Directory path and -d??

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

So what am I doing wrong here? If I have the current directory set to C: in the command prompt and run this code I get varried results as to what directories are returned. The only way that I can get correct dirs returned is if I have the command prompt at the directory that I am trying to search. Is this the way that is has to be done. I have seen other methods but because I am trying to learn I would like to know why this method is flawed?

opendir dirs2, "D:" or die "Couldn't open directory: $!";

while ($_ = (readdir dirs2)) 
{
   if (-d $_)
   {
      print "Directory: $_\n";
   }
}
[download]

edited: Mon Sep 22 21:10:49 2003 by jeffa - code tags

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Re: Directory path and -d?? by Paladin (Vicar) on Sep 22, 2003 at 21:12 UTC
`readdir` only returns the filenames, not the full path, so you either have to `chdir` to the dir you are working with, or prepend the full path to the filename before using it. ie: `my $dir = 'D:'; opendir dirs2, $dir or die "Couldn't open directory: $!"; while ($_ = (readdir dirs2)) { if (-d "$dir/$_") { print "Directory: $_\n"; } }` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Directory path and -d?? by bart (Canon) on Sep 22, 2003 at 21:35 UTC
For a start, let us drop the -d test, in order to see things... See also Paladin's reply. But, there's still more going on. Windows (and DOS) is a bit strange with regards to directories and drives: each drive has its own internal current directory. You can see it at the DOS prompt too: type `cd d:\files` for whatever directory that exists there, if your currently on drive C: you'll still see the path on C: as a prompt. You need to type D: to change that. Run your script from that prompt, with C: as your current drive, and you'll see different files listed for every directory you chdir'ed to. Really. In other Windows languages, you need to use a separate function call to change the current drive, and the current directory on a drive. You commonly don't notice anything in Perl, because chdir (and Cwd's cwd) changes/report both drive and directory at once. Conclusing: even in Perl, don't use "d:"; use a full path, like "d:\\" or "d:/", "d:\\files" or "d:/files".	[reply]
Re: Re: Directory path and -d?? by pen (Acolyte) on Sep 24, 2003 at 13:50 UTC
I have now discovered the creation of paths but thanks for confirming this for me. I am not using File::Find as I have made my code work and am now using one of the prefered ways. I have learned allot about the syntax by just doing these simple tests. Thanks for all the help Paul Neale	[reply]
Re: Directory path and -d?? by tcf22 (Priest) on Sep 22, 2003 at 21:24 UTC
You could also try the `glob()` function. `foreach(glob('d:\*')){ if(-d $_){ print "Directory: $_\n"; } }` [download] - Tom	[reply] [d/l] [select]