File::BaseDir(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation File::BaseDir(3)NAMEFile::BaseDir - Use the Freedesktop.org base directory specification
SYNOPSIS
use File::BaseDir qw/xdg_data_files/;
for ( xdg_data_files('mime/globs') ) {
# do something
}
DESCRIPTION
This module can be used to find directories and files as specified by
the Freedesktop.org Base Directory Specification. This specifications
gives a mechanism to locate directories for configuration, application
data and cache data. It is suggested that desktop applications for e.g.
the Gnome, KDE or Xfce platforms follow this layout. However, the same
layout can just as well be used for non-GUI applications.
This module forked from File::MimeInfo.
This module follows version 0.6 of BaseDir specification.
EXPORT
None by default, but all methods can be exported on demand. Also the
groups ":lookup" and ":vars" are defined. The ":vars" group contains
all routines with a "xdg_" prefix; the ":lookup" group contains the
routines to locate files and directories.
METHODS
"new()"
Simple constructor to allow Object Oriented use of this module.
Lookup
The following methods are used to lookup files and folders in one of
the search paths.
"data_home(@PATH)"
Takes a list of file path elements and returns a new path by
appending them to the data home directory. The new path does not
need to exist. Use this when writing user specific application
data.
Example:
# data_home is: /home/USER/.local/share
$path = $bd->data_home('Foo', 'Bar', 'Baz');
# returns: /home/USER/.local/share/Foo/Bar/Baz
"data_dirs(@PATH)"
Looks for directories specified by @PATH in the data home and other
data directories. Returns (possibly empty) list of readable
directories. In scalar context only the first directory found is
returned. Use this to lookup application data.
"data_files(@PATH)"
Looks for files specified by @PATH in the data home and other data
directories. Only returns files that are readable. In scalar
context only the first file found is returned. Use this to lookup
application data.
"config_home(@PATH)"
Takes a list of path elements and appends them to the config home
directory returning a new path. The new path does not need to
exist. Use this when writing user specific configuration.
"config_dirs(@PATH)"
Looks for directories specified by @PATH in the config home and
other config directories. Returns (possibly empty) list of readable
directories. In scalar context only the first directory found is
returned. Use this to lookup configuration.
"config_files(@PATH)"
Looks for files specified by @PATH in the config home and other
config directories. Returns a (possibly empty) list of files that
are readable. In scalar context only the first file found is
returned. Use this to lookup configuration.
"cache_home(@PATH)"
Takes a list of path elements and appends them to the cache home
directory returning a new path. The new path does not need to
exist.
Variables
The following methods only returns the value of one of the XDG
variables.
"xdg_data_home"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_DATA_HOME} or it's default value. Default
is $HOME/.local/share.
"xdg_data_dirs"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_DATA_DIRS} or it's default value as list.
Default is /usr/local/share, /usr/share.
"xdg_config_home"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_CONFIG_HOME} or it's default value.
Default is $HOME/.config.
"xdg_config_dirs"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_CONFIG_DIRS} or it's default value as list.
Default is /etc/xdg.
"xdg_cache_home"
Returns either $ENV{XDG_CACHE_HOME} or it's default value. Default
is $HOME/.cache.
NON-UNIX PLATFORMS
The use of File::Spec ensures that all paths are returned in the
apropriate form for the current platform. On Windows this module will
try to set $HOME to a sensible value if it is not defined yet. On other
platforms one can use e.g. File::HomeDir to set $HOME before loading
File::BaseDir.
Please note that the specification is targeting Unix platforms only and
will only have limited relevance on other platforms. Any platform
dependend behavior in this module should be considerd an extension of
the spec.
BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY
The methods "xdg_data_files()" and "xdg_config_files()" are exported
for backwards compatibilty with version 0.02. They are identical to
"data_files()" and "config_files()" respectively but without the
"wantarray" behavior.
BUGS
Please mail the author if you encounter any bugs.
AUTHOR
Jaap Karssenberg || Pardus [Larus] <pardus@cpan.org>
Copyright (c) 2003, 2007 Jaap G Karssenberg. All rights reserved. This
program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
SEE ALSO
http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/basedir-spec
<http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/basedir-spec>
perl v5.16.3 2014-02-09 File::BaseDir(3)