1package Path::Class;
2
3$VERSION = '0.18';
4@ISA = qw(Exporter);
5@EXPORT    = qw(file dir);
6@EXPORT_OK = qw(file dir foreign_file foreign_dir);
7
8use strict;
9use Exporter;
10use Path::Class::File;
11use Path::Class::Dir;
12
13sub file { Path::Class::File->new(@_) }
14sub dir  { Path::Class::Dir ->new(@_) }
15sub foreign_file { Path::Class::File->new_foreign(@_) }
16sub foreign_dir  { Path::Class::Dir ->new_foreign(@_) }
17
18
191;
20__END__
21
22=head1 NAME
23
24Path::Class - Cross-platform path specification manipulation
25
26=head1 SYNOPSIS
27
28  use Path::Class;
29
30  my $dir  = dir('foo', 'bar');       # Path::Class::Dir object
31  my $file = file('bob', 'file.txt'); # Path::Class::File object
32
33  # Stringifies to 'foo/bar' on Unix, 'foo\bar' on Windows, etc.
34  print "dir: $dir\n";
35
36  # Stringifies to 'bob/file.txt' on Unix, 'bob\file.txt' on Windows
37  print "file: $file\n";
38
39  my $subdir  = $dir->subdir('baz');  # foo/bar/baz
40  my $parent  = $subdir->parent;      # foo/bar
41  my $parent2 = $parent->parent;      # foo
42
43  my $dir2 = $file->dir;              # bob
44
45  # Work with foreign paths
46  use Path::Class qw(foreign_file foreign_dir);
47  my $file = foreign_file('Mac', ':foo:file.txt');
48  print $file->dir;                   # :foo:
49  print $file->as_foreign('Win32');   # foo\file.txt
50
51  # Interact with the underlying filesystem:
52
53  # $dir_handle is an IO::Dir object
54  my $dir_handle = $dir->open or die "Can't read $dir: $!";
55
56  # $file_handle is an IO::File object
57  my $file_handle = $file->open($mode) or die "Can't read $file: $!";
58
59=head1 DESCRIPTION
60
61C<Path::Class> is a module for manipulation of file and directory
62specifications (strings describing their locations, like
63C<'/home/ken/foo.txt'> or C<'C:\Windows\Foo.txt'>) in a cross-platform
64manner.  It supports pretty much every platform Perl runs on,
65including Unix, Windows, Mac, VMS, Epoc, Cygwin, OS/2, and NetWare.
66
67The well-known module C<File::Spec> also provides this service, but
68it's sort of awkward to use well, so people sometimes avoid it, or use
69it in a way that won't actually work properly on platforms
70significantly different than the ones they've tested their code on.
71
72In fact, C<Path::Class> uses C<File::Spec> internally, wrapping all
73the unsightly details so you can concentrate on your application code.
74Whereas C<File::Spec> provides functions for some common path
75manipulations, C<Path::Class> provides an object-oriented model of the
76world of path specifications and their underlying semantics.
77C<File::Spec> doesn't create any objects, and its classes represent
78the different ways in which paths must be manipulated on various
79platforms (not a very intuitive concept).  C<Path::Class> creates
80objects representing files and directories, and provides methods that
81relate them to each other.  For instance, the following C<File::Spec>
82code:
83
84 my $absolute = File::Spec->file_name_is_absolute(
85                  File::Spec->catfile( @dirs, $file )
86                );
87
88can be written using C<Path::Class> as
89
90 my $absolute = Path::Class::File->new( @dirs, $file )->is_absolute;
91
92or even as
93
94 my $absolute = file( @dirs, $file )->is_absolute;
95
96Similar readability improvements should happen all over the place when
97using C<Path::Class>.
98
99Using C<Path::Class> can help solve real problems in your code too -
100for instance, how many people actually take the "volume" (like C<C:>
101on Windows) into account when writing C<File::Spec>-using code?  I
102thought not.  But if you use C<Path::Class>, your file and directory objects
103will know what volumes they refer to and do the right thing.
104
105The guts of the C<Path::Class> code live in the C<Path::Class::File>
106and C<Path::Class::Dir> modules, so please see those
107modules' documentation for more details about how to use them.
108
109=head2 EXPORT
110
111The following functions are exported by default.
112
113=over 4
114
115=item file
116
117A synonym for C<< Path::Class::File->new >>.
118
119=item dir
120
121A synonym for C<< Path::Class::Dir->new >>.
122
123=back
124
125If you would like to prevent their export, you may explicitly pass an
126empty list to perl's C<use>, i.e. C<use Path::Class ()>.
127
128The following are exported only on demand.
129
130=over 4
131
132=item foreign_file
133
134A synonym for C<< Path::Class::File->new_foreign >>.
135
136=item foreign_dir
137
138A synonym for C<< Path::Class::Dir->new_foreign >>.
139
140=back
141
142=head1 Notes on Cross-Platform Compatibility
143
144Although it is much easier to write cross-platform-friendly code with
145this module than with C<File::Spec>, there are still some issues to be
146aware of.
147
148=over 4
149
150=item *
151
152Some platforms, notably VMS and some older versions of DOS (I think),
153all filenames must have an extension.  Thus if you create a file
154called F<foo/bar> and then ask for a list of files in the directory
155F<foo>, you may find a file called F<bar.> instead of the F<bar> you
156were expecting.  Thus it might be a good idea to use an extension in
157the first place.
158
159=back
160
161=head1 AUTHOR
162
163Ken Williams, KWILLIAMS@cpan.org
164
165=head1 COPYRIGHT
166
167Copyright (c) Ken Williams.  All rights reserved.
168
169This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
170modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
171
172
173=head1 SEE ALSO
174
175Path::Class::Dir, Path::Class::File, File::Spec
176
177=cut
178