Re: Change Working Directory in Windows!

Use chdir.

chdir($dir)
   or die("Can't change to dir $dir: $!\n");
[download]

The argument can be

A drive (e.g. F:)
A relative path without a drive (e.g. docs)
A relative path with a drive (e.g. F:docs)
An absolute path without a drive (e.g. \docs)
An absolute path with a drive (e.g. F:\docs)
A UNC path (e.g. \\tribble\share)

If both a drive and a directory is provided, both the current drive and the current directory on that drive will be changed. This differs from the cd shell command which only does the latter.

Both slashes (\ and /) can be used as a separator and to prefix a UNC path.

Make sure to properly escape backslashes in the string literals that produce the paths if applicable.

Comment on Re: Change Working Directory in Windows! Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Change Working Directory in Windows! by Jenda (Abbot) on Jan 22, 2010 at 10:41 UTC
I would not call the `\docs` an absolute path under Windows. Only the `F:\docs` and the UNC is absolute. All the rest is relative to something. `F:` to the current directory on the F: drive, `docs` to the current directory on the current drive, `F:docs` to the current directory on the F: drive and the `\docs` to the current drive. In either the case it seems to me like the OP wanted to change the current directory of the process that started the script. Something like: `c:\some\silly\directory> perl find_something.pl params blah blah blah, I found it. c:\other\dir>` [download] That's AFAIK not possible. Though at times would be nice. Jenda Enoch was right! Enjoy the last years of Rome.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^3: Change Working Directory in Windows! by ikegami (Patriarch) on Jan 22, 2010 at 17:48 UTC
I would not call the \docs an absolute path under Windows Neither would I. That's why I didn't call it that. (Although I might under more casual circumstances.) In either the case it seems to me like the OP wanted to change the current directory of the process that started the script. Ah, could be. I assumed he tried `system('cd')` to change Perl's current directory. A very common mistake. You could achieve what you think the OP wants by using `for` to capture a string printed by `perl`, then using a pair of `cd` to switch to that directory (or is there a switch to change both the drive and dir now?)	[reply] [d/l] [select]