NAME
file - Manipulate file names and attributes
SYNOPSIS
file option name ?arg arg ...?
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DESCRIPTION
This command provides several operations on a file's name
or attributes. Name is the name of a file; if it starts
with a tilde, then tilde substitution is done before exe
cuting the command (see the manual entry for filename for
details). Option indicates what to do with the file name.
Any unique abbreviation for option is acceptable. The
valid options are:
file atime name ?time?
Returns a decimal string giving the time at which
file name was last accessed. If time is specified,
it is an access time to set for the file. The time
is measured in the standard POSIX fashion as sec
onds from a fixed starting time (often January 1,
1970). If the file doesn't exist or its access
time cannot be queried or set then an error is gen
erated. On Windows, FAT file systems do not sup
port access time.
file attributes name
file attributes name ?option?
file attributes name ?option value option value...?
This subcommand returns or sets platform specific
values associated with a file. The first form
returns a list of the platform specific flags and
their values. The second form returns the value for
the specific option. The third form sets one or
more of the values. The values are as follows:
On Unix, -group gets or sets the group name for the
file. A group id can be given to the command, but
it returns a group name. -owner gets or sets the
user name of the owner of the file. The command
returns the owner name, but the numerical id can be
passed when setting the owner. -permissions sets or
retrieves the octal code that chmod(1) uses. This
command does also has limited support for setting
using the symbolic attributes for chmod(1), of the
form [ugo]?[[+-=][rwxst],[...]], where multiple
symbolic attributes can be separated by commas
(example: u+s,go-rw add sticky bit for user, remove
read and write permissions for group and other). A
simplified ls style string, of the form rwxrwxrwx
rwxr-xr-t is equivalent to 01755).
On Windows, -archive gives the value or sets or
clears the archive attribute of the file. -hidden
gives the value or sets or clears the hidden
attribute of the file. -longname will expand each
path element to its long version. This attribute
cannot be set. -readonly gives the value or sets or
clears the readonly attribute of the file. -short
name gives a string where every path element is
replaced with its short (8.3) version of the name.
This attribute cannot be set. -system gives or sets
or clears the value of the system attribute of the
file.
On Macintosh, -creator gives or sets the Finder
creator type of the file. -hidden gives or sets or
clears the hidden attribute of the file. -readonly
gives or sets or clears the readonly attribute of
the file. Note that directories can only be locked
if File Sharing is turned on. -type gives or sets
the Finder file type for the file.
file channels |
?pattern? ||
If pattern isn't specified, returns a list of names |
of all registered open channels in this inter |
preter. If pattern is specified, only those names |
matching pattern are returned. Matching is deter |
mined using the same rules as for string match.
file copy ?-force? ?--? source target
file copy ?-force? ?--? source ?source ...? target
Dir
The first form makes a copy of the file or direc
tory source under the pathname target. If target
is an existing directory, then the second form is
used. The second form makes a copy inside target
Dir of each source file listed. If a directory is
specified as a source, then the contents of the
directory will be recursively copied into target
Dir. Existing files will not be overwritten unless
the -force option is specified. Trying to over
write a non-empty directory, overwrite a directory
with a file, or a file with a directory will all
result in errors even if -force was specified.
Arguments are processed in the order specified,
halting at the first error, if any. A -- marks the
end of switches; the argument following the -- will
be treated as a source even if it starts with a -.
file delete ?-force? ?--? pathname ?pathname ... ?
Removes the file or directory specified by each
removed only if the -force option is specified.
Trying to delete a non-existant file is not consid
ered an error. Trying to delete a read-only file
will cause the file to be deleted, even if the
-force flags is not specified. Arguments are pro
cessed in the order specified, halting at the first
error, if any. A -- marks the end of switches; the
argument following the -- will be treated as a
pathname even if it starts with a -.
file dirname name
Returns a name comprised of all of the path compo
nents in name excluding the last element. If name
is a relative file name and only contains one path
element, then returns ``.'' (or ``:'' on the Macin
tosh). If name refers to a root directory, then
the root directory is returned. For example,
file dirname c:/
returns c:/.
Note that tilde substitution will only be performed
if it is necessary to complete the command. For
example,
file dirname ~/src/foo.c
returns ~/src, whereas
file dirname ~
returns /home (or something similar).
file executable name
Returns 1 if file name is executable by the current
user, 0 otherwise.
file exists name
Returns 1 if file name exists and the current user
has search privileges for the directories leading
to it, 0 otherwise.
file extension name
Returns all of the characters in name after and
including the last dot in the last element of name.
If there is no dot in the last element of name then
returns the empty string.
file isdirectory name
Returns 1 if file name is a directory, 0 otherwise.
file isfile name
Returns 1 if file name is a regular file, 0 other
wise.
file join name ?name ...?
Takes one or more file names and combines them,
using the correct path separator for the current
it will be joined to the previous file name argu
ment. Otherwise, any earlier arguments will be
discarded, and joining will proceed from the cur
rent argument. For example,
file join a b /foo bar
returns /foo/bar.
Note that any of the names can contain separators,
and that the result is always canonical for the
current platform: / for Unix and Windows, and : for
Macintosh.
file lstat name varName
Same as stat option (see below) except uses the
lstat kernel call instead of stat. This means that
if name refers to a symbolic link the information
returned in varName is for the link rather than the
file it refers to. On systems that don't support
symbolic links this option behaves exactly the same
as the stat option.
file mkdir dir ?dir ...?
Creates each directory specified. For each path
name dir specified, this command will create all
non-existing parent directories as well as dir
itself. If an existing directory is specified,
then no action is taken and no error is returned.
Trying to overwrite an existing file with a direc
tory will result in an error. Arguments are pro
cessed in the order specified, halting at the first
error, if any.
file mtime name ?time?
Returns a decimal string giving the time at which
file name was last modified. If time is specified,
it is a modification time to set for the file
(equivalent to Unix touch). The time is measured
in the standard POSIX fashion as seconds from a
fixed starting time (often January 1, 1970). If
the file doesn't exist or its modified time cannot
be queried or set then an error is generated.
file nativename name
Returns the platform-specific name of the file.
This is useful if the filename is needed to pass to
a platform-specific call, such as exec under Win
dows or AppleScript on the Macintosh.
file owned name
Returns 1 if file name is owned by the current
user, 0 otherwise.
Returns one of absolute, relative, volumerelative.
If name refers to a specific file on a specific
volume, the path type will be absolute. If name
refers to a file relative to the current working
directory, then the path type will be relative. If
name refers to a file relative to the current work
ing directory on a specified volume, or to a spe
cific file on the current working volume, then the
file type is volumerelative.
file readable name
Returns 1 if file name is readable by the current
user, 0 otherwise.
file readlink name
Returns the value of the symbolic link given by
name (i.e. the name of the file it points to). If
name isn't a symbolic link or its value cannot be
read, then an error is returned. On systems that
don't support symbolic links this option is unde
fined.
file rename ?-force? ?--? source target
file rename ?-force? ?--? source ?source ...? targetDir
The first form takes the file or directory speci
fied by pathname source and renames it to target,
moving the file if the pathname target specifies a
name in a different directory. If target is an
existing directory, then the second form is used.
The second form moves each source file or directory
into the directory targetDir. Existing files will
not be overwritten unless the -force option is
specified. Trying to overwrite a non-empty direc
tory, overwrite a directory with a file, or a file
with a directory will all result in errors. Argu
ments are processed in the order specified, halting
at the first error, if any. A -- marks the end of
switches; the argument following the -- will be
treated as a source even if it starts with a -.
file rootname name
Returns all of the characters in name up to but not
including the last ``.'' character in the last com
ponent of name. If the last component of name
doesn't contain a dot, then returns name.
file size name
Returns a decimal string giving the size of file
name in bytes. If the file doesn't exist or its
size cannot be queried then an error is generated.
file split name
Returns a list whose elements are the path
will have the same path type as name. All other
elements will be relative. Path separators will be
discarded unless they are needed ensure that an
element is unambiguously relative. For example,
under Unix
file split /foo/~bar/baz
returns / foo ./~bar baz to ensure that later
commands that use the third component do not
attempt to perform tilde substitution.
file stat name varName
Invokes the stat kernel call on name, and uses the
variable given by varName to hold information
returned from the kernel call. VarName is treated
as an array variable, and the following elements of
that variable are set: atime, ctime, dev, gid, ino,
mode, mtime, nlink, size, type, uid. Each element
except type is a decimal string with the value of
the corresponding field from the stat return struc
ture; see the manual entry for stat for details on
the meanings of the values. The type element gives
the type of the file in the same form returned by
the command file type. This command returns an
empty string.
file tail name
Returns all of the characters in name after the
last directory separator. If name contains no sep
arators then returns name.
file type name
Returns a string giving the type of file name,
which will be one of file, directory, characterSpe
cial, blockSpecial, fifo, link, or socket.
file volume
Returns the absolute paths to the volumes mounted
on the system, as a proper Tcl list. On the Macin
tosh, this will be a list of the mounted drives,
both local and network. N.B. if two drives have
the same name, they will both appear on the volume
list, but there is currently no way, from Tcl, to
access any but the first of these drives. On UNIX,
the command will always return "/", since all
filesystems are locally mounted. On Windows, it
will return a list of the available local drives
(e.g. {a:/ c:/}).
file writable name
Returns 1 if file name is writable by the current
user, 0 otherwise.
Unix
These commands always operate using the real user
and group identifiers, not the effective ones.
SEE ALSO
filename
KEYWORDS
attributes, copy files, delete files, directory, file,
move files, name, rename files, stat
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