how do I get the directory name from the pathnames

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

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Re: how do I get the directory name from the pathnames by jZed (Prior) on Dec 21, 2005 at 16:14 UTC
use File::Basename	[reply]
Re^2: how do I get the directory name from the pathnames by devlele (Novice) on Dec 21, 2005 at 16:18 UTC
I am getting all the pathnames which I mentioned by parsing an xml file and not from the file system. Do you still think that using File::Basename will solve the probelm. Please let me know.	[reply]
Re^3: how do I get the directory name from the pathnames by jZed (Prior) on Dec 21, 2005 at 16:20 UTC
Yes, it will. It works on strings and breaks them into directory, file, extension, etc. It is portable. It is easy.	[reply]
Re: how do I get the directory name from the pathnames by ikegami (Patriarch) on Dec 21, 2005 at 16:41 UTC
If you know the input will be of that form [as opposed to `c:\dir1\subdir1` (lowercase C:), `\dir1\subdir1` (no drive), `dir1\subdir1` (relative path) or `C:/dir1/subdir1` (alternate slashes) ], the following will do the trick: `my ($subdir1) = /^C:\\[^\\]+\\([^\\]+)/;` [download] Otherwise, use core module File::Spec. (I don't see how File::Basename would help.) `use File::Spec (); my ($subdir1) = (File::Spec->splitdir(File::Spec->rel2abs($_)))[2];` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: how do I get the directory name from the pathnames by prasadbabu (Prior) on Dec 21, 2005 at 16:15 UTC
devlele there is a module File::Basename to accomplish this job. Take a look into that module. Prasad	[reply]
Re: how do I get the directory name from the pathnames by ptum (Priest) on Dec 21, 2005 at 16:19 UTC
If you don't know where in the path subdir1 will fall, then you may prefer to split the string using the '\' character as a separator. If you are always after the second token, then something like this may work: `if (/^C:\\.?\\(.?)\\.$/) { $subdir1 = $1; }` [download] You may also find File::Basename helpful. No good deed goes unpunished.* -- (attributed to) Oscar Wilde	[reply] [d/l]
Re: how do I get the directory name from the pathnames by GrandFather (Saint) on Dec 21, 2005 at 19:26 UTC
Use splitpath from File::Spec and split: `use strict; use warnings; use File::Spec; while (<DATA>) { chomp; my @subs = split /\\/, (File::Spec->splitpath ($_)) [1]; print "sub dir is: $subs[2]\n" if $#subs > 1; print "No sub dir in $_\n" if $#subs <= 1; } __DATA__ C:\dir1\ C:\dir1\subdir1\ C:\dir1\subdir1\subdir2\` [download] Prints: `No sub dir in C:\dir1\ sub dir is: subdir1 sub dir is: subdir1` [download] DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel	[reply] [d/l] [select]