When readdir returns a value, all it returns is the file name, as opposed to the full path. Therefore, when you pass that file name to open or to -X, it will look for a file by that name in the current working directory not in the directory that you opened (unless they happen to be the same). The code snippet does the following:
  1. Opens the directory named $some_dir and associates it with the directory handle DIR
  2. Gets a list of all filenames and passes that through a grep that:
    1. checks that the file name starts w/ a period (.)
    2. checks that the file name with the path appended on the front is a file
    and stores the results in an array
  3. Closes the directory handle
Therefore, this code snippet will return a list of all files (not folders) in the directory $some_dir whose names start with periods. On UNIX-like systems, such files are frequently used to store configuration information, e.g. .login, .cshrc

In reply to Re: can I get a translation by kennethk
in thread can I get a translation by grashoper

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