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file(n)			     Tcl Built-In Commands		       file(n)

______________________________________________________________________________

NAME
       file - Manipulate file names and attributes

SYNOPSIS
       file option name ?arg arg ...?
_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION
       This   command	provides  several  operations  on  a  file's  name  or
       attributes.  Name is the name of a file; if it  starts  with  a	tilde,
       then  tilde  substitution is done before executing the command (see the
       manual entry for filename for details).	Option indicates  what	to  do
       with  the file name.  Any unique abbreviation for option is acceptable.
       The valid options are:

       file atime name ?time?
	      Returns a decimal string giving the time at which file name  was
	      last  accessed.	If  time is specified, it is an access time to
	      set for the file.	 The time is measured in  the  standard	 POSIX
	      fashion  as seconds from a fixed starting time (often January 1,
	      1970).  If the file doesn't exist or its access time  cannot  be
	      queried or set then an error is generated.  On Windows, FAT file
	      systems do not support access time.

       file attributes name

       file attributes name ?option?

       file attributes name ?option value option value...?
	      This subcommand returns or sets platform specific values associ‐
	      ated  with a file. The first form returns a list of the platform
	      specific flags and their values. The  second  form  returns  the
	      value  for  the specific option. The third form sets one or more
	      of the values. The values are as follows:

	      On Unix, -group gets or sets the group  name  for	 the  file.  A
	      group  id	 can  be  given to the command, but it returns a group
	      name. -owner gets or sets the user name  of  the	owner  of  the
	      file.  The  command returns the owner name, but the numerical id
	      can be passed when  setting  the	owner.	-permissions  sets  or
	      retrieves	 the octal code that chmod(1) uses.  This command does
	      also  has	 limited  support  for	setting	 using	the   symbolic
	      attributes for chmod(1), of the form [ugo]?[[+-=][rwxst],[...]],
	      where multiple symbolic attributes can be	 separated  by	commas
	      (example:	 u+s,go-rw  add	 sticky	 bit for user, remove read and
	      write permissions for group and other).  A simplified  ls	 style
	      string,  of  the	form rwxrwxrwx (must be 9 characters), is also
	      supported (example: rwxr-xr-t is equivalent to 01755).

	      On Windows, -archive gives the value or sets or clears  the  ar‐
	      chive  attribute of the file. -hidden gives the value or sets or
	      clears the hidden attribute of the file. -longname  will	expand
	      each  path element to its long version. This attribute cannot be
	      set. -readonly gives the value or sets or	 clears	 the  readonly
	      attribute	 of  the  file.	 -shortname gives a string where every
	      path element is replaced with its short  (8.3)  version  of  the
	      name.  This  attribute  cannot  be set. -system gives or sets or
	      clears the value of the system attribute of the file.

	      On Macintosh, -creator gives or sets the Finder creator type  of
	      the  file.  -hidden gives or sets or clears the hidden attribute
	      of the file. -readonly gives or  sets  or	 clears	 the  readonly
	      attribute	 of the file. Note that directories can only be locked
	      if File Sharing is turned on. -type gives	 or  sets  the	Finder
	      file type for the file.

       file channels ?pattern?						       │
	      If  pattern isn't specified, returns a list of names of all reg‐ │
	      istered open channels in this interpreter.  If pattern is speci‐ │
	      fied,  only those names matching pattern are returned.  Matching │
	      is determined using the same rules as for string match.

       file copy ?-force? ?--? source target

       file copy ?-force? ?--? source ?source ...? targetDir
	      The first form makes a copy of  the  file	 or  directory	source
	      under  the  pathname target. If target is an existing directory,
	      then the second form is used.  The  second  form	makes  a  copy
	      inside  targetDir of each source file listed.  If a directory is
	      specified as a source, then the contents of the  directory  will
	      be recursively copied into targetDir. Existing files will not be
	      overwritten unless the -force option is specified.  When copying
	      within a single filesystem, file copy will copy soft links (i.e.
	      the links themselves are copied, not the things they point  to).
	      Trying to overwrite a non-empty directory, overwrite a directory
	      with a file, or overwrite a  file	 with  a  directory  will  all
	      result  in  errors  even if -force was specified.	 Arguments are
	      processed in the order specified, halting at the first error, if
	      any.  A -- marks the end of switches; the argument following the
	      -- will be treated as a source even if it starts with a -.

       file delete ?-force? ?--? pathname ?pathname ... ?
	      Removes the file or directory specified by each  pathname	 argu‐
	      ment.   Non-empty directories will be removed only if the -force
	      option is specified.  When  operating  on	 symbolic  links,  the
	      links themselves will be deleted, not the objects they point to.
	      Trying to delete a non-existent file is not considered an error.
	      Trying  to  delete  a  read-only	file will cause the file to be
	      deleted, even if the -force flags	 is  not  specified.   If  the
	      -force option is specified on a directory, Tcl will attempt both
	      to change permissions and move the current directory  'pwd'  out
	      of  the given path if that is necessary to allow the deletion to
	      proceed.	Arguments are processed in the order specified,	 halt‐
	      ing at the first error, if any.  A -- marks the end of switches;
	      the argument following the -- will be treated as a pathname even
	      if it starts with a -.

       file dirname name
	      Returns  a  name comprised of all of the path components in name
	      excluding the last element.  If name is a relative file name and
	      only  contains one path element, then returns ``.'' (or ``:'' on
	      the Macintosh).  If name refers to a root	 directory,  then  the
	      root directory is returned.  For example,
		     file dirname c:/
	      returns c:/.

	      Note  that  tilde	 substitution  will only be performed if it is
	      necessary to complete the command. For example,
		     file dirname ~/src/foo.c
	      returns ~/src, whereas
		     file dirname ~
	      returns /home (or something similar).

       file executable name
	      Returns 1 if file name is executable by the current user, 0 oth‐
	      erwise.

       file exists name
	      Returns  1  if  file name exists and the current user has search
	      privileges for the directories leading to it, 0 otherwise.

       file extension name
	      Returns all of the characters in name after  and	including  the
	      last dot in the last element of name.  If there is no dot in the
	      last element of name then returns the empty string.

       file isdirectory name
	      Returns 1 if file name is a directory, 0 otherwise.

       file isfile name
	      Returns 1 if file name is a regular file, 0 otherwise.

       file join name ?name ...?
	      Takes one or more file names and combines them, using  the  cor‐
	      rect  path  separator for the current platform.  If a particular
	      name is relative, then it will be joined to  the	previous  file
	      name  argument.	Otherwise,  any earlier arguments will be dis‐
	      carded, and joining will proceed from the current argument.  For
	      example,
		     file join a b /foo bar
	      returns /foo/bar.

	      Note  that any of the names can contain separators, and that the
	      result is always canonical for the current platform: / for  Unix
	      and Windows, and : for Macintosh.

       file link ?-linktype? linkName ?target?
	      If  only	one  argument is given, that argument is assumed to be
	      linkName, and this command returns the value of the  link	 given
	      by  linkName  (i.e.  the	name  of  the  file it points to).  If
	      linkName isn't a link or its value cannot be read (as, for exam‐
	      ple,  seems to be the case with hard links, which look just like
	      ordinary files), then an error is returned.  If 2 arguments  are
	      given,  then  these  are	assumed	 to be linkName and target. If
	      linkName already exists, or if target doesn't  exist,  an	 error
	      will  be	returned.   Otherwise,	Tcl  creates a new link called
	      linkName which points to the existing filesystem object at  tar‐
	      get,  where the type of the link is platform-specific (on Unix a
	      symbolic link will be the default).  This is useful for the case
	      where  the user wishes to create a link in a cross-platform way,
	      and doesn't care what type of link  is  created.	 If  the  user
	      wishes  to  make	a link of a specific type only, (and signal an
	      error if for  some  reason  that	is  not	 possible),  then  the
	      optional	-linktype  argument  should be given.  Accepted values
	      for -linktype are "-symbolic" and "-hard".  When creating	 links
	      on  filesystems  that either do not support any links, or do not
	      support the specific type requested, an error  message  will  be
	      returned.	  In  particular  Windows 95, 98 and ME do not support
	      any links at present, but most Unix platforms support both  sym‐
	      bolic and hard links (the latter for files only), MacOS supports
	      symbolic links and Windows NT/2000/XP (on NTFS  drives)  support
	      symbolic directory links and hard file links.

       file lstat name varName
	      Same  as	stat  option  (see below) except uses the lstat kernel
	      call instead of stat.  This means that if name refers to a  sym‐
	      bolic  link  the information returned in varName is for the link
	      rather than the file it refers to.  On systems that  don't  sup‐
	      port  symbolic links this option behaves exactly the same as the
	      stat option.

       file mkdir dir ?dir ...?
	      Creates each directory specified.	 For each pathname dir	speci‐
	      fied,  this command will create all non-existing parent directo‐
	      ries as well as dir itself.  If an existing directory is	speci‐
	      fied,  then no action is taken and no error is returned.	Trying
	      to overwrite an existing file with a directory will result in an
	      error.   Arguments are processed in the order specified, halting
	      at the first error, if any.

       file mtime name ?time?
	      Returns a decimal string giving the time at which file name  was
	      last  modified.  If time is specified, it is a modification time
	      to set for the file (equivalent to Unix  touch).	 The  time  is
	      measured	in  the standard POSIX fashion as seconds from a fixed
	      starting time (often January 1,  1970).	If  the	 file  doesn't
	      exist  or	 its  modified	time  cannot be queried or set then an
	      error is generated.

       file nativename name
	      Returns the platform-specific name of the file. This  is	useful
	      if  the  filename is needed to pass to a platform-specific call,
	      such as exec under Windows or AppleScript on the Macintosh.

       file normalize name
	      Returns a unique normalized path representation  for  the	 file-
	      system  object  (file, directory, link, etc), whose string value
	      can be used as a unique identifier for it.  A normalized path is
	      an  absolute path which has all '../', './' removed.  Also it is
	      one which is in the ``standard'' format for the native platform.
	      On  MacOS,  Unix, this means the segments leading up to the path
	      must be free of symbolic links/aliases (but the very  last  path
	      component	 may be a symbolic link), and on Windows it also means
	      we want the long form with that  form's  case-dependence	(which
	      gives us a unique, case-dependent path).	The one exception con‐
	      cerning the last link in the path is necessary, because  Tcl  or
	      the  user may wish to operate on the actual symbolic link itself
	      (for example 'file  delete',  'file  rename',  'file  copy'  are
	      defined  to  operate  on	symbolic links, not on the things that
	      they point to).

       file owned name
	      Returns 1 if file name is owned by the current  user,  0	other‐
	      wise.

       file pathtype name
	      Returns  one  of	absolute,  relative,  volumerelative.  If name
	      refers to a specific file on a specific volume,  the  path  type
	      will be absolute.	 If name refers to a file relative to the cur‐
	      rent working directory, then the path type will be relative.  If
	      name  refers to a file relative to the current working directory
	      on a specified volume, or to a  specific	file  on  the  current
	      working volume, then the path type is volumerelative.

       file readable name
	      Returns 1 if file name is readable by the current user, 0 other‐
	      wise.

       file readlink name
	      Returns the value of the symbolic link given by name  (i.e.  the
	      name  of	the file it points to).	 If name isn't a symbolic link
	      or its value cannot be read, then an error is returned.  On sys‐
	      tems that don't support symbolic links this option is undefined.

       file rename ?-force? ?--? source target

       file rename ?-force? ?--? source ?source ...? targetDir
	      The first form takes the file or directory specified by pathname
	      source and renames it to target, moving the file if the pathname
	      target  specifies a name in a different directory.  If target is
	      an existing directory, then the second form is used.  The second
	      form moves each source file or directory into the directory tar‐
	      getDir. Existing files will not be overwritten unless the -force
	      option is specified.  When operating inside a single filesystem,
	      Tcl will rename symbolic links rather than the things that  they
	      point  to.  Trying to overwrite a non-empty directory, overwrite
	      a directory with a file, or a file with  a  directory  will  all
	      result  in  errors.  Arguments are processed in the order speci‐
	      fied, halting at the first error, if any.	 A -- marks the end of
	      switches;	 the  argument	following  the -- will be treated as a
	      source even if it starts with a -.

       file rootname name
	      Returns all of the characters in name up to  but	not  including
	      the  last ``.'' character in the last component of name.	If the
	      last component of name doesn't contain a dot, then returns name.

       file separator ?name?
	      If no argument is given, returns the character which is used  to
	      separate	path segments for native files on this platform.  If a
	      path is given, the filesystem responsible for that path is asked
	      to  return  its  separator character.  If no file system accepts
	      name, an error is generated.

       file size name
	      Returns a decimal string giving the size of file name in	bytes.
	      If  the file doesn't exist or its size cannot be queried then an
	      error is generated.

       file split name
	      Returns a list whose elements are the path components  in	 name.
	      The  first  element  of the list will have the same path type as
	      name.  All other elements will  be  relative.   Path  separators
	      will  be discarded unless they are needed ensure that an element
	      is unambiguously relative.  For example, under Unix
		     file split /foo/~bar/baz
	      returns /	 foo  ./~bar  baz to ensure that later	commands  that
	      use  the third component do not attempt to perform tilde substi‐
	      tution.

       file stat  name varName
	      Invokes the stat kernel call on  name,  and  uses	 the  variable
	      given  by	 varName  to hold information returned from the kernel
	      call.  VarName is treated as an array variable, and the  follow‐
	      ing  elements  of that variable are set: atime, ctime, dev, gid,
	      ino, mode, mtime, nlink, size, type, uid.	 Each  element	except
	      type  is	a  decimal  string with the value of the corresponding
	      field from the stat return structure; see the manual  entry  for
	      stat  for	 details on the meanings of the values.	 The type ele‐
	      ment gives the type of the file in the same form returned by the
	      command file type.  This command returns an empty string.

       file system name
	      Returns  a  list of two elements, the first of which is the name
	      of the filesystem to use for the file, and the second  an	 arbi‐
	      trary string representing the filesystem-specific nature or type
	      of the location within that filesystem.  If  a  filesystem  only
	      supports	one type of file, the second element may be null.  For
	      example the native files have a first element  'native',	and  a
	      second  element  which  is a platform-specific type name for the
	      file's system (e.g. 'NTFS', 'FAT', etc), or possibly  the	 empty
	      string  if no further information is available or if this is not
	      implemented.  A generic virtual file  system  might  return  the
	      list  'vfs ftp' to represent a file on a remote ftp site mounted
	      as a virtual filesystem through an extension called  'vfs'.   If
	      the  file	 does not belong to any filesystem, an error is gener‐
	      ated.

       file tail name
	      Returns all of the characters in name after the  last  directory
	      separator.  If name contains no separators then returns name.

       file type name
	      Returns a string giving the type of file name, which will be one
	      of file, directory, characterSpecial, blockSpecial, fifo,	 link,
	      or socket.

       file volumes
	      Returns the absolute paths to the volumes mounted on the system,
	      as a proper Tcl list.  On the Macintosh, this will be a list  of
	      the  mounted drives, both local and network.  N.B. if two drives
	      have the same name, they will both appear on  the	 volume	 list,
	      but  there  is currently no way, from Tcl, to access any but the
	      first of these drives.  On UNIX, the command will always	return
	      "/",  since all filesystems are locally mounted.	On Windows, it
	      will return a list of the	 available  local  drives  (e.g.  {a:/
	      c:/}).

       file writable name
	      Returns 1 if file name is writable by the current user, 0 other‐
	      wise.

PORTABILITY ISSUES
       Unix
	      These commands always operate using  the	real  user  and	 group
	      identifiers, not the effective ones.

EXAMPLES
       This  procedure	shows  how  to search for C files in a given directory
       that have a correspondingly-named object file in the current directory:
	      proc findMatchingCFiles {dir} {
		 set files {}
		 switch $::tcl_platform(platform) {
		    windows {
		       set ext .obj
		    }
		    unix {
		       set ext .o
		    }
		 }
		 foreach file [glob -nocomplain -directory $dir *.c] {
		    set objectFile [file tail [file rootname $file]]$ext
		    if {[file exists $objectFile]} {
		       lappend files $file
		    }
		 }
		 return $files
	      }

       Rename a file and leave a symbolic link pointing from the old  location
       to the new place:
	      set oldName foobar.txt
	      set newName foo/bar.txt
	      # Make sure that where we're going to move to exists...
	      if {![file isdirectory [file dirname $newName]]} {
		 file mkdir [file dirname $newName]
	      }
	      file rename $oldName $newName
	      file link -symbolic $oldName $newName

SEE ALSO
       filename(n),  open(n),  close(n),  eof(n),  gets(n),  tell(n), seek(n),
       fblocked(n), flush(n)

KEYWORDS
       attributes, copy files, delete  files,  directory,  file,  move	files,
       name, rename files, stat

Tcl				      8.3			       file(n)
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