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<dl>
<dt> <H1>File</H1>
<dd>
<P>
The class for accessing files. Normally, created by
<code><a href="function.html#open">open</a></code>. This class has
singleton-methods that the <code><a href="FileTest.html">FileTest</a></code>
class has.
</P>
<dt> <h2>SuperClass:</h2>
<dd>
<dl>
<dt> <A HREF="IO.html"><code>IO</code></A>
</dl>
<dt> <h2>Class Methods:</h2>
<dd>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.atime">
<CODE>atime(<VAR>filename</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the last accessed time of the file.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.basename">
<CODE>basename(<VAR>filename</VAR>[, <VAR>suffix</VAR>])</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the last slash-delimited component of the <var>filename</var>.
If <var>suffix</var> is supplied and is identical to the end of name,
it is removed from filename.
</p>
<p>
Example:
</p>
<blockquote>
<PRE>
basename("ruby/ruby.c")
=> "ruby.c"
basename("ruby/ruby.c", ".c")
=> "ruby"
</PRE>
</blockquote>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.ctime">
<CODE>ctime(<VAR>filename</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the last status change time of the file.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.chmod">
<CODE>chmod(<VAR>mode</VAR>, <VAR>path</VAR>, <VAR>file</VAR>...)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Change the mode of the <code>file</code>s to the <var>mode</var>.
Returns the number of the file it processed. See <samp>chmod(2)</samp>.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.chown">
<CODE>chown(<VAR>owner</VAR>, <VAR>group</VAR>, <VAR>file</VAR>...)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Change the owner and the groups of the <code>file</code>s to the
<var>owner</var>. Only super-user can change the owner of the file.
Returns the number of the file it processed.
</p>
<p>
The owner and the group can leave unchanged with supplying
<code>nil</code> or <code>-1</code> to as the argument.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.dirname">
<CODE>dirname(<VAR>filename</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns all but the final slash-delimited component of
<var>filename</var>. Returns <code>"."</code> (meaning the current
directory), if <var>filename</var> is a single component.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.expand_path"><CODE>expand_path(<VAR>path</VAR>[,<var>default_dir</var>])</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Converts <var>path</var> to absolute, and canonicalized path.
Second arg <var>default_dir</var> is directory to start with if
<var>path</var> is relative (does not start with slash); if
<var>default_dir</var> is nil or missing, the current directory of the
process is used.
An initial `<samp>~</samp>' expands to your home directory. An initial
`<samp>~USER</samp>' expands to USER's home directory.
</p>
<blockquote>
<PRE>
expand_path("..")
=> "/home/matz/work"
expand_path("~")
=> "/home/matz"
expand_path("~matz")
=> "/home/matz"
</PRE>
</blockquote>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.ftype">
<CODE>ftype(<VAR>filename</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns a string which describes the type of the file. The string is either:
</p>
<blockquote>
<CODE>"file"</CODE><br>
<CODE>"directory"</CODE><br>
<CODE>"characterSpecial"</CODE><br>
<CODE>"blockSpecial"</CODE><br>
<CODE>"fifo"</CODE><br>
<CODE>"link"</CODE><br>
<CODE>"socket"</CODE>
</blockquote>
<p>
<dt> <a name="File.join">
<code>join(<var>item</var>...)</code></a>
<dd>
<p>
Combines file names using <code>File::Separator</code>.
</p>
<p>
It works just like:
<pre>
<blockquote>
[items,..].join(File::Separator)
</blockquote>
</pre>
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.link">
<CODE>link(<VAR>old</VAR>, <VAR>new</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Creates a new hard link to old (existing) file. See <samp>link(2)</samp>.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.lstat">
<CODE>lstat(<VAR>filename</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Does the same thing as the <code><a href="#File.stat">stat</a></code>,
but stats a symbolic link instead of the file the symbolic link points
to.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.mtime">
<CODE>mtime(<VAR>filename</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the last modified time of the file.
</p>
<dt>
<A NAME="File.open">
<CODE>open(<VAR>path</VAR>[, <var>mode</var>])</CODE></A>
<dd>
<dt>
<A NAME="File.new">
<CODE>new(<VAR>path</VAR>[, <var>mode</var>])</CODE></A>
<dd>
<p>
Opens the file specified by <var>path</var>, and
returns a <code>File</code> object associated with that file.
</p>
<p>
The <var>mode</var> argument specifies the mode for the
opened file, which is either <code>"r"</code>,
<code>"r+"</code>, <code>"w"</code>, <code>"w+"</code>,
<code>"a"</code>, <code>"a+"</code>. See
<samp>fopen(3)</samp>. If <var>mode</var> omitted, the
default is <code>"r"</code>.
</p>
<p>
if <var>mode</var> is a integer, it is considered like the
second argument to <samp>open(2)</samp>. One of the flags
must be either <code>RDONLY</code>, <code>WRONLY</code> or
<code>RDWR</code>. Flags may also be bitwise-or'd with one
or more of <code>APPEND</code>, <code>CREAT</code>,
<code>EXCL</code>, <code>NONBLOCK</code>,
<code>TRUNC</code>, <code>NOCTTY</code>,
<code>BINARY</code>.
</p>
<p>
If a new file is created as part of opening it, permissions
(an integer) is used to set the permissions for the new file
in conjunction with the process's file mode creation mask.
Permissions defaults to 0666.
</p>
<p>
If <code>open</code> is called with block, the block will be
executed with a newly opened file object. The file object
will be closed automatically after executing the block.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.readlink">
<CODE>readlink(<VAR>path</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the symbolic link path as a string.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.rename">
<CODE>rename(<VAR>from</VAR>, <VAR>to</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Renames file, moving it across the directories if required. See
<samp>rename(2)</samp>. If <var>to</var>-file already exists, it will be
overwritten.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.size">
<CODE>size(<VAR>pathname</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the size of the file specified by the <var>pathname</var> in bytes.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.split">
<CODE>split(<VAR>pathname</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Splits the <var>pathname</var> in a pair
<code>[<var>head</var>, <var>tail</var>]</code>, where
<var>tail</var> is the last pathname component and <var>head</var> is
everything leading up to that.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.stat">
<CODE>stat(<VAR>filename</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the status info of the <var>filename</var> in the <code>Stat</code>
<a href="Struct.html">structure</a>, which has attributes as follows:
</p>
<blockquote>
<PRE>
dev # device number of file-system
ino # i-node number
mode # file mode
nlink # number of hard links
uid # user ID of owner
gid # group ID of owner
rdev # device type (special files only)
size # total size, in bytes
blksize # preferred blocksize for file-system I/O
blocks # number of blocks allocated
atime # time of last access
mtime # time of last modification
ctime # time of last i-node change
</PRE>
</blockquote>
<p>
For more detail, see <samp>stat(2)</samp>. Some fields are filled
with 0, if that field is not supported on your system.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.symlink">
<CODE>symlink(<VAR>old</VAR>, <VAR>new</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Created a <var>new</var> symbolic link to the <var>old</var>-file.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.truncate">
<CODE>truncate(<VAR>path</VAR>, <VAR>length</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
truncate the file specified by <var>path</var> to at most
<var>length</var> byte.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.unlink">
<CODE>unlink(<VAR>file</VAR>...)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.delete">
<CODE>delete(<VAR>file</VAR>...)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Deletes <var>file</var>s. Returns the number of files successfully
deleted. Use <code><a href="Dir.html#Dir.rmdir">Dir.rmdir</a></code>
instead to delete directories.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.umask"><CODE>umask([<VAR>umask</VAR>])</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Changes umask of the user. Returns the current mask. If
<var>umask</var> is not specified, just current returns the current
mask value.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="File.utime">
<CODE>utime(<VAR>atime</VAR>, <VAR>mtime</VAR>, <VAR>file</VAR>...)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Change the access and modification times on each <var>file</var>s.
Returns the number of files successfully changed. The first two
arguments must be either the number or the instance of the
<code><a href="Time.html">Time</a></code> class.
</p>
</DL>
<P>
In addition, the <code>File</code> class has class methods
defined in <code><a href="FileTest.html">FileTest</a></code>.
</P>
<dt> <h2>Methods:</h2>
<dd>
<DL COMPACT>
<DT>
<A NAME="atime">
<CODE>atime</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the last accessed time of the file.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="ctime">
<CODE>ctime</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the last status change time of the file.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="chmod">
<CODE>chmod(<VAR>mode</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Change the mode of the <code>file</code>s to the <var>mode</var>.
See <samp>chmod(2)</samp>.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="chown">
<CODE>chown(<VAR>owner</VAR>, <VAR>group</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Change the owner and the groups of the <code>file</code>s to the
<var>owner</var>. Only super-user can change the owner of the file.
The owner and the group can be unchanched with supplying
<code>nil</code> or <code>-1</code> to as the argument.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="eof">
<CODE>eof</CODE></A>
<DD>
<DT><A NAME="eof_p">
<CODE>eof?</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns true, if the file pointer reached at the end of file.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="flock">
<CODE>flock(<var>operation</var>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Applys or removes an advisory lock on the file. <code>flock()</code>
returns false if <code>LOCK_NB</code> supplied as the operation and
the call would block. Valid operations are given below:
</p>
<dl COMPACT>
<dt> <code>LOCK_SH</code>
<dd>
Shared lock. More than one process may hold a shared lock for a given
file at a given time.
<dt> <code>LOCK_EX</code>
<dd>
Exclusive lock. Only one process may hold an exclusive lock for a
given file at a given time.
<dt> <code>LOCK_UN</code>
<dd>
Unlock.
<dt> <code>LOCK_NB</code>
<dd>
Don't block when locking. May be specified (by or'ing) along with one
of the other operations.
</dl>
<p>
These constants are defined under the class <code>File</code>.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="lstat">
<CODE>lstat</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Does the same thing as the <code><a href="#stat">stat</a></code>,
but stats a symbolic link instead of the file the symbolic link points
to.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="mtime">
<CODE>mtime</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the last modified time of the file.
</p>
<DT><A NAME="reopen"><CODE>reopen(<var>io</var>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Reconnect <code>self</code> to <var>io</var>. It also changes the
class of the stream.
</p>
<DT><CODE>reopen(<var>path</var>, <var>mode</var>)</CODE>
<DD>
<p>
Opens and reconnects the file specified by <var>path</var>, with
<var>mode</var>.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="path">
<CODE>path</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns pathname of the opened file.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="stat">
<CODE>stat</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
Returns the status info of the file in the <code>Stat</code>
<a href="Struct.html">structure</a>.
</p>
<DT>
<A NAME="truncate">
<CODE>truncate(<VAR>length</VAR>)</CODE></A>
<DD>
<p>
truncate the file to at most <var>length</var> byte. The file must be
opened in the write mode.
</p>
</DL>
<dt> <h2>Constants:</h2>
<dd>
<DL COMPACT>
<dt> <a name="Separator"><code>Separator</code></a>
<dd>
<p>
The separating character of the file path, which is normally
<samp>"/"</samp>.
</p>
</DL>
</DL>
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