File::Path(3) Perl Programmers Reference Guide File::Path(3)NAMEFile::Path - create or remove directory trees
SYNOPSIS
use File::Path;
mkpath(['/foo/bar/baz', 'blurfl/quux'], 1, 0711);
rmtree(['foo/bar/baz', 'blurfl/quux'], 1, 1);
DESCRIPTION
The "mkpath" function provides a convenient way to create
directories, even if your "mkdir" kernel call won't create
more than one level of directory at a time. "mkpath"
takes three arguments:
the name of the path to create, or a reference to a
list of paths to create,
a boolean value, which if TRUE will cause "mkpath" to
print the name of each directory as it is created
(defaults to FALSE), and
the numeric mode to use when creating the directories
(defaults to 0777)
It returns a list of all directories (including intermedi
ates, determined using the Unix '/' separator) created.
Similarly, the "rmtree" function provides a convenient way
to delete a subtree from the directory structure, much
like the Unix command "rm -r". "rmtree" takes three argu
ments:
the root of the subtree to delete, or a reference to a
list of roots. All of the files and directories below
each root, as well as the roots themselves, will be
deleted.
a boolean value, which if TRUE will cause "rmtree" to
print a message each time it examines a file, giving
the name of the file, and indicating whether it's
using "rmdir" or "unlink" to remove it, or that it's
skipping it. (defaults to FALSE)
a boolean value, which if TRUE will cause "rmtree" to
skip any files to which you do not have delete access
(if running under VMS) or write access (if running
under another OS). This will change in the future
when a criterion for 'delete permission' under OSs
other than VMS is settled. (defaults to FALSE)
It returns the number of files successfully deleted. Sym
links are simply deleted and not followed.
NOTE: If the third parameter is not TRUE, "rmtree" is
unsecure in the face of failure or interruption. Files
and directories which were not deleted may be left with
permissions reset to allow world read and write access.
Note also that the occurrence of errors in rmtree can be
determined only by trapping diagnostic messages using
"$SIG{__WARN__}"; it is not apparent from the return
value. Therefore, you must be extremely careful about
using "rmtree($foo,$bar,0" in situations where security is
an issue.
AUTHORS
Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk> and Charles Bailey <bai_
ley@newman.upenn.edu>
2001-03-03 perl v5.6.1 File::Path(3)
