Next(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Next(3) NAME File::Next - File-finding iterator VERSION Version 1.18 SYNOPSIS File::Next is a lightweight, taint-safe file-finding module. It has no non-core prerequisites. use File::Next; my $files = File::Next::files( '/tmp' ); while ( defined ( my $file = $files->() ) ) { # do something... } OPERATIONAL THEORY The two major functions, files() and dirs(), return an iterator that will walk through a directory tree. The simplest use case is: use File::Next; my $iter = File::Next::files( '/tmp' ); while ( defined ( my $file = $iter->() ) ) { print $file, "\n"; } # Prints... /tmp/foo.txt /tmp/bar.pl /tmp/baz/1 /tmp/baz/2.txt /tmp/baz/wango/tango/purple.txt Note that only files are returned by files()'s iterator. Directories are ignored. In list context, the iterator returns a list containing $dir, $file and $fullpath, where $fullpath is what would get returned in scalar context. The first parameter to any of the iterator factory functions may be a hashref of options. ITERATORS For the three iterators, the \%options are optional. files( [ \%options, ] @starting_points ) Returns an iterator that walks directories starting with the items in @starting_points. Each call to the iterator returns another regular file. dirs( [ \%options, ] @starting_points ) Returns an iterator that walks directories starting with the items in @starting_points. Each call to the iterator returns another directory. everything( [ \%options, ] @starting_points ) Returns an iterator that walks directories starting with the items in @starting_points. Each call to the iterator returns another file, whether it's a regular file, directory, symlink, socket, or whatever. from_file( [ \%options, ] $filename ) Returns an iterator that iterates over each of the files specified in $filename. If $filename is "-", then the files are read from STDIN. The files are assumed to be in the file one filename per line. If $nul_separated is passed, then the files are assumed to be NUL- separated, as by "find -print0". If there are blank lines or empty filenames in the input stream, they are ignored. Each filename is checked to see that it is a regular file or a named pipe. If the file does not exists or is a directory, then a warning is thrown to warning_handler, and the file is skipped. The following options have no effect in "from_files": descend_filter, sort_files, follow_symlinks. SUPPORT FUNCTIONS sort_standard( $a, $b ) A sort function for passing as a "sort_files" option: my $iter = File::Next::files( { sort_files => \&File::Next::sort_standard, }, 't/swamp' ); This function is the default, so the code above is identical to: my $iter = File::Next::files( { sort_files => 1, }, 't/swamp' ); sort_reverse( $a, $b ) Same as "sort_standard", but in reverse. reslash( $path ) Takes a path with all forward slashes and rebuilds it with whatever is appropriate for the platform. For example 'foo/bar/bat' will become 'foo\bar\bat' on Windows. This is really just a convenience function. I'd make it private, but ack wants it, too. CONSTRUCTOR PARAMETERS file_filter -> \&file_filter The file_filter lets you check to see if it's really a file you want to get back. If the file_filter returns a true value, the file will be returned; if false, it will be skipped. The file_filter function takes no arguments but rather does its work through a collection of variables. o $_ is the current filename within that directory o $File::Next::dir is the current directory name o $File::Next::name is the complete pathname to the file These are analogous to the same variables in File::Find. my $iter = File::Next::files( { file_filter => sub { /\.txt$/ } }, '/tmp' ); By default, the file_filter is "sub {1}", or "all files". This filter has no effect if your iterator is only returning directories. descend_filter => \&descend_filter The descend_filter lets you check to see if the iterator should descend into a given directory. Maybe you want to skip CVS and .svn directories. my $descend_filter = sub { $_ ne "CVS" && $_ ne ".svn" } The descend_filter function takes no arguments but rather does its work through a collection of variables. o $_ is the current filename of the directory o $File::Next::dir is the complete directory name The descend filter is NOT applied to any directory names specified as @starting_points in the constructor. For example, my $iter = File::Next::files( { descend_filter => sub{0} }, '/tmp' ); always descends into /tmp, as you would expect. By default, the descend_filter is "sub {1}", or "always descend". error_handler => \&error_handler If error_handler is set, then any errors will be sent through it. If the error is OS-related (ex. file not found, not permissions), the native error code is passed as a second argument. By default, this value is "CORE::die". This function must NOT return. warning_handler => \&warning_handler If warning_handler is set, then any errors will be sent through it. By default, this value is "CORE::warn". Unlike the error_handler, this function must return. sort_files => [ 0 | 1 | \&sort_sub] If you want files sorted, pass in some true value, as in "sort_files => 1". If you want a special sort order, pass in a sort function like "sort_files => sub { $a->[1] cmp $b->[1] }". Note that the parms passed in to the sub are arrayrefs, where $a->[0] is the directory name, $a->[1] is the file name and $a->[2] is the full path. Typically you're going to be sorting on $a->[2]. follow_symlinks => [ 0 | 1 ] If set to false, the iterator will ignore any files and directories that are actually symlinks. This has no effect on non-Unixy systems such as Windows. By default, this is true. Note that this filter does not apply to any of the @starting_points passed in to the constructor. You should not set "follow_symlinks => 0" unless you specifically need that behavior. Setting "follow_symlinks => 0" can be a speed hit, because File::Next must check to see if the file or directory you're about to follow is actually a symlink. nul_separated => [ 0 | 1 ] Used by the "from_file" iterator. Specifies that the files listed in the input file are separated by NUL characters, as from the "find" command with the "-print0" argument. PRIVATE FUNCTIONS _setup( $default_parms, @whatever_was_passed_to_files() ) Handles all the scut-work for setting up the parms passed in. Returns a hashref of operational options, combined between $passed_parms and $defaults, plus the queue. The queue prep stuff takes the strings in @starting_points and puts them in the format that queue needs. The @queue that gets passed around is an array, with each entry an arrayref of $dir, $file and $fullpath. _candidate_files( $parms, $dir ) Pulls out the files/dirs that might be worth looking into in $dir. If $dir is the empty string, then search the current directory. $parms is the hashref of parms passed into File::Next constructor. DIAGNOSTICS "File::Next::files must not be invoked as File::Next->files" "File::Next::dirs must not be invoked as File::Next->dirs" "File::Next::everything must not be invoked as File::Next->everything" The interface functions do not allow for the method invocation syntax and throw errors with the messages above. You can work around this limitation with "can" in UNIVERSAL. for my $file_system_feature (qw(dirs files)) { my $iterator = File::Next->can($file_system_feature)->($options, $target_directory); while (defined(my $name = $iterator->())) { # ... } } SPEED TWEAKS o Don't set "follow_symlinks => 0" unless you need it. AUTHOR Andy Lester, "" BUGS Please report any bugs or feature requests to . Note that File::Next does NOT use for bug tracking. SUPPORT You can find documentation for this module with the perldoc command. perldoc File::Next You can also look for information at: o File::Next's bug queue o CPAN Ratings o Search CPAN o Source code repository ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS All file-finding in this module is adapted from Mark Jason Dominus' marvelous Higher Order Perl, page 126. Thanks to these fine contributors: Varadinsky, Paulo Custodio, Gerhard Poul, Brian Fraser, Todd Rinaldo, Bruce Woodward, Christopher J. Madsen, Bernhard Fisseni and Rob Hoelz. COPYRIGHT & LICENSE Copyright 2005-2017 Andy Lester. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the Artistic License version 2.0. perl v5.38.0 2023-07-25 Next(3)