B - A perl module to handle, convert, and list unix file modes in various formats.

NAME

File::Mode - A perl module to handle, convert, and list unix file modes in various formats.

DESCRIPTION

File::Mode is a simple perl library meant to handle file modes and convert them to the wanted format, as well as read the files in a directory with their modes in a human readable format (eg. -rwxrwxrwx).

SYNOPSIS

  use File::Mode;
  my $Fmode   =  File::Mode->new();
  my $unixmod =  $Fmode->OctToUnix( NUMBER );
  my ($mod, $type) =  $Fmode->UnixToOct( STRING, [notype] );
  $Fmode->FileList( \%hash, DIR PATH, ["NODIR"] );

METHODS

OctToUnix( NUMBER )

This method converts a numeric file mode to its unix standart equilivant, (i.e The file modes you get when you do 'ls -l'.) Since it's not possible to determine if it's a file or a directory, it returns a string that is only 6 chars, for example:

        print $Fmode->OctToUnix(0777) or die("Illegal Number.\n");

Will print out the string: rwxrwxrwx. which means Read, Write, and eXecute for all usrs. (refer to your unix/linux manual for more info.) Will return 0 if the format is wrong. (eg, one of the digits is greater then 7, or the number has more then 3 digits. optionally 4, if starts with 0).

UnixToOct( STRING, [notype] )

This complex method converts a standart unix file mode string into its numeric equilivant, (i.e the file mode that you use when you do CHMOD.) It returns either a scalar of the octal number, if the string is in a format of 6 chars (e.g rwxrwxrwx), which means that it'l not be able to determine if it's a file or a directory. Or a list of two items, the first is the number, and the second is the type (DIR or FILE), if the string is in a format of 7 chars. (e.g drwxr-xr-x which is a directory). If the second argument is true, will never return the type. Will return an empty list if the format is wrong. Full Example:

        use File::Mode;
        $Fmode = File::Mode->new();

        print "Type a unix standart file mode\
        to convert into a its numeric value:\n";
        chomp($mod = <STDIN>);

        @mod = $Fmode->UnixToOct($mod) or die "Wrong Format.\n";
        print "@mod\n";

If the user has entered ``rwxr-xr-x'', will print ``0755''. if he has entered ``-rwxrwxr-x'' will print ``0755 FILE''. if he has entered ``hello'' will quit (die) and print ``Wrong format.''

FileList( \%hash, DIR STRING, [nodir] )

This method takes 2 arguments and an optional third. The first must be an hash referense that will store a list of files in a specified directory as the keys, and their file modes / permissions in a unix standart format, as the values. The second argument is the directory to look in, if none specified, the current directory will be used as a default. (altough, It's always a better practice to specify it.) The third argument is rethar useless, but well, you never know. If you set it to ``NODIR'' (or any other true value, for that matter), The file modes will be in a format of 6 characters and will not mention wheter each file is actually a directory or not. Here's an example, you may use it freely:

        use File::Mode;

        $Fmode = File::Mode->new();

        $Fmode->FileList(\%modes, "./") or die "Can't open dir, $!.\n";

        foreach $file (sort keys %modes) {
        print "$modes{$file}\t$file\n";
        }

This might remind you the 'ls -l' unix command a bit.

TO DO

Ask people to test the module for me and tell me what they think.

AUTHOR