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File::Path(3)
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:

  ·   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)

  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:

  ·   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.

  ·   a boolean value, which if TRUE will cause "rmtree" to print a message
      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 successfully deleted.	Symlinks are simply
  deleted and not followed.

  NOTE: If the third parameter is not TRUE, "rmtree" is unsecure in the face
  of failure or interruption.  Files and directories which were not deleted
  may be left with permissions reset to allow world read and write access.
  Note also that the occurrence of errors in rmtree can be determined only by
  trapping diagnostic messages using $SIG{__WARN__}; it is not apparent from
  the return value.  Therefore, you must be extremely careful about using
  "rmtree($foo,$bar,0)" in situations where security is an issue.

DIAGNOSTICS
  ·   On Windows, if "mkpath" gives you the warning: No such file or
      directory, this may mean that you've exceeded your filesystem's maximum
      path length.

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

Index for Section 3

Alphabetical listing for F

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