ExtUtils::Command(3perl) Perl Programmers Reference Guide ExtUtils::Command(3perl)

ExtUtils::Command - utilities to replace common UNIX commands in Makefiles etc.

perl -MExtUtils::Command -e cat files... > destination
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e mv source... destination
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e cp source... destination
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e touch files...
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e rm_f files...
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e rm_rf directories...
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e mkpath directories...
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e eqtime source destination
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e test_f file
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e test_d directory
perl -MExtUtils::Command -e chmod mode files...
...

The module is used to replace common UNIX commands. In all cases the functions work from @ARGV rather than taking arguments. This makes them easier to deal with in Makefiles. Call them like this:

perl -MExtUtils::Command -e some_command some files to work on

and NOT like this:

perl -MExtUtils::Command -e 'some_command qw(some files to work on)'

For that use Shell::Command.

Filenames with * and ? will be glob expanded.

cat file ...

Concatenates all files mentioned on command line to STDOUT.

eqtime source destination

Sets modified time of destination to that of source.

rm_rf files or directories ...

Removes files and directories - recursively (even if readonly)

rm_f file ...

Removes files (even if readonly)

touch file ...

Makes files exist, with current timestamp

mv source_file destination_file
mv source_file source_file destination_dir

Moves source to destination. Multiple sources are allowed if destination is an existing directory.

Returns true if all moves succeeded, false otherwise.

cp source_file destination_file
cp source_file source_file destination_dir

Copies sources to the destination. Multiple sources are allowed if destination is an existing directory.

Returns true if all copies succeeded, false otherwise.

chmod mode files ...

Sets UNIX like permissions 'mode' on all the files. e.g. 0666

mkpath directory ...

Creates directories, including any parent directories.

test_f file

Tests if a file exists. Exits with 0 if it does, 1 if it does not (ie. shell's idea of true and false).

test_d directory

Tests if a directory exists. Exits with 0 if it does, 1 if it does not (ie. shell's idea of true and false).

dos2unix files or dirs ...

Converts DOS and OS/2 linefeeds to Unix style recursively.

Shell::Command which is these same functions but take arguments normally.

Nick Ing-Simmons "ni-s@cpan.org"

Maintained by Michael G Schwern "schwern@pobox.com" within the ExtUtils-MakeMaker package and, as a separate CPAN package, by Randy Kobes "r.kobes@uwinnipeg.ca".

2024-02-11 perl v5.38.2