File::DosGlob(3)

NAME
File::DosGlob - DOS like globbing and then some

perlglob.bat - a more capable perlglob.exe replacement

SYNOPSIS

    require 5.004;

    # override CORE::glob in current package
    use File::DosGlob 'glob';

    @perlfiles = glob  "..\\pe?l/*.p?";
    print <..\\pe?l/*.p?>;

    # from the command line (overrides only in main::)
    > perl -MFile::DosGlob=glob -e "print <../pe*/*p?>"

    > perlglob ../pe*/*p?

DESCRIPTION
A module that implements DOS-like globbing with a few enhancements. This file is also a portable replacement for perlglob.exe. It is largely compatible with perlglob.exe (the M$ setargv.obj version) in all but one respect--it understands wildcards in directory components.

For example, C<<..\\l*b\\file/*glob.p?>> will work as expected (in that it will find something like '..\lib\File/DosGlob.pm' alright). Note that all path components are case-insensitive, and that backslashes and forward slashes are both accepted, and preserved. You may have to double the backslashes if you are putting them in literally, due to double-quotish parsing of the pattern by perl.

When invoked as a program, it will print null-separated filenames to standard output.

While one may replace perlglob.exe with this, usage by overriding CORE::glob via importation should be much more efficient, because it avoids launching a separate process, and is therefore strongly recommended. Note that it is currently possible to override builtins like glob() only on a per-package basis, not "globally". Thus, every namespace that wants to override glob() must explicitly request the override. See the perlsub manpage.

Extending it to csh patterns is left as an exercise to the reader.

EXPORTS (by request only)
glob()

BUGS
Should probably be built into the core, and needs to stop pandering to DOS habits. Needs a dose of optimizium too.

AUTHOR
Gurusamy Sarathy <gsar@umich.edu>

HISTORY
Scalar context, independent iterator context fixes (GSAR 15-SEP-97) A few dir-vs-file optimizations result in glob importation being 10 times faster than using perlglob.exe, and using perlglob.bat is only twice as slow as perlglob.exe (GSAR 28-MAY-97) Several cleanups prompted by lack of compatible perlglob.exe under Borland (GSAR 27-MAY-97) Initial version (GSAR 20-FEB-97)

SEE ALSO
perl