Path::Tiny(3)

NAME
Path::Tiny - File path utility

VERSION
version 0.047

SYNOPSIS
  use Path::Tiny;

  # creating Path::Tiny objects

  $dir = path("/tmp");
  $foo = path("foo.txt");

  $subdir = $dir->child("foo");
  $bar = $subdir->child("bar.txt");

  # stringifies as cleaned up path

  $file = path("./foo.txt");
  print $file; # "foo.txt"

  # reading files

  $guts = $file->slurp;
  $guts = $file->slurp_utf8;

  @lines = $file->lines;
  @lines = $file->lines_utf8;

  $head = $file->lines( {count => 1} );

  # writing files

  $bar->spew( @data );
  $bar->spew_utf8( @data );

  # reading directories

  for ( $dir->children ) { ... }

  $iter = $dir->iterator;
  while ( my $next = $iter->() ) { ... }

DESCRIPTION
This module attempts to provide a small, fast utility for working with file paths. It is friendlier to use than File::Spec and provides easy access to functions from several other core file handling modules.

It doesn't attempt to be as full-featured as IO::All or Path::Class, nor does it try to work for anything except Unix-like and Win32 platforms. Even then, it might break if you try something particularly obscure or tortuous. (Quick! What does this mean: "///../../..//./././a//b/.././c/././"? And how does it differ on Win32?)

All paths are forced to have Unix-style forward slashes. Stringifying the object gives you back the path (after some clean up).

File input/output methods "flock" handles before reading or writing, as appropriate (if supported by the platform).

The *_utf8 methods ("slurp_utf8", "lines_utf8", etc.) operate in raw mode without CRLF translation. Installing Unicode::UTF8 0.58 or later will speed up several of them and is highly recommended.

CONSTRUCTORS

  path
    $path = path("foo/bar");
    $path = path("/tmp", "file.txt"); # list
    $path = path(".");                # cwd
    $path = path("~user/file.txt");   # tilde processing

Constructs a "Path::Tiny" object. It doesn't matter if you give a file or directory path. It's still up to you to call directory-like methods only on directories and file-like methods only on files. This function is exported automatically by default.

The first argument must be defined and have non-zero length or an exception will be thrown. This prevents subtle, dangerous errors with code like "path( maybe_undef() )->remove_tree".

If the first component of the path is a tilde ('~') then the component will be replaced with the output of "glob('~')". If the first component of the path is a tilde followed by a user name then the component will be replaced with output of "glob('~username')". Behaviour for non-existent users depends on the output of "glob" on the system.

On Windows, if the path consists of a drive identifier without a path component ("C:" or "D:"), it will be expanded to the absolute path of the current directory on that volume using "Cwd::getdcwd()".

  new
    $path = Path::Tiny->new("foo/bar");

This is just like "path", but with method call overhead. (Why would you do that?)

  cwd
    $path = Path::Tiny->cwd; # path( Cwd::getcwd )
    $path = cwd; # optional export

Gives you the absolute path to the current directory as a "Path::Tiny" object. This is slightly faster than "path(".")->absolute".

"cwd" may be exported on request and used as a function instead of as a method.

  rootdir
    $path = Path::Tiny->rootdir; # /
    $path = rootdir;             # optional export

Gives you "File::Spec->rootdir" as a "Path::Tiny" object if you're too picky for "path("/")".

"rootdir" may be exported on request and used as a function instead of as a method.

  tempfile, tempdir
    $temp = Path::Tiny->tempfile( @options );
    $temp = Path::Tiny->tempdir( @options );
    $temp = tempfile( @options ); # optional export
    $temp = tempdir( @options );  # optional export

"tempfile" passes the options to "File::Temp->new" and returns a "Path::Tiny" object with the file name. The "TMPDIR" option is enabled by default.

The resulting "File::Temp" object is cached. When the "Path::Tiny" object is destroyed, the "File::Temp" object will be as well.

"File::Temp" annoyingly requires you to specify a custom template in slightly different ways depending on which function or method you call, but "Path::Tiny" lets you ignore that and can take either a leading template or a "TEMPLATE" option and does the right thing.

    $temp = Path::Tiny->tempfile( "customXXXXXXXX" );             # ok
    $temp = Path::Tiny->tempfile( TEMPLATE => "customXXXXXXXX" ); # ok

The tempfile path object will normalized to have an absolute path, even if created in a relative directory using "DIR".

"tempdir" is just like "tempfile", except it calls "File::Temp->newdir" instead.

Both "tempfile" and "tempdir" may be exported on request and used as functions instead of as methods.

METHODS

  absolute
    $abs = path("foo/bar")->absolute;
    $abs = path("foo/bar")->absolute("/tmp");

Returns a new "Path::Tiny" object with an absolute path (or itself if already absolute). Unless an argument is given, the current directory is used as the absolute base path. The argument must be absolute or you won't get an absolute result.

This will not resolve upward directories ("foo/../bar") unless "canonpath" in File::Spec would normally do so on your platform. If you need them resolved, you must call the more expensive "realpath" method instead.

On Windows, an absolute path without a volume component will have it added based on the current drive.

  append, append_raw, append_utf8
    path("foo.txt")->append(@data);
    path("foo.txt")->append(\@data);
    path("foo.txt")->append({binmode => ":raw"}, @data);
    path("foo.txt")->append_raw(@data);
    path("foo.txt")->append_utf8(@data);

Appends data to a file. The file is locked with "flock" prior to writing. An optional hash reference may be used to pass options. The only option is "binmode", which is passed to "binmode()" on the handle used for writing.

"append_raw" is like "append" with a "binmode" of ":unix" for fast, unbuffered, raw write.

"append_utf8" is like "append" with a "binmode" of ":unix:encoding(UTF-8)". If Unicode::UTF8 0.58+ is installed, a raw append will be done instead on the data encoded with "Unicode::UTF8".

  basename
    $name = path("foo/bar.txt")->basename; # bar.txt

Returns the file portion or last directory portion of a path.

  canonpath
    $canonical = path("foo/bar")->canonpath; # foo\bar on Windows

Returns a string with the canonical format of the path name for the platform. In particular, this means directory separators will be "\" on Windows.

  child
    $file = path("/tmp")->child("foo.txt"); # "/tmp/foo.txt"
    $file = path("/tmp")->child(@parts);

Returns a new "Path::Tiny" object relative to the original. Works like "catfile" or "catdir" from File::Spec, but without caring about file or directories.

  children
    @paths = path("/tmp")->children;
    @paths = path("/tmp")->children( qr/\.txt$/ );

Returns a list of "Path::Tiny" objects for all files and directories within a directory. Excludes "." and ".." automatically.

If an optional "qr//" argument is provided, it only returns objects for child names that match the given regular expression. Only the base name is used for matching:

    @paths = path("/tmp")->children( qr/^foo/ );
    # matches children like the glob foo*

  copy
    path("/tmp/foo.txt")->copy("/tmp/bar.txt");

Copies a file using File::Copy's "copy" function.

  digest
    $obj = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->digest;        # SHA-256
    $obj = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->digest("MD5"); # user-selected

Returns a hexadecimal digest for a file. Any arguments are passed to the constructor for Digest to select an algorithm. If no arguments are given, the default is SHA-256.

  dirname
    $name = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->dirname; # "/tmp/"

Returns the directory name portion of the path. This is roughly equivalent to what File::Spec would give from "splitpath" and thus usually has the trailing slash. If that's not desired, stringify directories or call "parent" on files.

  exists, is_file, is_dir
    if ( path("/tmp")->exists ) { ... }
    if ( path("/tmp")->is_file ) { ... }
    if ( path("/tmp")->is_dir ) { ... }

Just like "-e", "-f" or "-d". This means the file or directory actually has to exist on the filesystem. Until then, it's just a path.

  filehandle
    $fh = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->filehandle($mode, $binmode);
    $fh = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->filehandle({ locked => 1 }, $mode, $binmode);

Returns an open file handle. The $mode argument must be a Perl-style read/write mode string ("<" ,">", "<<", etc.). If a $binmode is given, it is set during the "open" call.

An optional hash reference may be used to pass options. The only option is "locked". If true, handles opened for writing, appending or read-write are locked with "LOCK_EX"; otherwise, they are locked with "LOCK_SH". When using "locked", ">" or "+>" modes will delay truncation until after the lock is acquired.

See "openr", "openw", "openrw", and "opena" for sugar.

  is_absolute, is_relative
    if ( path("/tmp")->is_absolute ) { ... }
    if ( path("/tmp")->is_relative ) { ... }

Booleans for whether the path appears absolute or relative.

  is_rootdir
    while ( ! $path->is_rootdir ) {
        $path = $path->parent;
        ...
    }

Boolean for whether the path is the root directory of the volume. I.e. the "dirname" is "q[/]" and the "basename" is "q[]".

This works even on "MSWin32" with drives and UNC volumes:

    path("C:/")->is_rootdir;             # true
    path("//server/share/")->is_rootdir; #true

  iterator
    $iter = path("/tmp")->iterator( \%options );

Returns a code reference that walks a directory lazily. Each invocation returns a "Path::Tiny" object or undef when the iterator is exhausted.

    $iter = path("/tmp")->iterator;
    while ( $path = $iter->() ) {
        ...
    }

The current and parent directory entries ("." and "..") will not be included.

If the "recurse" option is true, the iterator will walk the directory recursively, breadth-first. If the "follow_symlinks" option is also true, directory links will be followed recursively. There is no protection against loops when following links.

The default is the same as:

    $iter = path("/tmp")->iterator( {
        recurse         => 0,
        follow_symlinks => 0,
    } );

For a more powerful, recursive iterator with built-in loop avoidance, see Path::Iterator::Rule.

  lines, lines_raw, lines_utf8
    @contents = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->lines;
    @contents = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->lines(\%options);
    @contents = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->lines_raw;
    @contents = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->lines_utf8;

    @contents = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->lines( { chomp => 1, count => 4 } );

Returns a list of lines from a file. Optionally takes a hash-reference of options. Valid options are "binmode", "count" and "chomp". If "binmode" is provided, it will be set on the handle prior to reading. If "count" is provided, up to that many lines will be returned. If "chomp" is set, lines will be chomped before being returned.

Because the return is a list, "lines" in scalar context will return the number of lines (and throw away the data).

    $number_of_lines = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->lines;

"lines_raw" is like "lines" with a "binmode" of ":raw". We use ":raw" instead of ":unix" so PerlIO buffering can manage reading by line.

"lines_utf8" is like "lines" with a "binmode" of ":raw:encoding(UTF-8)". If Unicode::UTF8 0.58+ is installed, a raw UTF-8 slurp will be done and then the lines will be split. This is actually faster than relying on ":encoding(UTF-8)", though a bit memory intensive. If memory use is a concern, consider "openr_utf8" and iterating directly on the handle.

  mkpath
    path("foo/bar/baz")->mkpath;
    path("foo/bar/baz")->mkpath( \%options );

Like calling "make_path" from File::Path. An optional hash reference is passed through to "make_path". Errors will be trapped and an exception thrown. Returns the list of directories created or an empty list if the directories already exist, just like "make_path".

  move
    path("foo.txt")->move("bar.txt");

Just like "rename".

  openr, openw, openrw, opena
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openr($binmode);  # read
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openr_raw;
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openr_utf8;

    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openw($binmode);  # write
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openw_raw;
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openw_utf8;

    $fh = path("foo.txt")->opena($binmode);  # append
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->opena_raw;
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->opena_utf8;

    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openrw($binmode); # read/write
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openrw_raw;
    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openrw_utf8;

Returns a file handle opened in the specified mode. The "openr" style methods take a single "binmode" argument. All of the "open*" methods have "open*_raw" and "open*_utf8" equivalents that use ":raw" and ":raw:encoding(UTF-8)", respectively.

An optional hash reference may be used to pass options. The only option is "locked". If true, handles opened for writing, appending or read-write are locked with "LOCK_EX"; otherwise, they are locked for "LOCK_SH".

    $fh = path("foo.txt")->openrw_utf8( { locked => 1 } );

See "filehandle" for more on locking.

  parent
    $parent = path("foo/bar/baz")->parent; # foo/bar
    $parent = path("foo/wibble.txt")->parent; # foo

    $parent = path("foo/bar/baz")->parent(2); # foo

Returns a "Path::Tiny" object corresponding to the parent directory of the original directory or file. An optional positive integer argument is the number of parent directories upwards to return. "parent" by itself is equivalent to parent(1).

  realpath
    $real = path("/baz/foo/../bar")->realpath;
    $real = path("foo/../bar")->realpath;

Returns a new "Path::Tiny" object with all symbolic links and upward directory parts resolved using Cwd's "realpath". Compared to "absolute", this is more expensive as it must actually consult the filesystem.

If the path can't be resolved (e.g. if it includes directories that don't exist), an exception will be thrown:

    $real = path("doesnt_exist/foo")->realpath; # dies

  relative
    $rel = path("/tmp/foo/bar")->relative("/tmp"); # foo/bar

Returns a "Path::Tiny" object with a relative path name. Given the trickiness of this, it's a thin wrapper around "File::Spec->abs2rel()".

  remove
    path("foo.txt")->remove;

Note: as of 0.012, remove only works on files.

This is just like "unlink", except if the path does not exist, it returns false rather than throwing an exception.

  remove_tree
    # directory
    path("foo/bar/baz")->remove_tree;
    path("foo/bar/baz")->remove_tree( \%options );
    path("foo/bar/baz")->remove_tree( { safe => 0 } ); # force remove

Like calling "remove_tree" from File::Path, but defaults to "safe" mode. An optional hash reference is passed through to "remove_tree". Errors will be trapped and an exception thrown. Returns the number of directories deleted, just like "remove_tree".

If you want to remove a directory only if it is empty, use the built-in "rmdir" function instead.

    rmdir path("foo/bar/baz/");

  slurp, slurp_raw, slurp_utf8
    $data = path("foo.txt")->slurp;
    $data = path("foo.txt")->slurp( {binmode => ":raw"} );
    $data = path("foo.txt")->slurp_raw;
    $data = path("foo.txt")->slurp_utf8;

Reads file contents into a scalar. Takes an optional hash reference may be used to pass options. The only option is "binmode", which is passed to "binmode()" on the handle used for reading.

"slurp_raw" is like "slurp" with a "binmode" of ":unix" for a fast, unbuffered, raw read.

"slurp_utf8" is like "slurp" with a "binmode" of ":unix:encoding(UTF-8)". If Unicode::UTF8 0.58+ is installed, a raw slurp will be done instead and the result decoded with "Unicode::UTF8". This is just as strict and is roughly an order of magnitude faster than using ":encoding(UTF-8)".

  spew, spew_raw, spew_utf8
    path("foo.txt")->spew(@data);
    path("foo.txt")->spew(\@data);
    path("foo.txt")->spew({binmode => ":raw"}, @data);
    path("foo.txt")->spew_raw(@data);
    path("foo.txt")->spew_utf8(@data);

Writes data to a file atomically. The file is written to a temporary file in the same directory, then renamed over the original. An optional hash reference may be used to pass options. The only option is "binmode", which is passed to "binmode()" on the handle used for writing.

"spew_raw" is like "spew" with a "binmode" of ":unix" for a fast, unbuffered, raw write.

"spew_utf8" is like "spew" with a "binmode" of ":unix:encoding(UTF-8)". If Unicode::UTF8 0.58+ is installed, a raw spew will be done instead on the data encoded with "Unicode::UTF8".

  stat, lstat
    $stat = path("foo.txt")->stat;
    $stat = path("/some/symlink")->lstat;

Like calling "stat" or "lstat" from File::stat.

  stringify
    $path = path("foo.txt");
    say $path->stringify; # same as "$path"

Returns a string representation of the path. Unlike "canonpath", this method returns the path standardized with Unix-style "/" directory separators.

  touch
    path("foo.txt")->touch;
    path("foo.txt")->touch($epoch_secs);

Like the Unix "touch" utility. Creates the file if it doesn't exist, or else changes the modification and access times to the current time. If the first argument is the epoch seconds then it will be used.

Returns the path object so it can be easily chained with spew:

    path("foo.txt")->touch->spew( $content );

  touchpath
    path("bar/baz/foo.txt")->touchpath;

Combines "mkpath" and "touch". Creates the parent directory if it doesn't exist, before touching the file. Returns the path object like "touch" does.

  volume
    $vol = path("/tmp/foo.txt")->volume;   # ""
    $vol = path("C:/tmp/foo.txt")->volume; # "C:"

Returns the volume portion of the path. This is equivalent equivalent to what File::Spec would give from "splitpath" and thus usually is the empty string on Unix-like operating systems or the drive letter for an absolute path on "MSWin32".

EXCEPTION HANDLING
Failures will be thrown as exceptions in the class "Path::Tiny::Error".

The object will be a hash reference with the following fields:

•   "op" X a description of the operation, usually function call and any extra info

•   "file" X the file or directory relating to the error

•   "err" X hold $! at the time the error was thrown

•   "msg" X a string combining the above data and a Carp-like short stack trace

Exception objects will stringify as the "msg" field.

CAVEATS

  File locking
If flock is not supported on a platform, it will not be used, even if locking is requested.

See additional caveats below.

NFS and BSD

On BSD, Perl's flock implementation may not work to lock files on an NFS filesystem. Path::Tiny has some heuristics to detect this and will warn once and let you continue in an unsafe mode. If you want this failure to be fatal, you can fatalize the 'flock' warnings category:

    use warnings FATAL => 'flock';

AIX and locking

AIX requires a write handle for locking. Therefore, calls that normally open a read handle and take a shared lock instead will open a read-write handle and take an exclusive lock.

  utf8 vs UTF-8
All the *_utf8 methods use ":encoding(UTF-8)" -- either as ":unix:encoding(UTF-8)" (unbuffered) or ":raw:encoding(UTF-8)" (buffered) -- which is strict against the Unicode spec and disallows illegal Unicode codepoints or UTF-8 sequences.

Unfortunately, ":encoding(UTF-8)" is very, very slow. If you install Unicode::UTF8 0.58 or later, that module will be used by some *_utf8 methods to encode or decode data after a raw, binary input/output operation, which is much faster.

If you need the performance and can accept the security risk, "slurp({binmode => ":unix:utf8"})" will be faster than ":unix:encoding(UTF-8)" (but not as fast as "Unicode::UTF8").

Note that the *_utf8 methods read in raw mode. There is no CRLF translation on Windows. If you must have CRLF translation, use the regular input/output methods with an appropriate binmode:

  $path->spew_utf8($data);                            # raw
  $path->spew({binmode => ":encoding(UTF-8)"}, $data; # LF -> CRLF

Consider PerlIO::utf8_strict for a faster PerlIO layer alternative to ":encoding(UTF-8)", though it does not appear to be as fast as the "Unicode::UTF8" approach.

  Default IO layers and the open pragma
If you have Perl 5.10 or later, file input/output methods ("slurp", "spew", etc.) and high-level handle opening methods ( "filehandle", "openr", "openw", etc. ) respect default encodings set by the "-C" switch or lexical open settings of the caller. For UTF-8, this is almost certainly slower than using the dedicated "_utf8" methods if you have Unicode::UTF8.

TYPE CONSTRAINTS AND COERCION
A standard MooseX::Types library is available at MooseX::Types::Path::Tiny. A Type::Tiny equivalent is available as Types::Path::Tiny.

SEE ALSO
These are other file/path utilities, which may offer a different feature set than "Path::Tiny".

•   File::Fu

•   IO::All

•   Path::Class

These iterators may be slightly faster than the recursive iterator in "Path::Tiny":

•   Path::Iterator::Rule

•   File::Next

There are probably comparable, non-Tiny tools. Let me know if you want me to add a module to the list.

SUPPORT

  Bugs / Feature Requests
Please report any bugs or feature requests through the issue tracker at https://github.com/dagolden/Path-Tiny/issues <https://github.com/dagolden/Path-Tiny/issues>. You will be notified automatically of any progress on your issue.

  Source Code
This is open source software. The code repository is available for public review and contribution under the terms of the license.

https://github.com/dagolden/Path-Tiny <https://github.com/dagolden/Path-Tiny>

  git clone https://github.com/dagolden/Path-Tiny.git

AUTHOR
David Golden <dagolden@cpan.org>

CONTRIBUTORS

•   Chris Williams <bingos@cpan.org>

•   David Steinbrunner <dsteinbrunner@pobox.com>

•   Gabor Szabo <szabgab@cpan.org>

•   Gabriel Andrade <gabiruh@gmail.com>

•   George Hartzell <hartzell@cpan.org>

•   Geraud Continsouzas <geraud@scsi.nc>

•   Goro Fuji <gfuji@cpan.org>

•   Karen Etheridge <ether@cpan.org>

•   Keedi Kim <keedi@cpan.org>

•   Martin Kjeldsen <mk@bluepipe.dk>

•   Michael G. Schwern <mschwern@cpan.org>

•   Toby Inkster <tobyink@cpan.org>

•   XXX - Keedi Kim <keedi@cpan.org>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is Copyright (c) 2013 by David Golden.

This is free software, licensed under:

  The Apache License, Version 2.0, January 2004