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File::Path(3)	       Perl Programmers Reference Guide		 File::Path(3)

NAME
       File::Path - Create or remove directory trees

VERSION
       This document describes version 2.04 of File::Path, released
       2007-11-13.

SYNOPSIS
	   use File::Path;

	   # modern
	   mkpath( 'foo/bar/baz', '/zug/zwang', {verbose => 1} );

	   rmtree(
	       'foo/bar/baz', '/zug/zwang',
	       { verbose => 1, error  => \my $err_list }
	   );

	   # traditional
	   mkpath(['/foo/bar/baz', 'blurfl/quux'], 1, 0711);
	   rmtree(['foo/bar/baz', 'blurfl/quux'], 1, 1);

DESCRIPTION
       The "mkpath" function provides a convenient way to create directories
       of arbitrary depth. Similarly, the "rmtree" function provides a conve‐
       nient way to delete an entire directory subtree from the filesystem,
       much like the Unix command "rm -r".

       Both functions may be called in one of two ways, the traditional, com‐
       patible with code written since the dawn of time, and modern, that
       offers a more flexible and readable idiom. New code should use the mod‐
       ern interface.

       FUNCTIONS

       The modern way of calling "mkpath" and "rmtree" is with a list of
       directories to create, or remove, respectively, followed by an optional
       hash reference containing keys to control the function's behaviour.

       "mkpath"

       The following keys are recognised as parameters to "mkpath".  The func‐
       tion returns the list of files actually created during the call.

	 my @created = mkpath(
	   qw(/tmp /flub /home/nobody),
	   {verbose => 1, mode => 0750},
	 );
	 print "created $_\n" for @created;

       mode
	   The numeric permissions mode to apply to each created directory
	   (defaults to 0777), to be modified by the current "umask". If the
	   directory already exists (and thus does not need to be created),
	   the permissions will not be modified.

	   "mask" is recognised as an alias for this parameter.

       verbose
	   If present, will cause "mkpath" to print the name of each directory
	   as it is created. By default nothing is printed.

       error
	   If present, will be interpreted as a reference to a list, and will
	   be used to store any errors that are encountered.  See the ERROR
	   HANDLING section for more information.

	   If this parameter is not used, certain error conditions may raise a
	   fatal error that will cause the program will halt, unless trapped
	   in an "eval" block.

       "rmtree"

       verbose
	   If present, will cause "rmtree" to print the name of each file as
	   it is unlinked. By default nothing is printed.

       safe
	   When set to a true value, will cause "rmtree" to skip the files for
	   which the process lacks the required privileges needed to delete
	   files, such as delete privileges on VMS. In other words, the code
	   will make no attempt to alter file permissions. Thus, if the
	   process is interrupted, no filesystem object will be left in a more
	   permissive mode.

       keep_root
	   When set to a true value, will cause all files and subdirectories
	   to be removed, except the initially specified directories. This
	   comes in handy when cleaning out an application's scratch direc‐
	   tory.

	     rmtree( '/tmp', {keep_root => 1} );

       result
	   If present, will be interpreted as a reference to a list, and will
	   be used to store the list of all files and directories unlinked
	   during the call. If nothing is unlinked, a reference to an empty
	   list is returned (rather than "undef").

	     rmtree( '/tmp', {result => \my $list} );
	     print "unlinked $_\n" for @$list;

	   This is a useful alternative to the "verbose" key.

       error
	   If present, will be interpreted as a reference to a list, and will
	   be used to store any errors that are encountered.  See the ERROR
	   HANDLING section for more information.

	   Removing things is a much more dangerous proposition than creating
	   things. As such, there are certain conditions that "rmtree" may
	   encounter that are so dangerous that the only sane action left is
	   to kill the program.

	   Use "error" to trap all that is reasonable (problems with permis‐
	   sions and the like), and let it die if things get out of hand. This
	   is the safest course of action.

       TRADITIONAL INTERFACE

       The old interfaces of "mkpath" and "rmtree" take a reference to a list
       of directories (to create or remove), followed by a series of posi‐
       tional, numeric, modal parameters that control their behaviour.

       This design made it difficult to add additional functionality, as well
       as posed the problem of what to do when the calling code only needs to
       set the last parameter. Even though the code doesn't care how the ini‐
       tial positional parameters are set, the programmer is forced to learn
       what the defaults are, and specify them.

       Worse, if it turns out in the future that it would make more sense to
       change the default behaviour of the first parameter (for example, to
       avoid a security vulnerability), all existing code will remain hard-
       wired to the wrong defaults.

       Finally, a series of numeric parameters are much less self-documenting
       in terms of communicating to the reader what the code is doing. Named
       parameters do not have this problem.

       In the traditional API, "mkpath" takes three arguments:

       ·   The name of the path to create, or a reference to a list of paths
	   to create,

       ·   a boolean value, which if TRUE will cause "mkpath" to print the
	   name of each directory as it is created (defaults to FALSE), and

       ·   the numeric mode to use when creating the directories (defaults to
	   0777), to be modified by the current umask.

       It returns a list of all directories (including intermediates, deter‐
       mined using the Unix '/' separator) created.  In scalar context it
       returns the number of directories created.

       If a system error prevents a directory from being created, then the
       "mkpath" function throws a fatal error with "Carp::croak". This error
       can be trapped with an "eval" block:

	 eval { mkpath($dir) };
	 if ($@) {
	   print "Couldn't create $dir: $@";
	 }

       In the traditional API, "rmtree" takes three arguments:

       ·   the root of the subtree to delete, or a reference to a list of
	   roots. All of the files and directories below each root, as well as
	   the roots themselves, will be deleted. If you want to keep the
	   roots themselves, you must use the modern API.

       ·   a boolean value, which if TRUE will cause "rmtree" to print a mes‐
	   sage each time it examines a file, giving the name of the file, and
	   indicating whether it's using "rmdir" or "unlink" to remove it, or
	   that it's skipping it.  (defaults to FALSE)

       ·   a boolean value, which if TRUE will cause "rmtree" to skip any
	   files to which you do not have delete access (if running under VMS)
	   or write access (if running under another OS). This will change in
	   the future when a criterion for 'delete permission' under OSs other
	   than VMS is settled.	 (defaults to FALSE)

       It returns the number of files, directories and symlinks successfully
       deleted.	 Symlinks are simply deleted and not followed.

       Note also that the occurrence of errors in "rmtree" using the tradi‐
       tional interface can be determined only by trapping diagnostic messages
       using $SIG{__WARN__}; it is not apparent from the return value. (The
       modern interface may use the "error" parameter to record any problems
       encountered).

       ERROR HANDLING

       If "mkpath" or "rmtree" encounter an error, a diagnostic message will
       be printed to "STDERR" via "carp" (for non-fatal errors), or via
       "croak" (for fatal errors).

       If this behaviour is not desirable, the "error" attribute may be used
       to hold a reference to a variable, which will be used to store the
       diagnostics. The result is a reference to a list of hash references.
       For each hash reference, the key is the name of the file, and the value
       is the error message (usually the contents of $!). An example usage
       looks like:

	 rmpath( 'foo/bar', 'bar/rat', {error => \my $err} );
	 for my $diag (@$err) {
	   my ($file, $message) = each %$diag;
	   print "problem unlinking $file: $message\n";
	 }

       If no errors are encountered, $err will point to an empty list (thus
       there is no need to test for "undef"). If a general error is encoun‐
       tered (for instance, "rmtree" attempts to remove a directory tree that
       does not exist), the diagnostic key will be empty, only the value will
       be set:

	 rmpath( '/no/such/path', {error => \my $err} );
	 for my $diag (@$err) {
	   my ($file, $message) = each %$diag;
	   if ($file eq '') {
	     print "general error: $message\n";
	   }
	 }

       NOTES

       "File::Path" blindly exports "mkpath" and "rmtree" into the current
       namespace. These days, this is considered bad style, but to change it
       now would break too much code. Nonetheless, you are invited to specify
       what it is you are expecting to use:

	 use File::Path 'rmtree';

       HEURISTICS

       The functions detect (as far as possible) which way they are being
       called and will act appropriately. It is important to remember that the
       heuristic for detecting the old style is either the presence of an
       array reference, or two or three parameters total and second and third
       parameters are numeric. Hence...

	   mkpath 486, 487, 488;

       ... will not assume the modern style and create three directories,
       rather it will create one directory verbosely, setting the permission
       to 0750 (488 being the decimal equivalent of octal 750). Here, old
       style trumps new. It must, for backwards compatibility reasons.

       If you want to ensure there is absolutely no ambiguity about which way
       the function will behave, make sure the first parameter is a reference
       to a one-element list, to force the old style interpretation:

	   mkpath [486], 487, 488;

       and get only one directory created. Or add a reference to an empty
       parameter hash, to force the new style:

	   mkpath 486, 487, 488, {};

       ... and hence create the three directories. If the empty hash reference
       seems a little strange to your eyes, or you suspect a subsequent pro‐
       grammer might helpfully optimise it away, you can add a parameter set
       to a default value:

	   mkpath 486, 487, 488, {verbose => 0};

       SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

       There were race conditions 1.x implementations of File::Path's "rmtree"
       function (although sometimes patched depending on the OS distribution
       or platform). The 2.0 version contains code to avoid the problem men‐
       tioned in CVE-2002-0435.

       See the following pages for more information:

	 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=286905
	 http://www.nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters/2005/01/msg97623.html
	 http://www.debian.org/security/2005/dsa-696

       Additionally, unless the "safe" parameter is set (or the third parame‐
       ter in the traditional interface is TRUE), should a "rmtree" be inter‐
       rupted, files that were originally in read-only mode may now have their
       permissions set to a read-write (or "delete OK") mode.

DIAGNOSTICS
       FATAL errors will cause the program to halt ("croak"), since the prob‐
       lem is so severe that it would be dangerous to continue. (This can
       always be trapped with "eval", but it's not a good idea. Under the cir‐
       cumstances, dying is the best thing to do).

       SEVERE errors may be trapped using the modern interface. If the they
       are not trapped, or the old interface is used, such an error will cause
       the program will halt.

       All other errors may be trapped using the modern interface, otherwise
       they will be "carp"ed about. Program execution will not be halted.

       mkdir [path]: [errmsg] (SEVERE)
	   "mkpath" was unable to create the path. Probably some sort of per‐
	   missions error at the point of departure, or insufficient resources
	   (such as free inodes on Unix).

       No root path(s) specified
	   "mkpath" was not given any paths to create. This message is only
	   emitted if the routine is called with the traditional interface.
	   The modern interface will remain silent if given nothing to do.

       No such file or directory
	   On Windows, if "mkpath" gives you this warning, it may mean that
	   you have exceeded your filesystem's maximum path length.

       cannot fetch initial working directory: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree" attempted to determine the initial directory by calling
	   "Cwd::getcwd", but the call failed for some reason. No attempt will
	   be made to delete anything.

       cannot stat initial working directory: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree" attempted to stat the initial directory (after having suc‐
	   cessfully obtained its name via "getcwd"), however, the call failed
	   for some reason. No attempt will be made to delete anything.

       cannot chdir to [dir]: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree" attempted to set the working directory in order to begin
	   deleting the objects therein, but was unsuccessful. This is usually
	   a permissions issue. The routine will continue to delete other
	   things, but this directory will be left intact.

       directory [dir] changed before chdir, expected dev=[n] inode=[n],
       actual dev=[n] ino=[n], aborting. (FATAL)
	   "rmtree" recorded the device and inode of a directory, and then
	   moved into it. It then performed a "stat" on the current directory
	   and detected that the device and inode were no longer the same. As
	   this is at the heart of the race condition problem, the program
	   will die at this point.

       cannot make directory [dir] read+writeable: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree" attempted to change the permissions on the current direc‐
	   tory to ensure that subsequent unlinkings would not run into prob‐
	   lems, but was unable to do so. The permissions remain as they were,
	   and the program will carry on, doing the best it can.

       cannot read [dir]: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree" tried to read the contents of the directory in order to
	   acquire the names of the directory entries to be unlinked, but was
	   unsuccessful. This is usually a permissions issue. The program will
	   continue, but the files in this directory will remain after the
	   call.

       cannot reset chmod [dir]: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree", after having deleted everything in a directory, attempted
	   to restore its permissions to the original state but failed. The
	   directory may wind up being left behind.

       cannot chdir to [parent-dir] from [child-dir]: [errmsg], aborting.
       (FATAL)
	   "rmtree", after having deleted everything and restored the permis‐
	   sions of a directory, was unable to chdir back to the parent. This
	   is usually a sign that something evil this way comes.

       cannot stat prior working directory [dir]: [errmsg], aborting. (FATAL)
	   "rmtree" was unable to stat the parent directory after have
	   returned from the child. Since there is no way of knowing if we
	   returned to where we think we should be (by comparing device and
	   inode) the only way out is to "croak".

       previous directory [parent-dir] changed before entering [child-dir],
       expected dev=[n] inode=[n], actual dev=[n] ino=[n], aborting. (FATAL)
	   When "rmtree" returned from deleting files in a child directory, a
	   check revealed that the parent directory it returned to wasn't the
	   one it started out from. This is considered a sign of malicious
	   activity.

       cannot make directory [dir] writeable: [errmsg]
	   Just before removing a directory (after having successfully removed
	   everything it contained), "rmtree" attempted to set the permissions
	   on the directory to ensure it could be removed and failed. Program
	   execution continues, but the directory may possibly not be deleted.

       cannot remove directory [dir]: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree" attempted to remove a directory, but failed. This may
	   because some objects that were unable to be removed remain in the
	   directory, or a permissions issue. The directory will be left
	   behind.

       cannot restore permissions of [dir] to [0nnn]: [errmsg]
	   After having failed to remove a directory, "rmtree" was unable to
	   restore its permissions from a permissive state back to a possibly
	   more restrictive setting. (Permissions given in octal).

       cannot make file [file] writeable: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree" attempted to force the permissions of a file to ensure it
	   could be deleted, but failed to do so. It will, however, still
	   attempt to unlink the file.

       cannot unlink file [file]: [errmsg]
	   "rmtree" failed to remove a file. Probably a permissions issue.

       cannot restore permissions of [file] to [0nnn]: [errmsg]
	   After having failed to remove a file, "rmtree" was also unable to
	   restore the permissions on the file to a possibly less permissive
	   setting. (Permissions given in octal).

SEE ALSO
       ·   File::Remove

	   Allows files and directories to be moved to the Trashcan/Recycle
	   Bin (where they may later be restored if necessary) if the operat‐
	   ing system supports such functionality. This feature may one day be
	   made available directly in "File::Path".

       ·   File::Find::Rule

	   When removing directory trees, if you want to examine each file to
	   decide whether to delete it (and possibly leaving large swathes
	   alone), File::Find::Rule offers a convenient and flexible approach
	   to examining directory trees.

BUGS
       Please report all bugs on the RT queue:

       <http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=File-Path>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
       Paul Szabo identified the race condition originally, and Brendan O'Dea
       wrote an implementation for Debian that addressed the problem.  That
       code was used as a basis for the current code. Their efforts are
       greatly appreciated.

AUTHORS
       Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk> and Charles Bailey <bailey@new‐
       man.upenn.edu>. Currently maintained by David Landgren <david@land‐
       gren.net>.

COPYRIGHT
       This module is copyright (C) Charles Bailey, Tim Bunce and David Land‐
       gren 1995-2007.	All rights reserved.

LICENSE
       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the same terms as Perl itself.

perl v5.8.8			  2008-09-19			 File::Path(3)
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