in reply to stat a file

You can either store the result of stat in an array:

my @stat = stat $filename; say $stat[5];

or you can use the File::stat module, in which case you get an object back:

use File::stat; my $stat_obj = stat $filename; print $stat_obj->mtime;

But you have to decide for one way or another -- mixing them is what led to your confusion in the first place.

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Re^2: stat a file
by pelos (Initiate) on May 04, 2013 at 06:22 UTC
    thanks I will give it a try. do you recommend to stick to one particular method? or doesn't really matter?

      stat has slightly less overhead, but File::stat is slightly more readable. File::stat is part of the Perl core since 5.004 (released 1997-05-15), so it's quite safe to assume that File::stat is available even on older Perl installations.

      File::stat has some minor problems, mainly with the implicit $_ and the special handle _, see "Bugs" in File::stat. Also, the filetest operators -t, -T, and -B are not implemented in File::stat. This is documented in "Errors".

      Alexander

      --
      Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)