File::DosGlob(3p)Perl Programmers Reference GuidFile::DosGlob(3p)NAMEFile::DosGlob - DOS like globbing and then some
SYNOPSIS
require 5.004;
# override CORE::glob in current package
use File::DosGlob 'glob';
# override CORE::glob in ALL packages (use with extreme caution!)
use File::DosGlob 'GLOBAL_glob';
@perlfiles = glob "..\\pe?l/*.p?";
print <..\\pe?l/*.p?>;
# from the command line (overrides only in main::)
> perl -MFile::DosGlob=glob -e "print <../pe*/*p?>"
DESCRIPTION
A module that implements DOS-like globbing with a few
enhancements. It is largely compatible with perlglob.exe
(the M$ setargv.obj version) in all but one respect--it
understands wildcards in directory components.
For example, "<..\\l*b\\file/*glob.p?"> will work as
expected (in that it will find something like
'..\lib\File/DosGlob.pm' alright). Note that all path com-
ponents are case-insensitive, and that backslashes and for-
ward slashes are both accepted, and preserved. You may have
to double the backslashes if you are putting them in
literally, due to double-quotish parsing of the pattern by
perl.
Spaces in the argument delimit distinct patterns, so
"glob('*.exe *.dll')" globs all filenames that end in ".exe"
or ".dll". If you want to put in literal spaces in the glob
pattern, you can escape them with either double quotes, or
backslashes. e.g. "glob('c:/"Program Files"/*/*.dll')", or
"glob('c:/Program\ Files/*/*.dll')". The argument is token-
ized using "Text::ParseWords::parse_line()", so see
Text::ParseWords for details of the quoting rules used.
Extending it to csh patterns is left as an exercise to the
reader.
NOTES
+ Mac OS (Classic) users should note a few differences.
The specification of pathnames in glob patterns adheres
to the usual Mac OS conventions: The path separator is a
colon ':', not a slash '/' or backslash '\'. A full path
always begins with a volume name. A relative pathname on
Mac OS must always begin with a ':', except when
perl v5.8.8 2005-02-05 1
File::DosGlob(3p)Perl Programmers Reference GuidFile::DosGlob(3p)
specifying a file or directory name in the current work-
ing directory, where the leading colon is optional. If
specifying a volume name only, a trailing ':' is
required. Due to these rules, a glob like <*:> will find
all mounted volumes, while a glob like <*> or <:*> will
find all files and directories in the current directory.
Note that updirs in the glob pattern are resolved before
the matching begins, i.e. a pattern like "*HD:t?p::a*"
will be matched as "*HD:a*". Note also, that a single
trailing ':' in the pattern is ignored (unless it's a
volume name pattern like "*HD:"), i.e. a glob like <:*:>
will find both directories and files (and not, as one
might expect, only directories).
The metachars '*', '?' and the escape char '\' are valid
characters in volume, directory and file names on Mac
OS. Hence, if you want to match a '*', '?' or '\'
literally, you have to escape these characters. Due to
perl's quoting rules, things may get a bit complicated,
when you want to match a string like '\*' literally, or
when you want to match '\' literally, but treat the
immediately following character '*' as metachar. So,
here's a rule of thumb (applies to both single- and
double-quoted strings): escape each '*' or '?' or '\'
with a backslash, if you want to treat them literally,
and then double each backslash and your are done. E.g.
- Match '\*' literally
escape both '\' and '*' : '\\\*'
double the backslashes : '\\\\\\*'
(Internally, the glob routine sees a '\\\*', which means
that both '\' and '*' are escaped.)
- Match '\' literally, treat '*' as metachar
escape '\' but not '*' : '\\*'
double the backslashes : '\\\\*'
(Internally, the glob routine sees a '\\*', which means
that '\' is escaped and '*' is not.)
Note that you also have to quote literal spaces in the
glob pattern, as described above.
EXPORTS (by request only)glob()BUGS
Should probably be built into the core, and needs to stop
perl v5.8.8 2005-02-05 2
File::DosGlob(3p)Perl Programmers Reference GuidFile::DosGlob(3p)
pandering to DOS habits. Needs a dose of optimizium too.
AUTHOR
Gurusamy Sarathy <gsar@activestate.com>
HISTORY
+ Support for globally overriding glob() (GSAR 3-JUN-98)
+ Scalar context, independent iterator context fixes (GSAR
15-SEP-97)
+ A few dir-vs-file optimizations result in glob importa-
tion being 10 times faster than using perlglob.exe, and
using perlglob.bat is only twice as slow as perlglob.exe
(GSAR 28-MAY-97)
+ Several cleanups prompted by lack of compatible
perlglob.exe under Borland (GSAR 27-MAY-97)
+ Initial version (GSAR 20-FEB-97)
SEE ALSO
perl
perlglob.bat
Text::ParseWords
perl v5.8.8 2005-02-05 3