I just released File::Find::Wanted 0.01.
File::Find is a great module, except that it doesn't actually find anything. Its find() function walks a directory tree and calls a callback function. Unfortunately, the callback function is deceptively called wanted, which implies that it should return a boolean saying whether you want the file. That's not how it works.
Most of the time you call find(), you just want to build a list of files. There are other modules that do this for you, most notably Richard Clamp's great File::Find::Rule, but in many cases, it's overkill, and you need to learn a new syntax.
With the find_wanted function, you supply a callback sub and a list of starting directories, but the sub actually should return a boolean saying whether you want the file in your list or not.
To get a list of all files ending in .jpg:
my @files = find_wanted( sub { -f && /\.jpg$/ }, $dir );
It's easy, direct, and simple.
The cynical may say "that's just the same as doing this":
my @files;
find( sub { push @files, $File::Find::name if -f && /\.jpg$/ }, $dir );
Sure it is, but File::Find::Wanted makes it more obvious, and saves a line of code. That's worth it to me. I'd like it if find_wanted()made its way into the File::Find distro, but for now, this will do.
Mine (File::Finder, in the CPAN):my @files = find_wanted( sub { -f &&/\.jpg$/ }, $dir );
But I can also do this:my @files = File::Finder->eval(sub { -f &&/\.jpg/ })->in($dir);
# or
my @files = File::Finder->type('f')->name(qr/\.jpg/)->in($dir);
my $rule = File::Finder->type('f')->name(qr/\.jpg/);
...
my @jpegs_in_here = $rule->in($here);
my @jpegs_in_there = $rule->in($there);
my @big_jpegs_over_yonder = $rule->size('+100')->in($yonder);
...
Re:Nothing new... File::Finder close to this
petdance on 2004-08-06T20:16:13
Right. I'm not looking for MORE functionality, I'm looking for SIMPLER functionality.Re:Nothing new... File::Finder close to this
merlyn on 2004-08-07T01:12:47
Well, don't make me argue that mine are arguably simpler. {grin}