according to these rules.

fileparse

The fileparse() routine divides a file specification into threeparts: a leading path, a file name, and a suffix. Thepath contains everything up to and including the last directoryseparator in the input file specification. The remainder of the inputfile specification is then divided into name and suffix based onthe optional patterns you specify in @suffixlist. Each element ofthis list is interpreted as a regular expression, and is matchedagainst the end of name. If this succeeds, the matching portion ofname is removed and prepended to suffix. By proper use of@suffixlist, you can remove file types or versions for examination.

You are guaranteed that if you concatenate path, name, andsuffix together in that order, the result will denote the samefile as the input file specification.

EXAMPLES

Using UNIX file syntax:

    ($base,$path,$type) = fileparse('/virgil/aeneid/draft.book7',                                    '\.book\d+');

would yield

    $base eq 'draft'    $path eq '/virgil/aeneid/',    $type eq '.book7'

Similarly, using VMS syntax:

    ($name,$dir,$type) = fileparse('Doc_Root:[Help]Rhetoric.Rnh',                                   '\..*');

would yield

    $name eq 'Rhetoric'    $dir  eq 'Doc_Root:[Help]'    $type eq '.Rnh'

basename

The basename() routine returns the first element of the list producedby calling fileparse() with the same arguments, except that it alwaysquotes metacharacters in the given suffixes. It is provided forprogrammer compatibility with the UNIX shell command basename(1).

dirname

The dirname() routine returns the directory portion of the input filespecification. When using VMS or MacOS syntax, this is identical to thesecond element of the list produced by calling fileparse() with the sameinput file specification. (Under VMS, if there is no directory informationin the input file specification, then the current default device anddirectory are returned.) When using UNIX or MSDOS syntax, the returnvalue conforms to the behavior of the UNIX shell command dirname(1). Thisis usually the same as the behavior of fileparse(), but differs in somecases. For example, for the input file specification lib/, fileparse()considers the directory name to be lib/, while dirname() considers thedirectory name to be .).

This document was created byman2html,using the manual pages.