Just like files, Perl gives you the ability manage
directories. Specifically, Perl allows you to open a
directory as a directory handle, read in the current
contents of the directory and then close it again.
To open a directory, you use the following
syntax:
opendir ([FILE_HANDLE_NAME],
"[directory_location]") || &CgiDie ("Can't
open [directory_location]");
Thus, for example, you might open the directory
"/usr/local/etc/www/" with the syntax:
opendir (WWW, "/usr/local/etc/www/") ||
&CgiDie ("Can't open www");
As you can see, like opening files, Perl allows the
program to die elegantly in case there is a problem
opening the directory. Also, as with file manipulation, you
must close a directory after you are done with it using the
syntax:
closedir ([FILE_HANDLE_NAME]);
For example, to close the directory opened above, you
use the command:
closedir(WWW);
Once you have opened a directory,
you can also read
the contents of the directory with the readdir function.
For example, the following code snippet assigns all of the
filenames in the www directory to @filenames:
opendir (WWW, "/usr/local/etc/www/") ||
&CgiDie ("Can't open www");
@filenames = readdir (WWW);
closedir (WWW);
