Contents
TopSYNOPSIS
Top[% USE File(filepath) %] [% File.path %] # full path [% File.name %] # filename [% File.dir %] # directory
DESCRIPTION
TopThis plugin provides an abstraction of a file. It can be used to fetch details about files from the file system, or to represent abstract files (e.g. when creating an index page) that may or may not exist on a file system.
A file name or path should be specified as a constructor argument. e.g.
[% USE File('foo.html') %] [% USE File('foo/bar/baz.html') %] [% USE File('/foo/bar/baz.html') %]
                      The file should exist on the current file system (unless
                      nostat option set, see below) as an absolute file when
                      specified with as leading '/' as per
                      '/foo/bar/baz.html', or otherwise as one relative to the
                      current working directory. The constructor performs a stat()
                      on the file and makes the 13 elements returned available as the plugin
                      items:
                    
dev ino mode nlink uid gid rdev size atime mtime ctime blksize blocks
e.g.
[% USE File('/foo/bar/baz.html') %] [% File.mtime %] [% File.mode %] ...
                      In addition, the user and group items are set
                      to contain the user and group names as returned by calls to
                      getpwuid() and getgrgid() for the file
                      uid and gid elements, respectively. On Win32
                      platforms on which getpwuid() and getgrid() are
                      not available, these values are undefined.
                    
[% USE File('/tmp/foo.html') %] [% File.uid %] # e.g. 500 [% File.user %] # e.g. abw
                      This user/group lookup can be disabled by setting the noid
                      option.
                    
[% USE File('/tmp/foo.html', noid=1) %] [% File.uid %] # e.g. 500 [% File.user %] # nothing
                      The isdir flag will be set if the file is a directory.
                    
[% USE File('/tmp') %] [% File.isdir %] # 1
                      If the stat() on the file fails (e.g. file doesn't exists,
                      bad permission, etc) then the constructor will throw a File
                      exception. This can be caught within a TRY...CATCH block.
                    
[% TRY %] [% USE File('/tmp/myfile') %] File exists! [% CATCH File %] File error: [% error.info %] [% END %]
                      Note the capitalisation of the exception type, 'File', to
                      indicate an error thrown by the File plugin, to distinguish
                      it from a regular file exception thrown by the Template
                      Toolkit.
                    
                      Note that the File plugin can also be referenced by the
                      lower case name 'file'. However, exceptions are always
                      thrown of the File type, regardless of the capitalisation of
                      the plugin named used.
                    
[% USE file('foo.html') %] [% file.mtime %]
As with any other Template Toolkit plugin, an alternate name can be specified for the object created.
[% USE foo = file('foo.html') %] [% foo.mtime %]
                      The nostat option can be specified to prevent the plugin
                      constructor from performing a stat() on the file specified.
                      In this case, the file does not have to exist in the file system, no
                      attempt will be made to verify that it does, and no error will be thrown
                      if it doesn't. The entries for the items usually returned by
                      stat() will be set empty.
                    
[% USE file('/some/where/over/the/rainbow.html', nostat=1) 
[% file.mtime %]     # nothing
              METHODS
Top
                      All File plugins, regardless of the nostat
                      option, have set a number of items relating to the original path
                      specified.
                    
path
TopThe full, original file path specified to the constructor.
[% USE file('/foo/bar.html') %] [% file.path %] # /foo/bar.html
name
TopThe name of the file without any leading directories.
[% USE file('/foo/bar.html') %] [% file.name %] # bar.html
dir
TopThe directory element of the path with the filename removed.
[% USE file('/foo/bar.html') %] [% file.name %] # /foo
ext
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                          The file extension, if any, appearing at the end of the path following a
                          '.' (not included in the extension).
                        
[% USE file('/foo/bar.html') %] [% file.ext %] # html
home
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                          This contains a string of the form '../..' to represent the
                          upward path from a file to its root directory.
                        
[% USE file('bar.html') %] [% file.home %] # nothing [% USE file('foo/bar.html') %] [% file.home %] # .. [% USE file('foo/bar/baz.html') %] [% file.home %] # ../..
root
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                          The root item can be specified as a constructor argument,
                          indicating a root directory in which the named file resides. This is
                          otherwise set empty.
                        
[% USE file('foo/bar.html', root='/tmp') %] [% file.root %] # /tmp
abs
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                          This returns the absolute file path by constructing a path from the
                          root and path options.
                        
[% USE file('foo/bar.html', root='/tmp') %] [% file.path %] # foo/bar.html [% file.root %] # /tmp [% file.abs %] # /tmp/foo/bar.html
rel(path)
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                          This returns a relative path from the current file to another path
                          specified as an argument. It is constructed by appending the path to the
                          'home' item.
                        
[% USE file('foo/bar/baz.html') %] [% file.rel('wiz/waz.html') %] # ../../wiz/waz.html
EXAMPLES
Top[% USE file('/foo/bar/baz.html') %] [% file.path %] # /foo/bar/baz.html [% file.dir %] # /foo/bar [% file.name %] # baz.html [% file.home %] # ../.. [% file.root %] # '' [% file.abs %] # /foo/bar/baz.html [% file.ext %] # html [% file.mtime %] # 987654321 [% file.atime %] # 987654321 [% file.uid %] # 500 [% file.user %] # abw [% USE file('foo.html') %] [% file.path %] # foo.html [% file.dir %] # '' [% file.name %] # foo.html [% file.root %] # '' [% file.home %] # '' [% file.abs %] # foo.html [% USE file('foo/bar/baz.html') %] [% file.path %] # foo/bar/baz.html [% file.dir %] # foo/bar [% file.name %] # baz.html [% file.root %] # '' [% file.home %] # ../.. [% file.abs %] # foo/bar/baz.html [% USE file('foo/bar/baz.html', root='/tmp') %] [% file.path %] # foo/bar/baz.html [% file.dir %] # foo/bar [% file.name %] # baz.html [% file.root %] # /tmp [% file.home %] # ../.. [% file.abs %] # /tmp/foo/bar/baz.html # calculate other file paths relative to this file and its root [% USE file('foo/bar/baz.html', root => '/tmp/tt2') %] [% file.path('baz/qux.html') %] # ../../baz/qux.html [% file.dir('wiz/woz.html') %] # ../../wiz/woz.html
AUTHORS
Top
                      Michael Stevens wrote the original Directory plugin on which
                      this is based. Andy Wardley split it into separate File and
                      Directory plugins, added some extra code and documentation
                      for VIEW support, and made a few other minor tweaks.
                    
COPYRIGHT
TopCopyright 2000-2007 Michael Stevens, Andy Wardley.
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.