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CONTENTS

NAME

File::Path - create or remove directory trees

SYNOPSIS

use File::Path;

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, even if your mkdir kernel call won't create more than one level of directory at a time. mkpath takes three arguments:

It returns a list of all directories (including intermediates, determined using the Unix '/' separator) 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: $@";
}

Similarly, the rmtree function provides a convenient way to delete a subtree from the directory structure, much like the Unix command rm -r. rmtree takes three arguments:

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

NOTE: There are race conditions internal to the implementation of rmtree making it unsafe to use on directory trees which may be altered or moved while rmtree is running, and in particular on any directory trees with any path components or subdirectories potentially writable by untrusted users.

Additionally, if the third parameter is not TRUE and rmtree is interrupted, it may leave files and directories with permissions altered to allow deletion (and older versions of this module would even set files and directories to world-read/writable!)

Note also that the occurrence of errors in rmtree can be determined only by trapping diagnostic messages using $SIG{__WARN__}; it is not apparent from the return value.

DIAGNOSTICS

AUTHORS

Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk> and Charles Bailey <bailey@newman.upenn.edu>