File::Find(3) Perl Programmers Reference Guide File::Find(3)NAME
find - traverse a file tree
finddepth - traverse a directory structure depth-first
SYNOPSIS
use File::Find;
find(\&wanted, '/foo','/bar');
sub wanted { ... }
use File::Find;
finddepth(\&wanted, '/foo','/bar');
sub wanted { ... }
DESCRIPTION
The first argument to find() is either a hash reference
describing the operations to be performed for each file, a
code reference, or a string that contains a subroutine
name. If it is a hash reference, then the value for the
key wanted should be a code reference. This code
reference is called the wanted() function below.
Currently the only other supported key for the above hash
is bydepth, in presense of which the walk over directories
is performed depth-first. Entry point finddepth() is a
shortcut for specifying { bydepth = 1}> in the first
argument of find().
The wanted() function does whatever verifications you
want. $File::Find::dir contains the current directory
name, and $_ the current filename within that directory.
$File::Find::name contains "$File::Find::dir/$_". You are
chdir()'d to $File::Find::dir when the function is called.
The function may set $File::Find::prune to prune the tree.
File::Find assumes that you don't alter the $_ variable.
If you do then make sure you return it to its original
value before exiting your function.
This library is useful for the find2perl tool, which when
fed,
find2perl / -name .nfs\* -mtime +7 \
-exec rm -f {} \; -o -fstype nfs -prune
produces something like:
16/Sep/1999 perl 5.005, patch 03 1
File::Find(3) Perl Programmers Reference Guide File::Find(3)
sub wanted {
/^\.nfs.*$/ &&
(($dev,$ino,$mode,$nlink,$uid,$gid) = lstat($_)) &&
int(-M _) > 7 &&
unlink($_)
||
($nlink || (($dev,$ino,$mode,$nlink,$uid,$gid) = lstat($_))) &&
$dev < 0 &&
($File::Find::prune = 1);
}
Set the variable $File::Find::dont_use_nlink if you're
using AFS, since AFS cheats.
finddepth is just like find, except that it does a depth-
first search.
Here's another interesting wanted function. It will find
all symlinks that don't resolve:
sub wanted {
-l && !-e && print "bogus link: $File::Find::name\n";
}
BUGS
There is no way to make find or finddepth follow symlinks.
16/Sep/1999 perl 5.005, patch 03 2
