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URI::file(3)          User Contributed Perl Documentation         URI::file(3)

NAME
       URI::file - URI that maps to local file names
SYNOPSIS
        use URI::file;
        $u1 = URI->new("file:/foo/bar");
        $u2 = URI->new("foo/bar", "file");
        $u3 = URI::file->new($path);
        $u4 = URI::file->new("c:\\windows\\", "win32");
        $u1->file;
        $u1->file("mac");
DESCRIPTION
       The "URI::file" class supports "URI" objects belonging to the file URI
       scheme.  This scheme allows us to map the conventional file names found
       on various computer systems to the URI name space.  An old
       specification of the file URI scheme is found in RFC 1738.  Some older
       background information is also in RFC 1630. There are no newer
       specifications as far as I know.
       If you simply want to construct file URI objects from URI strings, use
       the normal "URI" constructor.  If you want to construct file URI
       objects from the actual file names used by various systems, then use
       one of the following "URI::file" constructors:
       $u = URI::file->new( $filename, [$os] )
           Maps a file name to the file: URI name space, creates a URI object
           and returns it.  The $filename is interpreted as belonging to the
           indicated operating system ($os), which defaults to the value of
           the $^O variable.  The $filename can be either absolute or
           relative, and the corresponding type of URI object for $os is
           returned.
       $u = URI::file->new_abs( $filename, [$os] )
           Same as URI::file->new, but makes sure that the URI returned
           represents an absolute file name.  If the $filename argument is
           relative, then the name is resolved relative to the current
           directory, i.e. this constructor is really the same as:
             URI::file->new($filename)->abs(URI::file->cwd);
       $u = URI::file->cwd
           Returns a file URI that represents the current working directory.
           See Cwd.
       The following methods are supported for file URI (in addition to the
       common and generic methods described in URI):
       $u->file( [$os] )
           Returns a file name.  It maps from the URI name space to the file
           name space of the indicated operating system.
           It might return "undef" if the name can not be represented in the
           indicated file system.
       $u->dir( [$os] )
           Some systems use a different form for names of directories than for
           plain files.  Use this method if you know you want to use the name
           for a directory.
       The "URI::file" module can be used to map generic file names to names
       suitable for the current system.  As such, it can work as a nice
       replacement for the "File::Spec" module.  For instance, the following
       code translates the UNIX-style file name Foo/Bar.pm to a name suitable
       for the local system:
         $file = URI::file->new("Foo/Bar.pm", "unix")->file;
         die "Can't map filename Foo/Bar.pm for $^O" unless defined $file;
         open(FILE, $file) || die "Can't open '$file': $!";
         # do something with FILE
MAPPING NOTES
       Most computer systems today have hierarchically organized file systems.
       Mapping the names used in these systems to the generic URI syntax
       allows us to work with relative file URIs that behave as they should
       when resolved using the generic algorithm for URIs (specified in RFC
       2396).  Mapping a file name to the generic URI syntax involves mapping
       the path separator character to "/" and encoding any reserved
       characters that appear in the path segments of the file name.  If path
       segments consisting of the strings "." or ".." have a different meaning
       than what is specified for generic URIs, then these must be encoded as
       well.
       If the file system has device, volume or drive specifications as the
       root of the name space, then it makes sense to map them to the
       authority field of the generic URI syntax.  This makes sure that
       relative URIs can not be resolved "above" them, i.e. generally how
       relative file names work in those systems.
       Another common use of the authority field is to encode the host on
       which this file name is valid.  The host name "localhost" is special
       and generally has the same meaning as a missing or empty authority
       field.  This use is in conflict with using it as a device
       specification, but can often be resolved for device specifications
       having characters not legal in plain host names.
       File name to URI mapping in normally not one-to-one.  There are usually
       many URIs that map to any given file name.  For instance, an authority
       of "localhost" maps the same as a URI with a missing or empty
       authority.
       Example 1: The Mac classic (Mac OS 9 and earlier) used ":" as path
       separator, but not in the same way as a generic URI. ":foo" was a
       relative name.  "foo:bar" was an absolute name.  Also, path segments
       could contain the "/" character as well as the literal "." or "..".  So
       the mapping looks like this:
         Mac classic           URI
         ----------            -------------------
         :foo:bar     <==>     foo/bar
         :            <==>     ./
         ::foo:bar    <==>     ../foo/bar
         :::          <==>     ../../
         foo:bar      <==>     file:/foo/bar
         foo:bar:     <==>     file:/foo/bar/
         ..           <==>     %2E%2E
         <undef>      <==      /
         foo/         <==      file:/foo%2F
         ./foo.txt    <==      file:/.%2Ffoo.txt
       Note that if you want a relative URL, you *must* begin the path with a
       :.  Any path that begins with [^:] is treated as absolute.
       Example 2: The UNIX file system is easy to map, as it uses the same
       path separator as URIs, has a single root, and segments of "." and ".."
       have the same meaning.  URIs that have the character "\0" or "/" as
       part of any path segment can not be turned into valid UNIX file names.
         UNIX                  URI
         ----------            ------------------
         foo/bar      <==>     foo/bar
         /foo/bar     <==>     file:/foo/bar
         /foo/bar     <==      file://localhost/foo/bar
         file:         ==>     ./file:
         <undef>      <==      file:/fo%00/bar
         /            <==>     file:/
CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
       The following configuration variables influence how the class and its
       methods behave:
       %URI::file::OS_CLASS
           This hash maps OS identifiers to implementation classes.  You might
           want to add or modify this if you want to plug in your own file
           handler class.  Normally the keys should match the $^O values in
           use.
           If there is no mapping then the "Unix" implementation is used.
       $URI::file::DEFAULT_AUTHORITY
           This determine what "authority" string to include in absolute file
           URIs.  It defaults to "".  If you prefer verbose URIs you might set
           it to be "localhost".
           Setting this value to "undef" force behaviour compatible to URI
           v1.31 and earlier.  In this mode host names in UNC paths and drive
           letters are mapped to the authority component on Windows, while we
           produce authority-less URIs on Unix.
SEE ALSO
       URI, File::Spec, perlport
COPYRIGHT
       Copyright 1995-1998,2004 Gisle Aas.
       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the same terms as Perl itself.

perl v5.16.3                      2012-02-11                      URI::file(3)