file size test on 5.005

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

I'll start of with the code, then ask the question....

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
my $dir = ".";  # relative path within chroot

opendir(DIR, $dir) or die "can't open $dir for read: $!\n";
my @file =  readdir DIR;
closedir(DIR) or die "error closing $dir: $!\n";

foreach my $file (@file)
{
  my $fsize = (-s $file); # get the file size
  my $isdir = (-d $file); # get the file size

  if ($fsize > 1 || $isdir =~ 1)
  {
    print ":$file:$fsize:$isdir:\n";
    ...do more junk....
  }
  else
  {
    print ":$file:$fsize:$isdir:\n";
    ...do more junk....
  }
}
[download]

now I would expect this to return the filename followed by the file size and a value of 1 if it is a directory. which works great on 5.8.0 Active State... However when I run the same code on AIX running 5.005_3 I get "strange" results. the filename, size, and directory indicator are returned for '.' and '..' but every file or directory after that a size and directory indicator are not returned? I check 'perldoc -f -s' on the AIX box and it appears that the file test operators should work the same on 5.005_3 as they do on my windows box....??? can anybody shed some light on this for me?

Comment on file size test on 5.005_3? Download Code

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Re: file size test on 5.005_3? by davido (Cardinal) on Oct 15, 2003 at 19:18 UTC
This probably isn't contributing to your problem, but one thing that jumps out at me as looking a little funny is this: `$isdir =~ 1` [download] Essentially, that will evaluate to true if $isdir contains 1 anywhere in it. So 1, 121, 212, 00111 would all evaluate to true in that context. I just never see the binding operator (=~) being used to bind a scalar to a literal digit instead of a regexp, but it works the same as /1/. The only reason I bring it up is that by dropping the m//, it leads me to wonder if you expected the regexp behavior that you're getting. Maybe you meant to use '==' or 'eq', or '=~ /1/' (for clarity). Dave "If I had my life to do over again, I'd be a plumber." -- Albert Einstein	[reply] [d/l]
Re: file size test on 5.005_3? by Thelonius (Priest) on Oct 15, 2003 at 19:17 UTC
You need to include the directory name with the file name, e.g. `my $fullfilename = "$dir/$file"; my $fsize = (-s $fullfilename); # get the file size my $isdir = (-d $fullfilename); # get the file size` [download] Updated: Oh, $dir = ".". In the words of Emily Litella, "Never mind!"	[reply] [d/l]
Re: file size test on 5.005_3? by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Oct 15, 2003 at 20:13 UTC
Well, it very well may be that you have stumbled on a bug in Perl. However, 5.005_03 was released more than 4 years ago, and we have had 2 major releases, 2 minor releases, and a whole battery of development releases since. Please confirm whether you have the same problems with 5.8.1. If not, it was a bug in Perl, and it was fixed. Abigail	[reply]
Re: Re: file size test on 5.005_3? by djbiv (Scribe) on Oct 15, 2003 at 21:29 UTC
I don't have this problem in 5.8.0, and unfortantly cannot upgrade the AIX box at this time... Are there any other ways to retreive the file size other then "-s" and stat ??? UPDATE: "stat" actually returns the same results as -s on 5.005_3	[reply]
Re: file size test on 5.005_3? by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Oct 15, 2003 at 21:34 UTC
It's a strange environment you work in, if you can't replace buggy software where to bug make your programs fail. I wonder, if your monitor breaks, it won't be replaced either? Anyway, if you can't use -s or stat, you could always open the file, seek to the end, and use tell(). Of course, that might be broken too. Abigail	[reply]