I am using Net::FTP to write some code that connects to an FTP site scans the directory structure and reports by email on files which have been updated since the last scan. When I do $ftp->dir() I then use a regex which searches for start-of-line followed by either a d or an l in order to separate the directories from the files. This is so I can scan directories and check files. My problem is that files which are symbolic links (lrwxr-xr-x in the dir output) could point to either files or directories. My workaround, which I am not too happy with, is to first assume that they are directories and $ftp->cwd() into the directory checking return codes as I go. When there has been an error I then know that the link was not pointing to a directory but a file so I put it on the file list instead.

Any advice? Am I reinventing the wheel? Are their flaws in my workaround?

In reply to (Dermot) Using Net::FTP, dir(), symlinks: are they files or directories? by Dermot

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