Re: Net::FTP file type and attributes

Not really.

Net::FTP supports a command called dir() which can give you a detailed list of remote entities, that clearly indicate whether the entity is a directory or a file. I tested with the following code, local win2k, remote unix (trust that you will get a similar list if remote is non-unix):

use Data::Dumper;
use Net::FTP;

$ftp = Net::FTP->new("blah", Debug => 0) or die "Cannot connect: $@"; 
+   
$ftp->login("foo",'bar') or die "Cannot login ", $ftp->message;   
my @list = $ftp->dir();
print Dumper(\@list);
$ftp->quit;
[download]

I got something like (only a portion):

          'drwxr-xr-x   7 leinbd   aagdev       512 Oct 17 18:06 leinb
+d',
          'drwxr-xr-x  11 lois     aagdev      1024 Nov 14 14:04 lois'
+,
          'drwx------   2 root     system       512 Nov 10 15:41 lost+
+found',
          'drwxr-xr-x   2 maynec   aagdev       512 Nov 20 10:05 mayne
+c',
          'drwxr-xr-x  10 nanayn   aagdev       512 Oct 07 09:52 nanay
+n',
          'drwxr-xr-x   5 root     system       512 Nov 10 15:41 netin
+st',
[download]

Comment on Re: Net::FTP file type and attributes Select or Download Code

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Re: Re: Net::FTP file type and attributes by fedelman (Novice) on Jan 22, 2004 at 21:17 UTC
Hi, thanks for your reply. The $filename should be a simple entry like a file or directory. I need check only for one entry, not for all directory content. Futhermore, the $ftp->dir return different content according to FTP server. For example, the following commands return the same result: $ftp->dir("/a/real/empty/directory"); $ftp->dir("/unexistent/directory/"); I think the solution is more complex. :( Thank you anyway.	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Net::FTP file type and attributes by flyingmoose (Priest) on Jan 23, 2004 at 01:55 UTC
No it's not more complex, you just won't listen to reason :) If you start checking those directories from an FTP root, you will be able to check by descending that directory root whether /nonexistant/directory actually exists. Namely, "nonexistant" will not exist in the directory root. I'm speaking algorithmically here, as you have an algorithmic problem, not a Perl module problem. As for the dir format being inconsistant between servers, any server should include enough for you to regex the beast and tell whether you have a directory or a file. Such is a limitation in FTP, not neccessarily in the Perl module. Dir is only a command that returns text, by definition of FTP. If this really bugs you, try an SFTP module.	[reply]
Re: Re: Net::FTP file type and attributes by Anonymous Monk on Feb 21, 2004 at 02:49 UTC
I had the same problem not knowing another option I wrote a small function to tell if it is a directory or not given the dir() output. `sub is_dir { + my @list = split(//, $_); if( $list[0] eq 'd' ) { return 1; } else { return 0; } + }` [download] Worked for me. Let me let me know if there is a better way.	[reply] [d/l]