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

Hi, I have a minimum knowledge in perl and trying to get my head around to do a script. I need to write a script that look for a file in a folder where modified/created date is today and and rename it by appending the current date at the end of the file name. Then copy it to a different location,

File Name format - "ABC DEF GHI 3648.html" - This file is generated everyday with a random number(3468).

Need to rename it to - "ABC_DEF_GHI_22112012.html" I have started with the below script, 

#!/usr/bin/perl 

use strict;

# Specify the folder for file search

my $startFolder = "D:\\XXX\\XXX\\";

opendir (DIR, $startFolder) || die "Can't access $startFolder";
 
 # to search for the document
 
foreach my $file (readdir(DIR))
    {
    
    #Modified today and specify the file pattern
        next unless (-M $file <= 1 && $file =~ m/\ABC DEF GHI/);
    
    }

closedir(DIR);

[download]

The next step is to rename the file as specified above and copy it to a new location. Please let me know the best way to do it. Thanks.

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Re: Search for a file created today and rename it by appending the current date and copy it to a different location
by 2teez (Vicar) on Nov 22, 2012 at 16:12 UTC

    "..The next step is to rename the file ..."
    then check rename function
    "..and copy it to a new location."
    you can use File::Copy

    You may also want to check File::Find, to easily transverse a directory tree.

    If you tell me, I'll forget.
    If you show me, I'll remember.
    if you involve me, I'll understand.
    --- Author unknown to me
[reply]
      ...even easier to use: File::Find::Rule.

      «The Crux of the Biscuit is the Apostrophe»

[reply]
[d/l]

      Thanks. Could you please tell me how can i use the File::Find function to search for a file modified or created today?

[reply]

        File::Find traverses a directory tree and calls the wanted function for each directory entry found. Inside the wanted function, you can use lstat or stat or one of the -X functions to decide if you want to process that directory entry. Example:

        #!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use File::Find;

find(
        {
                wanted => sub {
                        return unless -l $File::Find::name;
                        print "Found a symlink: $File::Find::name\n";
                }
        },
        '.'
);

        [download]

        File::Find comes with a script named find2perl. You invoke it like find, but instead of traversing directories, it writes perl code for performing the directory traversal using File::Find to STDOUT. The generated code is not pretty, may have some unused parts, but it generally works:

        /tmp>find2perl . -type l
#! /usr/bin/perl -w
    eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -S $0 ${1+"$@"}'
        if 0; #$running_under_some_shell

use strict;
use File::Find ();

# Set the variable $File::Find::dont_use_nlink if you're using AFS,
# since AFS cheats.

# for the convenience of &wanted calls, including -eval statements:
use vars qw/*name *dir *prune/;
*name   = *File::Find::name;
*dir    = *File::Find::dir;
*prune  = *File::Find::prune;

sub wanted;



# Traverse desired filesystems
File::Find::find({wanted => \&wanted}, '.');
exit;


sub wanted {
    my ($dev,$ino,$mode,$nlink,$uid,$gid);

    (($dev,$ino,$mode,$nlink,$uid,$gid) = lstat($_)) &&
    -l _
    && print("$name\n");
}

        [download]

        Alexander

        --
        Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
Re: Search for a file created today and rename it by appending the current date and copy it to a different location
by peter (Sexton) on Nov 23, 2012 at 13:16 UTC

    You should see what the filename is. I think it's only the filename and not the absolute filename.

    The -M operator won't work with just the relative filename, because it probably doesn't exists in the current directory.

    Peter Stuifzand
[reply]

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