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
Returns a decimal string giving the time at which
file name was last accessed. 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 access time cannot be
queried then an error is generated.
file copy ?-force? ?--? source target
file copy ?-force? ?--? source ?source ...? targetDir
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
pathname argument. Non-empty directories will be
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
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
platform. If a particular name is relative, then
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,
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
Returns a decimal string giving the time at which
file name was last modified. 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 then an error is generated.
file owned name
Returns 1 if file name is owned by the current
user, 0 otherwise.
file pathtype name
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.
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 compo-
nents in name. The first element of the list will
have the same path type as name. All other ele-
ments 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
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 writable name
Returns 1 if file name is writable by the current
user, 0 otherwise.
PORTABILITY ISSUES
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