This seemingly simple problem is stumping me. I want a concise way to test an arbitrary file "pattern" to see if the file(s) exist. The string to be tested can be in the format of a single filename, or a shell pattern such as "*.txt", "job[0-9].txt", "log.00?", etc.

I can use a -e test for a single filename, and a glob test for a pattern. What I'm looking for is a single test to use if I don't know ahead of time if the string will refer to a single file or a shell pattern.

Running a few tests with perl one-liners gives me this: 

$ ls *.txt
javastuff.txt  modules.txt
$ perl -le '$,=" "; print glob "*.txt"'
javastuff.txt modules.txt
$ perl -le '$,=" "; print glob "joe.txt"'
joe.txt
$ perl -le '$,=" "; print glob "joe.txt*"'

$ perl -le 'print ((-e "joe.txt")?"yes":"no")'
no
$ perl -le 'print ((-e "*.txt")?"yes":"no")'
no
$ perl -le 'print ((-e "modules.txt")?"yes":"no")'
yes
$

[download]

Note the false positive for joe.txt in the glob test, and the problem with *.txt in the -e test.

I am currently using a hack that appends an asterisk (*) to the string I'm testing, and testing it with a glob command, e.g.,
if ( @files = glob $pattern.'*' ) {...
but there is an edge case where I only want "file" when "file1" and "file2" also exist, and that needs to be accounted for.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

In reply to Test for file(s): glob or -e? by delirium

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