File::Glob Ignores Dot Files

dvergin has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Following advice here I am using File::Glob's bsd_glob() to grab directory listings. But I now discover that on my Linux 7.3 system both glob() and bsd_glob() ignore dot files (like .bashrc .vimrc etc.). Here's a demo:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use File::Glob ':glob';

my @ary  = bsd_glob( "/home/dvergin/*" );
#my @ary  = glob( "/home/dvergin/*" );  # same result

print "[$_]\n" for @ary;
[download]

But the files beginning with a dot are not listed. I need them. I'm using the File::Glob module for its handling of spaces in directory names and I am using bsd_glob() following the advice in response to my previous post mentioned above.

How do I get graceful handling of spaces in dir names and glob-ish lists of directory contents that include the dot files?

------------------------------------------------------------
"Perl is a mess and that's good because the
problem space is also a mess." - Larry Wall

Comment on File::Glob Ignores Dot Files Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by Paladin (Vicar) on Nov 25, 2003 at 18:45 UTC
Just like your shell, `` ignores files starting with `.`. You need to explicitly state it: `my @ary = bsd_glob( "/home/dvergin/{.,*}" )` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Re: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by iburrell (Chaplain) on Nov 25, 2003 at 19:57 UTC
That will include '.' and '..' in the list. I have seen a pattern that will leave those out but it is messy. It is simpler to filter them out. `my @files = grep { /^\.\.?$/ } bsd_glob( "{.,}" );` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by Anonymous Monk on Aug 31, 2007 at 20:13 UTC
System directories '.' and '..' can be ignored just by using file test flag '-f': my @files = grep { -f } bsd_glob( "{.,}" );	[reply]
Re: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by Anonymous Monk on Nov 25, 2003 at 18:43 UTC
`@ary = glob('/home/dvergin/{,.}');` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Nov 26, 2003 at 11:10 UTC
This is known, expected and desired behaviour. The proper glob pattern to include all files other than . and .. is `{[^.],.[^.],.??,}` Makeshifts last the longest.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by jrw (Monk) on Sep 13, 2013 at 18:41 UTC
The correct form of this glob pattern is really `{.[!.],.??,}`. Unfortunately, that has bugs in perl 5.8.8, although it works on 5.14 and 5.16. So, the actual best practice may be to avoid glob altogether and open a dirhandle yourself and read/filter the file names you get back.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Dec 30, 2013 at 20:22 UTC
Nowadays I’d just use Path::Tiny and do `path($to_dir)->children`. It excludes `.` and `..` automatically, which is a great default. It also spits out Path::Tiny objects full of useful convenience methods, rather than just strings, which help make code much less grubby. Makeshifts last the longest.	[reply] [d/l]
Re: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by Zed_Lopez (Chaplain) on Nov 25, 2003 at 18:45 UTC
They take regexes as arguments and * doesn't work the same way as in your shell. Try '/.' at the end. Updated:* Oops. Listen to the above monks. It's not a regexp. Note also that their code will return . and .. and you might want a grep to exclude them.	[reply]
Re: Re: File::Glob Ignores Dot Files by ZdrozZ (Scribe) on Nov 26, 2003 at 10:09 UTC
In shell commands I use `.[!.]*` It works if you don't have files with two leading ..	[reply] [d/l]


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