opendir (DH, "dir-name") or warn $!;
@list = readdir (DH);
closedir (DH);
[download]

If you want to check for files only you may do:

opendir (DIR, $dir) or die "cannot opendir $dir";
my @only_files = grep {-f "$dir/$_"} readdir(DIR);
closedir (DIR);
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marcos

sub AreThereFiles {
    opendir DIR, "/path/to/nowhere" or die "That will linger: $!\n";
    while ( $foo = readir DIR ) {
    chomp $foo;
        next if ( $foo =~ s/^\.\.?$/ );
        closedir DIR;
        return 1;
    }
    closedir DIR;
    return 0;
}
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This method will be a little slower than slurping it all into an array. But, if your directories look like some of my user's it may not actually be all that slower and the memory savings will be worth it.

Yes, the closedir calls are likely redundant but I have been bitten a few too many times while recursing directories and I tend to include them from sheer paranoia.

Mik
Mik Firestone ( perlus bigotus maximus )

Let's make that compile :) and not return true if there are only directories:

sub AreThereFiles {
    opendir DIR, "/path/to/nowhere" or die "That will linger: $!\n";
    while (my $foo = readir DIR ) {
        chomp $foo;
        next if ( $foo =~ m/^\.\.?$/ );
        next unless (-f $foo);
        closedir DIR;
        return 1;
    }
    closedir DIR;
    return 0;
}
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I put the -X test in there because the original poster mentioned looking for files. If the existence of a sub-directory is appropriate, you can leave it out.

Some further nitpicking:
• It's still readdir not readir :)
• The chomp is not needed
• Using $_ instead of my $foo would make things cleaner, i.e.
  next if /^\.\.?$/ or ! -f;

thanks for pointing out the benefit of minimal resource usage. and you didn't even have any useless uses of scalar (although i think you could safely lose the 'chomp').

if (scalar `ls $dirname`) {print "Directory $dirname is not empty\n"};
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1) useless use of scalar

2) dangerous use of interpolation into a backquoted string, for no real gain

sub files_in_dir{
  my $dir=shift;
  opendir D,$dir;
  my @f=readdir D;
  closedir D;
  if(scalar(@f)<=2){
    # no files in directory
    return 0;
  }else{
    # at least 1 file in directory
    return 1;
  } 
}
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You really should check the return status of the opendir and not let the script go any further if it fails.

How about:

sub numfiles {
  opendir D, shift or die "Ugh. $!\n";
  grep !/^\.{1,2}$/, readdir D;
}
[download]

Why the useless use of scalar? Voodoo? What are you expecting it to do?