Class: File

Returns the last access time for the named file as a ::Time object).

file_name can be an ::IO object.

File.atime("testfile")   #=> Wed Apr 09 08:51:48 CDT 2003

Returns the last component of the filename given in file_name, which can be formed using both SEPARATOR and ALT_SEPARATOR as the separator when ALT_SEPARATOR is not nil. If suffix is given and present at the end of file_name, it is removed. If suffix is “.*”, any extension will be removed.

File.basename("/home/gumby/work/ruby.rb")          #=> "ruby.rb"
File.basename("/home/gumby/work/ruby.rb", ".rb")   #=> "ruby"
File.basename("/home/gumby/work/ruby.rb", ".*")    #=> "ruby"

Returns the birth time for the named file.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Note that on Windows (NTFS), returns creation time (birth time).

File.birthtime("testfile")   #=> Wed Apr 09 08:53:13 CDT 2003

Returns true if the named file is a block device.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Returns true if the named file is a character device.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Changes permission bits on the named file(s) to the bit pattern represented by mode_int. Actual effects are operating system dependent (see the beginning of this section). On Unix systems, see chmod(2) for details. Returns the number of files processed.

File.chmod(0644, "testfile", "out")   #=> 2

Changes the owner and group of the named file(s) to the given numeric owner and group id's. Only a process with superuser privileges may change the owner of a file. The current owner of a file may change the file's group to any group to which the owner belongs. A nil or -1 owner or group id is ignored. Returns the number of files processed.

File.chown(nil, 100, "testfile")

Returns the change time for the named file (the time at which directory information about the file was changed, not the file itself).

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Note that on Windows (NTFS), returns creation time (birth time).

File.ctime("testfile")   #=> Wed Apr 09 08:53:13 CDT 2003

Deletes the named files, returning the number of names passed as arguments. Raises an exception on any error. See also Dir.rmdir.

Returns all components of the filename given in file_name except the last one. The filename can be formed using both SEPARATOR and ALT_SEPARATOR as the separator when ALT_SEPARATOR is not nil.

File.dirname("/home/gumby/work/ruby.rb")   #=> "/home/gumby/work"

Returns true if the named file is executable by the effective user id of this process.

Returns true if the named file is executable by the real user id of this process.

Return true if the named file exists.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

“file exists” means that stat() or fstat() system call is successful.

Deprecated method. Don't use.

Converts a pathname to an absolute pathname. Relative paths are referenced from the current working directory of the process unless dir_string is given, in which case it will be used as the starting point. The given pathname may start with a “~'', which expands to the process owner's home directory (the environment variable HOME must be set correctly). “~user'' expands to the named user's home directory.

File.expand_path("~oracle/bin")           #=> "/home/oracle/bin"

A simple example of using dir_string is as follows.

File.expand_path("ruby", "/usr/bin")      #=> "/usr/bin/ruby"

A more complex example which also resolves parent directory is as follows. Suppose we are in bin/mygem and want the absolute path of lib/mygem.rb.

File.expand_path("../../lib/mygem.rb", __FILE__)
#=> ".../path/to/project/lib/mygem.rb"

So first it resolves the parent of __FILE__, that is bin/, then go to the parent, the root of the project and appends lib/mygem.rb.

Returns the extension (the portion of file name in .path starting from the last period).

If .path is a dotfile, or starts with a period, then the starting dot is not dealt with the start of the extension.

An empty string will also be returned when the period is the last character in .path.

File.extname("test.rb")         #=> ".rb"
File.extname("a/b/d/test.rb")   #=> ".rb"
File.extname("foo.")            #=> ""
File.extname("test")            #=> ""
File.extname(".profile")        #=> ""
File.extname(".profile.sh")     #=> ".sh"

Returns true if the named file exists and is a regular file.

file can be an ::IO object.

If the file argument is a symbolic link, it will resolve the symbolic link and use the file referenced by the link.

Returns true if .path matches against pattern. The pattern is not a regular expression; instead it follows rules similar to shell filename globbing. It may contain the following metacharacters:

*

Matches any file. Can be restricted by other values in the glob. Equivalent to / .* /x in regexp.

*

Matches all files regular files

c*

Matches all files beginning with c

*c

Matches all files ending with c

*c*

Matches all files that have c in them (including at the beginning or end).

To match hidden files (that start with a . set the File::FNM_DOTMATCH flag.

**

Matches directories recursively or files expansively.

?

Matches any one character. Equivalent to /.{1}/ in regexp.

[set]

Matches any one character in set. Behaves exactly like character sets in Regexp, including set negation ([^a-z]).

\

Escapes the next metacharacter.

{a,b}

Matches pattern a and pattern b if File::FNM_EXTGLOB flag is enabled. Behaves like a Regexp union ((?:a|b)).

flags is a bitwise OR of the FNM_XXX constants. The same glob pattern and flags are used by Dir.glob.

Examples:

File.fnmatch('cat',       'cat')        #=> true  # match entire string
File.fnmatch('cat',       'category')   #=> false # only match partial string

File.fnmatch('c{at,ub}s', 'cats')                    #=> false # { } isn't supported by default
File.fnmatch('c{at,ub}s', 'cats', File::FNM_EXTGLOB) #=> true  # { } is supported on FNM_EXTGLOB

File.fnmatch('c?t',     'cat')          #=> true  # '?' match only 1 character
File.fnmatch('c??t',    'cat')          #=> false # ditto
File.fnmatch('c*',      'cats')         #=> true  # '*' match 0 or more characters
File.fnmatch('c*t',     'c/a/b/t')      #=> true  # ditto
File.fnmatch('ca[a-z]', 'cat')          #=> true  # inclusive bracket expression
File.fnmatch('ca[^t]',  'cat')          #=> false # exclusive bracket expression ('^' or '!')

File.fnmatch('cat', 'CAT')                     #=> false # case sensitive
File.fnmatch('cat', 'CAT', File::FNM_CASEFOLD) #=> true  # case insensitive

File.fnmatch('?',   '/', File::FNM_PATHNAME)  #=> false # wildcard doesn't match '/' on FNM_PATHNAME
File.fnmatch('*',   '/', File::FNM_PATHNAME)  #=> false # ditto
File.fnmatch('[/]', '/', File::FNM_PATHNAME)  #=> false # ditto

File.fnmatch('\?',   '?')                       #=> true  # escaped wildcard becomes ordinary
File.fnmatch('\a',   'a')                       #=> true  # escaped ordinary remains ordinary
File.fnmatch('\a',   '\a', File::FNM_NOESCAPE)  #=> true  # FNM_NOESCAPE makes '\' ordinary
File.fnmatch('[\?]', '?')                       #=> true  # can escape inside bracket expression

File.fnmatch('*',   '.profile')                      #=> false # wildcard doesn't match leading
File.fnmatch('*',   '.profile', File::FNM_DOTMATCH)  #=> true  # period by default.
File.fnmatch('.*',  '.profile')                      #=> true

rbfiles = '**' '/' '*.rb' # you don't have to do like this. just write in single string.
File.fnmatch(rbfiles, 'main.rb')                    #=> false
File.fnmatch(rbfiles, './main.rb')                  #=> false
File.fnmatch(rbfiles, 'lib/song.rb')                #=> true
File.fnmatch('**.rb', 'main.rb')                    #=> true
File.fnmatch('**.rb', './main.rb')                  #=> false
File.fnmatch('**.rb', 'lib/song.rb')                #=> true
File.fnmatch('*',           'dave/.profile')                      #=> true

pattern = '*' '/' '*'
File.fnmatch(pattern, 'dave/.profile', File::FNM_PATHNAME)  #=> false
File.fnmatch(pattern, 'dave/.profile', File::FNM_PATHNAME | File::FNM_DOTMATCH) #=> true

pattern = '**' '/' 'foo'
File.fnmatch(pattern, 'a/b/c/foo', File::FNM_PATHNAME)     #=> true
File.fnmatch(pattern, '/a/b/c/foo', File::FNM_PATHNAME)    #=> true
File.fnmatch(pattern, 'c:/a/b/c/foo', File::FNM_PATHNAME)  #=> true
File.fnmatch(pattern, 'a/.b/c/foo', File::FNM_PATHNAME)    #=> false
File.fnmatch(pattern, 'a/.b/c/foo', File::FNM_PATHNAME | File::FNM_DOTMATCH) #=> true

Alias for .fnmatch.

Identifies the type of the named file; the return string is one of “file'', “directory'', “characterSpecial'', “blockSpecial'', “fifo'', “link'', “socket'', or “unknown''.

File.ftype("testfile")            #=> "file"
File.ftype("/dev/tty")            #=> "characterSpecial"
File.ftype("/tmp/.X11-unix/X0")   #=> "socket"

Returns true if the named file exists and the effective group id of the calling process is the owner of the file. Returns false on Windows.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Returns true if the named files are identical.

file_1 and file_2 can be an ::IO object.

open("a", "w") {}
p File.identical?("a", "a")      #=> true
p File.identical?("a", "./a")    #=> true
File.link("a", "b")
p File.identical?("a", "b")      #=> true
File.symlink("a", "c")
p File.identical?("a", "c")      #=> true
open("d", "w") {}
p File.identical?("a", "d")      #=> false

Returns a new string formed by joining the strings using SEPARATOR.

File.join("usr", "mail", "gumby")   #=> "usr/mail/gumby"

Equivalent to .chmod, but does not follow symbolic links (so it will change the permissions associated with the link, not the file referenced by the link). Often not available.

Equivalent to .chown, but does not follow symbolic links (so it will change the owner associated with the link, not the file referenced by the link). Often not available. Returns number of files in the argument list.

Creates a new name for an existing file using a hard link. Will not overwrite new_name if it already exists (raising a subclass of ::SystemCallError). Not available on all platforms.

File.link("testfile", ".testfile")   #=> 0
IO.readlines(".testfile")[0]         #=> "This is line one\n"

Same as .stat, but does not follow the last symbolic link. Instead, reports on the link itself.

File.symlink("testfile", "link2test")   #=> 0
File.stat("testfile").size              #=> 66
File.lstat("link2test").size            #=> 8
File.stat("link2test").size             #=> 66

Returns the modification time for the named file as a ::Time object.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

File.mtime("testfile")   #=> Tue Apr 08 12:58:04 CDT 2003

With no associated block, open is a synonym for .new. If the optional code block is given, it will be passed the opened file as an argument and the File object will automatically be closed when the block terminates. The value of the block will be returned from open.

If a file is being created, its initial permissions may be set using the perm parameter. See .new for further discussion.

See IO.new for a description of the mode and opt parameters.

Returns true if the named file exists and the effective used id of the calling process is the owner of the file.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Returns the string representation of the path

File.path("/dev/null")          #=> "/dev/null"
File.path(Pathname.new("/tmp")) #=> "/tmp"

Returns true if the named file is a pipe.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Returns true if the named file is readable by the effective user id of this process.

Returns true if the named file is readable by the real user id of this process.

Returns the name of the file referenced by the given link. Not available on all platforms.

File.symlink("testfile", "link2test")   #=> 0
File.readlink("link2test")              #=> "testfile"

Returns the real (absolute) pathname of pathname in the actual filesystem. The real pathname doesn't contain symlinks or useless dots.

If dir_string is given, it is used as a base directory for interpreting relative pathname instead of the current directory.

The last component of the real pathname can be nonexistent.

Returns the real (absolute) pathname of pathname in the actual filesystem not containing symlinks or useless dots.

If dir_string is given, it is used as a base directory for interpreting relative pathname instead of the current directory.

All components of the pathname must exist when this method is called.

Renames the given file to the new name. Raises a ::SystemCallError if the file cannot be renamed.

File.rename("afile", "afile.bak")   #=> 0

Returns true if the named file has the setgid bit set.

Returns true if the named file has the setuid bit set.

Returns the size of file_name.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Returns nil if file_name doesn't exist or has zero size, the size of the file otherwise.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Returns true if the named file is a socket.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Splits the given string into a directory and a file component and returns them in a two-element array. See also .dirname and .basename.

File.split("/home/gumby/.profile")   #=> ["/home/gumby", ".profile"]

Returns a ::File::Stat object for the named file (see ::File::Stat).

File.stat("testfile").mtime   #=> Tue Apr 08 12:58:04 CDT 2003

Returns true if the named file has the sticky bit set.

Creates a symbolic link called new_name for the existing file old_name. Raises a NotImplemented exception on platforms that do not support symbolic links.

File.symlink("testfile", "link2test")   #=> 0

Returns true if the named file is a symbolic link.

Truncates the file file_name to be at most integer bytes long. Not available on all platforms.

f = File.new("out", "w")
f.write("1234567890")     #=> 10
f.close                   #=> nil
File.truncate("out", 5)   #=> 0
File.size("out")          #=> 5

Returns the current umask value for this process. If the optional argument is given, set the umask to that value and return the previous value. Umask values are subtracted from the default permissions, so a umask of 0222 would make a file read-only for everyone.

File.umask(0006)   #=> 18
File.umask         #=> 6

Alias for .delete.

Sets the access and modification times of each named file to the first two arguments. Returns the number of file names in the argument list.

If file_name is readable by others, returns an integer representing the file permission bits of file_name. Returns nil otherwise. The meaning of the bits is platform dependent; on Unix systems, see stat(2).

file_name can be an ::IO object.

File.world_readable?("/etc/passwd")           #=> 420
m = File.world_readable?("/etc/passwd")
sprintf("%o", m)                              #=> "644"

If file_name is writable by others, returns an integer representing the file permission bits of file_name. Returns nil otherwise. The meaning of the bits is platform dependent; on Unix systems, see stat(2).

file_name can be an ::IO object.

File.world_writable?("/tmp")                  #=> 511
m = File.world_writable?("/tmp")
sprintf("%o", m)                              #=> "777"

Returns true if the named file is writable by the effective user id of this process.

Returns true if the named file is writable by the real user id of this process.

Returns true if the named file exists and has a zero size.

file_name can be an ::IO object.

Returns the birth time for file.

Note that on Windows (NTFS), returns creation time (birth time).

File.new("testfile").birthtime   #=> Wed Apr 09 08:53:14 CDT 2003

Changes permission bits on file to the bit pattern represented by mode_int. Actual effects are platform dependent; on Unix systems, see chmod(2) for details. Follows symbolic links. Also see File#lchmod.

f = File.new("out", "w");
f.chmod(0644)   #=> 0

Changes the owner and group of file to the given numeric owner and group id's. Only a process with superuser privileges may change the owner of a file. The current owner of a file may change the file's group to any group to which the owner belongs. A nil or -1 owner or group id is ignored. Follows symbolic links. See also File#lchown.

File.new("testfile").chown(502, 1000)

Returns the change time for file (that is, the time directory information about the file was changed, not the file itself).

Note that on Windows (NTFS), returns creation time (birth time).

File.new("testfile").ctime   #=> Wed Apr 09 08:53:14 CDT 2003

Locks or unlocks a file according to locking_constant (a logical or of the values in the table below). Returns false if File::LOCK_NB is specified and the operation would otherwise have blocked. Not available on all platforms.

Locking constants (in class File):

LOCK_EX   | Exclusive lock. Only one process may hold an
          | exclusive lock for a given file at a time.
----------+------------------------------------------------
LOCK_NB   | Don't block when locking. May be combined
          | with other lock options using logical or.
----------+------------------------------------------------
LOCK_SH   | Shared lock. Multiple processes may each hold a
          | shared lock for a given file at the same time.
----------+------------------------------------------------
LOCK_UN   | Unlock.

Example:

# update a counter using write lock
# don't use "w" because it truncates the file before lock.
File.open("counter", File::RDWR|File::CREAT, 0644) {|f|
  f.flock(File::LOCK_EX)
  value = f.read.to_i + 1
  f.rewind
  f.write("#{value}\n")
  f.flush
  f.truncate(f.pos)
}

# read the counter using read lock
File.open("counter", "r") {|f|
  f.flock(File::LOCK_SH)
  p f.read
}

Same as IO#stat, but does not follow the last symbolic link. Instead, reports on the link itself.

File.symlink("testfile", "link2test")   #=> 0
File.stat("testfile").size              #=> 66
f = File.new("link2test")
f.lstat.size                            #=> 8
f.stat.size                             #=> 66

Returns the modification time for file.

File.new("testfile").mtime   #=> Wed Apr 09 08:53:14 CDT 2003

Returns the pathname used to create file as a string. Does not normalize the name.

File.new("testfile").path               #=> "testfile"
File.new("/tmp/../tmp/xxx", "w").path   #=> "/tmp/../tmp/xxx"

Returns the size of file in bytes.

File.new("testfile").size   #=> 66

Alias for #path.

Truncates file to at most integer bytes. The file must be opened for writing. Not available on all platforms.

f = File.new("out", "w")
f.syswrite("1234567890")   #=> 10
f.truncate(5)              #=> 0
f.close()                  #=> nil
File.size("out")           #=> 5