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

Hello Monks,

I want to copy a file over to another directory and if that file exists, I would like to overwrite the file. A copy command:

copy ( source, destination );

But, the copy command does not overwrite the file if it already exists. Is there a way I can force the overwrite?

Thanks in advance.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: overwrite a file
by RazorbladeBidet (Friar) on Apr 01, 2005 at 21:38 UTC
    I'm assuming you're using File::Copy.

    What are you trying? I can do the following (where both tmp.pl and tmp.log exist) with no problems: 
    perl -MFile::Copy -le 'File::Copy::copy("tmp.log", "tmp.pl");'

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    Do you maybe not have write permissions?
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Re: overwrite a file
by bcole23 (Scribe) on Apr 01, 2005 at 21:43 UTC
    Your problems are probably due to file permissions or something else having a lock on the file.

    If you can't copy over it, then you could check for locks, sleep, and retry for a while. If you don't know or have control over the files that you're copying over, you may want to check permissions on the files first and process accordingly.
[reply]
      Thank you all for your responses.

      I am trying to use File::Copy command...you are probably right...I might not have permissions to change the file. If I don't have permission to change the file, I might not be able to overwrite. I'll go ahead and implement changing the permissions for the files.

      Thanks.

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Re: overwrite a file
by punch_card_don (Curate) on Apr 01, 2005 at 22:59 UTC
    Do you mean you're trying to create a "copy" subroutine to use in a program? Something like: 
    sub copy( source, destination ) {
    open SOURCEFILE "source";
    open DESTINATIONFILE "destination";
    while (<SOURCEFILE>) {
        print DESTINATIONFILE ;
    }
    close DESTINATIONFILE;
    close SOURCEFILE;
}

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    If so, then maybe the problem is in how you're opening the destination file. 

    open FILE "<$file";

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    to read a file 
    open FILE ">$file";

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    to write to a file, creating it if necessary 
    open FILE ">>$file";

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    to append to a file, creating it if necessary

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    Get a little savagery in your life.

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Re: overwrite a file
by tlm (Prior) on Apr 01, 2005 at 21:41 UTC

    Update: Please disregard; wrong info. My bad.

    the lowliest monk

[reply]
      He said, "copy a file over to another directory", so I believe it is not the same file. <Update> and so please disregard this too! :)
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