File::Find::Rule(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation File::Find::Rule(3pm)
NAME
File::Find::Rule - Alternative interface to File::Find
SYNOPSIS
use File::Find::Rule;
# find all the subdirectories of a given directory
my @subdirs = File::Find::Rule->directory->in( $directory );
# find all the .pm files in @INC
my @files = File::Find::Rule->file()
->name( '*.pm' )
->in( @INC );
# as above, but without method chaining
my $rule = File::Find::Rule->new;
$rule->file;
$rule->name( '*.pm' );
my @files = $rule->in( @INC );
DESCRIPTION
File::Find::Rule is a friendlier interface to File::Find. It allows you
to build rules which specify the desired files and directories.
METHODS
"new"
A constructor. You need not invoke "new" manually unless you wish
to, as each of the rule-making methods will auto-create a suitable
object if called as class methods.
Matching Rules
name( @patterns )
Specifies names that should match. May be globs or regular
expressions.
$set->name( '*.mp3', '*.ogg' ); # mp3s or oggs
$set->name( qr/\.(mp3|ogg)$/ ); # the same as a regex
$set->name( 'foo.bar' ); # just things named foo.bar
-X tests
Synonyms are provided for each of the -X tests. See "-X" in perlfunc
for details. None of these methods take arguments.
Test | Method Test | Method
------|------------- ------|----------------
-r | readable -R | r_readable
-w | writeable -W | r_writeable
-w | writable -W | r_writable
-x | executable -X | r_executable
-o | owned -O | r_owned
| |
-e | exists -f | file
-z | empty -d | directory
-s | nonempty -l | symlink
| -p | fifo
-u | setuid -S | socket
-g | setgid -b | block
-k | sticky -c | character
| -t | tty
-M | modified |
-A | accessed -T | ascii
-C | changed -B | binary
Though some tests are fairly meaningless as binary flags
("modified", "accessed", "changed"), they have been included for
completeness.
# find nonempty files
$rule->file,
->nonempty;
stat tests
The following "stat" based methods are provided: "dev", "ino",
"mode", "nlink", "uid", "gid", "rdev", "size", "atime", "mtime",
"ctime", "blksize", and "blocks". See "stat" in perlfunc for
details.
Each of these can take a number of targets, which will follow
Number::Compare semantics.
$rule->size( 7 ); # exactly 7
$rule->size( ">7Ki" ); # larger than 7 * 1024 * 1024 bytes
$rule->size( ">=7" )
->size( "<=90" ); # between 7 and 90, inclusive
$rule->size( 7, 9, 42 ); # 7, 9 or 42
any( @rules )
or( @rules )
Allows shortcircuiting boolean evaluation as an alternative to the
default and-like nature of combined rules. "any" and "or" are
interchangeable.
# find avis, movs, things over 200M and empty files
$rule->any( File::Find::Rule->name( '*.avi', '*.mov' ),
File::Find::Rule->size( '>200M' ),
File::Find::Rule->file->empty,
);
none( @rules )
not( @rules )
Negates a rule. (The inverse of "any".) "none" and "not" are
interchangeable.
# files that aren't 8.3 safe
$rule->file
->not( $rule->new->name( qr/^[^.]{1,8}(\.[^.]{0,3})?$/ ) );
"prune"
Traverse no further. This rule always matches.
"discard"
Don't keep this file. This rule always matches.
"exec( \&subroutine( $shortname, $path, $fullname ) )"
Allows user-defined rules. Your subroutine will be invoked with $_
set to the current short name, and with parameters of the name, the
path you're in, and the full relative filename.
Return a true value if your rule matched.
# get things with long names
$rules->exec( sub { length > 20 } );
grep( @specifiers )
Opens a file and tests it each line at a time.
For each line it evaluates each of the specifiers, stopping at the
first successful match. A specifier may be a regular expression or
a subroutine. The subroutine will be invoked with the same
parameters as an ->exec subroutine.
It is possible to provide a set of negative specifiers by enclosing
them in anonymous arrays. Should a negative specifier match the
iteration is aborted and the clause is failed. For example:
$rule->grep( qr/^#!.*\bperl/, [ sub { 1 } ] );
Is a passing clause if the first line of a file looks like a perl
shebang line.
maxdepth( $level )
Descend at most $level (a non-negative integer) levels of
directories below the starting point.
May be invoked many times per rule, but only the most recent value
is used.
mindepth( $level )
Do not apply any tests at levels less than $level (a non-negative
integer).
extras( \%extras )
Specifies extra values to pass through to "File::File::find" as part
of the options hash.
For example this allows you to specify following of symlinks like
so:
my $rule = File::Find::Rule->extras({ follow => 1 });
May be invoked many times per rule, but only the most recent value
is used.
"relative"
Trim the leading portion of any path found
"canonpath"
Normalize paths found using "File::Spec-"canonpath>. This will
return paths with a file-seperator that is native to your OS (as
determined by File::Spec),
instead of the default "/".
For example, this will return "tmp/foobar" on Unix-ish OSes and
"tmp\foobar" on Win32.
"not_*"
Negated version of the rule. An effective shortand related to ! in
the procedural interface.
$foo->not_name('*.pl');
$foo->not( $foo->new->name('*.pl' ) );
Query Methods
in( @directories )
Evaluates the rule, returns a list of paths to matching files and
directories.
start( @directories )
Starts a find across the specified directories. Matching items may
then be queried using "match". This allows you to use a rule as an
iterator.
my $rule = File::Find::Rule->file->name("*.jpeg")->start( "/web" );
while ( defined ( my $image = $rule->match ) ) {
...
}
"match"
Returns the next file which matches, false if there are no more.
Extensions
Extension modules are available from CPAN in the File::Find::Rule
namespace. In order to use these extensions either use them directly:
use File::Find::Rule::ImageSize;
use File::Find::Rule::MMagic;
# now your rules can use the clauses supplied by the ImageSize and
# MMagic extension
or, specify that File::Find::Rule should load them for you:
use File::Find::Rule qw( :ImageSize :MMagic );
For notes on implementing your own extensions, consult
File::Find::Rule::Extending
Further examples
Finding perl scripts
my $finder = File::Find::Rule->or
(
File::Find::Rule->name( '*.pl' ),
File::Find::Rule->exec(
sub {
if (open my $fh, $_) {
my $shebang = <$fh>;
close $fh;
return $shebang =~ /^#!.*\bperl/;
}
return 0;
} ),
);
Based upon this message
http://use.perl.org/comments.pl?sid=7052&cid=10842
ignore CVS directories
my $rule = File::Find::Rule->new;
$rule->or($rule->new
->directory
->name('CVS')
->prune
->discard,
$rule->new);
Note here the use of a null rule. Null rules match anything they
see, so the effect is to match (and discard) directories called
'CVS' or to match anything.
TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
File::Find::Rule also gives you a procedural interface. This is
documented in File::Find::Rule::Procedural
EXPORTS
"find", "rule"
TAINT MODE INTERACTION
As of 0.32 File::Find::Rule doesn't capture the current working
directory in a taint-unsafe manner. File::Find itself still does
operations that the taint system will flag as insecure but you can use
the "extras" feature to ask File::Find to internally "untaint" file
paths with a regex like so:
my $rule = File::Find::Rule->extras({ untaint => 1 });
Please consult File::Find's documentation for "untaint",
"untaint_pattern", and "untaint_skip" for more information.
BUGS
The code makes use of the "our" keyword and as such requires perl
version 5.6.0 or newer.
Currently it isn't possible to remove a clause from a rule object. If
this becomes a significant issue it will be addressed.
AUTHOR
Richard Clamp <richardc@unixbeard.net> with input gained from this
use.perl discussion: http://use.perl.org/~richardc/journal/6467
Additional proofreading and input provided by Kake, Greg McCarroll, and
Andy Lester andy@petdance.com.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011 Richard Clamp. All
Rights Reserved.
This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
SEE ALSO
File::Find, Text::Glob, Number::Compare, find(1)
If you want to know about the procedural interface, see
File::Find::Rule::Procedural, and if you have an idea for a neat
extension File::Find::Rule::Extending
perl v5.40.1 2025-06-05 File::Find::Rule(3pm)
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