Re: [MacPerl] Deleting a file

[Rain <slowdive@mindspring.com>]

Sometime around 03/03/1999 12:00 AM, Lars G. Skjellerup said something 
about:

>Hi all you gurus
>
>I have a small problem. I don't seem to be able to use this to
>delete a file:
>
>---------- Code fragment ----------------------

[snip]

>    ## if I print $pic it contains the right path and filename
>
>    ## I can't find out if it is the open(), unlink or $pic
>    ## that is the problem.
>    open(TFH, $pic);
>    unlink TFH;
>    close(TFH);
>.

>From the Camel:

--
unlink LIST

This function deletes a list of files.  If LIST is omitted it unlinks the 
file given in $_.
--

You are trying to unlink the filehandle TFH, not the file contained in 
the path $pic.

try this instead:

open(TFH, "<$pic"); # you now have a filehandle to $pic
close(TFH);         # the filehandle is closed
unlink $pic;        # the file is gone

You could unlink $pic before closing the filehandle, but then Bad Things 
are likely to happen if you try to read from it then.

At any rate, be sure you really do want to delete the file, because in 
MacPerl there's no second chance.  It's gone.  Under Unix, unlink removes 
the directory entries that refer to the real files, and since a file may 
be referenced from more than one directory, it is not removed until the 
last reference to it is removed. (paraphrased from the Camel)

HTH,

D. Beverly


--
Credendo vides -- "by believing, one sees..."


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