BSD-style glob Tutorial for Non-Perl Programmers

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

I write command-line utilities in Perl (specifically, ActivePerl for Windows) for non-Perl programmers to run. Oftentimes, these scripts exploit the power of File::Glob and bsd_glob. Indeed, this powerful filename globbing is one of the many reasons I write these utilities in Perl rather than in a proprietary Microsoft language.

However, explaining BSD-style globbing to novices who, nowadays, aren't even familiar with MS-DOS-style wildcards, is a great challenge. Because I'm virtuously lazy, I don't want to write a tutorial on globbing if a good one already exists.

Does there exist a good BSD-style globbing tutorial, one that's freely available and fully compatible with File::Glob? I searched the World Wide Web and, surprisingly, couldn't find one. There's no shortage of man pages. I'm looking for something much gentler than that.

Jim

Comment on BSD-style glob Tutorial for Non-Perl Programmers

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Re: BSD-style glob Tutorial for Non-Perl Programmers by angiehope (Pilgrim) on Jun 09, 2008 at 12:28 UTC
Hi! How about http://perl.about.com/od/filesystem/qt/perlglob.htm http://linux.about.com/od/lts_guide/a/gdelts66t00.htm ? Both articles are short summaries, but at an easier level than manpages. Hope this helps.	[reply]
Re^2: BSD-style glob Tutorial for Non-Perl Programmers by Jim (Curate) on Jun 09, 2008 at 16:46 UTC
Thank you, angiehope. Your pointers to these summaries are helpful because they reinforce my initial impression: A good, thorough glob tutorial doesn't exist, so I'll have to write one for my colleagues. I even looked at several Unix books on Safari Books Online and couldn't find anything I'd call a tutorial on the topic. (There's a ring of hell reserved for those who squandered their mortal lives paraphrasing and abridging (plagiarizing) man pages for publication and profit.) It's just as well because, to be truly effective, the tutorial must be verisimilar. The examples must be ones my colleages immediately recognize and see are useful and germane to the work they do. Thanks! Jim	[reply]