#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $dir = '/etc';

if (-e $dir and -d $dir) {
    print "SPOON :)\n";
} else {
    print "spork :(\n";
}
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grep> cd pub 
grep> more beer

This will work:

$somedir = "c:/windows";
if (-d $somedir) {
    print "$somedir exists";
} else {
    print "$somedir does not exist!";
}
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If you have a look at perlman:perlfunc and find -X under the Functions for filehandles, files, or directories you will find a range of file tests that can be applied to files and dirs.

cheers

tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print

if (-d $pathname) {
  # $pathname exists and is a directory
  # ...
}
elsif (-e _) {
  # $pathname exists, but is NOT a directory
  # ...
}
else {
  # $pathname doesn't even exist
  # ...
}
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In any case, testing for existence of a file or a directory is often indicative of a bug. It is almost always better to try to get what you need in a single operation. For instance, instead of saying

if (-d $d) {
  open FILE, "$d/$f" or die "Open failed";
}
else {
  die "No directory $d";
}
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open FILE, "$d/$f" or die "Open failed";
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Let the operating system make sure your path is OK. The first way is subject to an insiduous race condition: directory $d could be created between the test -d $d and the error message, and the error message would be wrong. This is not too bad; but if some more complex error handling were used, it would be likely to break.

So try not to test if you can do something with -X; just try to do it. If you can't, the OS will let you know.

-r  File or directory is readable
-w  File or directory is writable
-x  File or directory is executable
-o  File or directory is owned by user
-R  File or directory is readable by real user, not effective user (di
+ffers from -r for setuid programs)
-W  File or directory is writable by real user, not effective user (di
+ffers from -w for setuid programs)
-X  File or directory is executable by real user, not effective user (
+differs from -x for setuid programs)
-O  File or directory is owned by real user, not effective user (diffe
+rs from -o for setuid programs)
-e  File or directory exists
-z  File exists and has zero size (directories are never empty)
-s  File or directory exists and has nonzero size (the value is the si
+ze in bytes)
-f  Entry is a plain file
-d  Entry is a directory
-l  Entry is a symlink
-S  Entry is a socket
-p  Entry is a named pipe (a "fifo")
-b  Entry is a block-special file (like a mountable disk)
-c  Entry is a character-special file (like an I/O device)
-u  File or directory is setuid
-g  File or directory is setgid
-k  File or directory has the sticky bit set
-t  isatty() on the filehandle is true
-T  File is "text"
-B  File is "binary"
-M  Modification age in days
-A  Access age in days
-C  Inode-modification age in days
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