package fileutils

  1. Overview
  2. Docs

POSIX utilities for files and directories.

A module to provide the core POSIX utilities to manipulate files and directories. All functions try to mimic common POSIX utilities but are written in pure OCaml.

  • author Sylvain Le Gall

Types and exceptions

exception FileDoesntExist of FilePath.filename
type 'a error_handler = string -> 'a -> unit

Generic error handling functions. Whenever such a function is available it helps report the error and allows to raise an exception. The string provided is the human readable version of 'a. In most cases 'a is a polymorphic variant.

exception Fatal of string

Exception raised when after an error_handler the execution cannot continue. The rest of the workflow logic cannot handle the default case and the whole operation can be in the middle of transformation.

Policy concerning links which are directories.

type interactive =
  1. | Force
    (*

    Do it anyway

    *)
  2. | Ask of FilePath.filename -> bool
    (*

    Promp the user

    *)

For certain command, you should need to ask the user wether or not he wants to act.

Permission

type base_permission = {
  1. sticky : bool;
  2. exec : bool;
  3. write : bool;
  4. read : bool;
}

Base permission. This is the permission corresponding to one user or group.

type permission = {
  1. user : base_permission;
  2. group : base_permission;
  3. other : base_permission;
}

Full permission. All the base permissions of a file.

val permission_of_int : int -> permission

Translate POSIX integer permission.

val int_of_permission : permission -> int

Return the POSIX integer permission

module Mode : sig ... end

Permission symbolic mode.

Size operation

type size =
  1. | TB of int64
    (*

    Tera bytes

    *)
  2. | GB of int64
    (*

    Giga bytes

    *)
  3. | MB of int64
    (*

    Mega bytes

    *)
  4. | KB of int64
    (*

    Kilo bytes

    *)
  5. | B of int64
    (*

    Bytes

    *)

File size

val byte_of_size : size -> int64

Convert size to bytes.

val size_add : size -> size -> size

Add two sizes.

val size_compare : ?fuzzy:bool -> size -> size -> int

Compare two sizes, using the classical compare function. If fuzzy is set to true, the comparison is done on the most significant size unit of both value.

val string_of_size : ?fuzzy:bool -> size -> string

Convert a value to a string representation. If fuzzy is set to true, only consider the most significant unit

stat

type kind =
  1. | Dir
  2. | File
  3. | Dev_char
  4. | Dev_block
  5. | Fifo
  6. | Socket

Kind of file. This set is a combination of all POSIX file, some of them doesn't exist at all on certain file system or OS.

type stat = {
  1. kind : kind;
  2. permission : permission;
  3. size : size;
  4. owner : int;
  5. group_owner : int;
  6. access_time : float;
  7. modification_time : float;
  8. creation_time : float;
  9. device : int;
  10. inode : int;
}

Information about a file. This type is derived from Unix.stat

val stat : ?dereference:bool -> FilePath.filename -> stat

stat fln Return information about the file (like Unix.stat) Non POSIX command.

umask

exception UmaskError of string
type umask_error = [
  1. | `Exc of exn
  2. | `NoStickyBit of int
]

Possible umask errors.

val umask : ?error:umask_error error_handler -> ?mode:[< `Octal of int | `Symbolic of Mode.t ] -> [< `Octal of int -> 'a | `Symbolic of Mode.t -> 'a ] -> 'a

Get or set the file mode creation mask. See POSIX documentation.

val umask_apply : int -> int

Apply umask to a given file permission.

test

type test_file =
  1. | Is_dev_block
    (*

    FILE is block special

    *)
  2. | Is_dev_char
    (*

    FILE is character special

    *)
  3. | Is_dir
    (*

    FILE is a directory

    *)
  4. | Exists
    (*

    FILE exists

    *)
  5. | Is_file
    (*

    FILE is a regular file

    *)
  6. | Is_set_group_ID
    (*

    FILE is set-group-ID

    *)
  7. | Has_sticky_bit
    (*

    FILE has its sticky bit set

    *)
  8. | Is_pipe
    (*

    FILE is a named pipe

    *)
  9. | Is_readable
    (*

    FILE is readable

    *)
  10. | Is_writeable
    (*

    FILE is writeable

    *)
  11. | Size_not_null
    (*

    FILE has a size greater than zero

    *)
  12. | Size_bigger_than of size
    (*

    FILE has a size greater than given size

    *)
  13. | Size_smaller_than of size
    (*

    FILE has a size smaller than given size

    *)
  14. | Size_equal_to of size
    (*

    FILE has the same size as given size

    *)
  15. | Size_fuzzy_equal_to of size
    (*

    FILE has approximatively the same size as given size

    *)
  16. | Is_socket
    (*

    FILE is a socket

    *)
  17. | Has_set_user_ID
    (*

    FILE its set-user-ID bit is set

    *)
  18. | Is_exec
    (*

    FILE is executable

    *)
  19. | Is_owned_by_user_ID
    (*

    FILE is owned by the effective user ID

    *)
  20. | Is_owned_by_group_ID
    (*

    FILE is owned by the effective group ID

    *)
  21. | Is_newer_than of FilePath.filename
    (*

    FILE1 is newer (modification date) than FILE2

    *)
  22. | Is_older_than of FilePath.filename
    (*

    FILE1 is older than FILE2

    *)
  23. | Is_newer_than_date of float
    (*

    FILE is newer than given date

    *)
  24. | Is_older_than_date of float
    (*

    FILE is older than given date

    *)
  25. | And of test_file * test_file
    (*

    Result of TEST1 and TEST2

    *)
  26. | Or of test_file * test_file
    (*

    Result of TEST1 or TEST2

    *)
  27. | Not of test_file
    (*

    Result of not TEST

    *)
  28. | Match of string
    (*

    Compilable match (Str or PCRE or ...)

    *)
  29. | True
    (*

    Always true

    *)
  30. | False
    (*

    Always false

    *)
  31. | Has_extension of FilePath.extension
    (*

    Check extension

    *)
  32. | Has_no_extension
    (*

    Check absence of extension

    *)
  33. | Is_parent_dir
    (*

    Basename is the parent dir

    *)
  34. | Is_current_dir
    (*

    Basename is the current dir

    *)
  35. | Basename_is of FilePath.filename
    (*

    Check the basename

    *)
  36. | Dirname_is of FilePath.filename
    (*

    Check the dirname

    *)
  37. | Custom of FilePath.filename -> bool
    (*

    Custom operation on filename

    *)

Pattern you can use to test file. If the file doesn't exist the result is always false.

val test : ?match_compile:(FilePath.filename -> FilePath.filename -> bool) -> test_file -> FilePath.filename -> bool

Test a file. See POSIX documentation.

chmod

exception ChmodError of string
type chmod_error = [
  1. | `Exc of exn
]

Possible chmod errors.

val chmod : ?error:chmod_error error_handler -> ?recurse:bool -> [< `Octal of Unix.file_perm | `Symbolic of Mode.t ] -> FilePath.filename list -> unit

Change permissions of files. See POSIX documentation.

mkdir

exception MkdirError of string
type mkdir_error = [
  1. | `DirnameAlreadyUsed of FilePath.filename
  2. | `Exc of exn
  3. | `MissingComponentPath of FilePath.filename
  4. | `MkdirChmod of FilePath.filename * Unix.file_perm * string * chmod_error
]

Possible mkdir errors.

val mkdir : ?error:mkdir_error error_handler -> ?parent:bool -> ?mode:[< `Octal of Unix.file_perm | `Symbolic of Mode.t ] -> FilePath.filename -> unit

Create the directory which name is provided. Set ~parent to true if you also want to create every directory of the path. Use mode to provide some specific right. See POSIX documentation.

rm

exception RmError of string
type rm_error = [
  1. | `DirNotEmpty of FilePath.filename
  2. | `Exc of exn
  3. | `NoRecurse of FilePath.filename
]

Possible rm errors.

val rm : ?error:rm_error error_handler -> ?force:interactive -> ?recurse:bool -> FilePath.filename list -> unit

Remove the filename provided. Set ~recurse to true in order to completely delete a directory. See POSIX documentation.

cp

exception CpError of string
type cp_error = [
  1. | `CannotChmodDstDir of FilePath.filename * exn
  2. | `CannotCopyDir of FilePath.filename
  3. | `CannotCopyFilesToFile of FilePath.filename list * FilePath.filename
  4. | `CannotCreateDir of FilePath.filename * exn
  5. | `CannotListSrcDir of FilePath.filename * exn
  6. | `CannotOpenDstFile of FilePath.filename * exn
  7. | `CannotOpenSrcFile of FilePath.filename * exn
  8. | `CannotRemoveDstFile of FilePath.filename * exn
  9. | `DstDirNotDir of FilePath.filename
  10. | `ErrorRead of FilePath.filename * exn
  11. | `ErrorWrite of FilePath.filename * exn
  12. | `Exc of exn
  13. | `NoSourceFile of FilePath.filename
  14. | `PartialWrite of FilePath.filename * int * int
  15. | `SameFile of FilePath.filename * FilePath.filename
  16. | `UnhandledType of FilePath.filename * kind
]

Possible cp errors.

val cp : ?follow:action_link -> ?force:interactive -> ?recurse:bool -> ?preserve:bool -> ?error:cp_error error_handler -> FilePath.filename list -> FilePath.filename -> unit

Copy the hierarchy of files/directory to another destination. See POSIX documentation.

mv

exception MvError of string
type mv_error = [
  1. | `Exc of exn
  2. | `MvCp of FilePath.filename * FilePath.filename * string * cp_error
  3. | `MvRm of FilePath.filename * string * rm_error
  4. | `NoSourceFile
]

Possible mv errors.

val mv : ?error:mv_error error_handler -> ?force:interactive -> FilePath.filename -> FilePath.filename -> unit

Move files/directories to another destination. See POSIX documentation.

touch

type touch_time_t =
  1. | Touch_now
    (*

    Use Unix.gettimeofday

    *)
  2. | Touch_file_time of FilePath.filename
    (*

    Get mtime of file

    *)
  3. | Touch_timestamp of float
    (*

    Use GMT timestamp

    *)

Time for file

val touch : ?atime:bool -> ?mtime:bool -> ?create:bool -> ?time:touch_time_t -> FilePath.filename -> unit

Modify the timestamp of the given filename. See POSIX documentation. If atime and mtime are not specified, they are both considered true. If only atime or mtime is sepcified, the other is false.

  • parameter atime

    modify access time.

  • parameter mtime

    modify modification time.

  • parameter create

    if file doesn't exist, create it, default true

  • parameter time

    what time to set, default Touch_now

ls

val filter : test_file -> FilePath.filename list -> FilePath.filename list

Apply a filtering pattern to a filename.

List the content of a directory. See POSIX documentation.

Misc operations

val pwd : unit -> FilePath.filename

Return the current dir. See POSIX documentation.

Resolve to the real filename removing symlink. Non POSIX command.

Try to find the executable in the PATH. Use environement variable PATH if none is provided. Non POSIX command.

val cmp : ?skip1:int -> FilePath.filename -> ?skip2:int -> FilePath.filename -> int option

cmp skip1 fln1 skip2 fln2 Compare files fln1 and fln2 starting at pos skip1 skip2 and returning the first octect where a difference occurs. Returns Some -1 if one of the file is not readable or if it is not a file. See POSIX documentation.

val du : FilePath.filename list -> size * (FilePath.filename * size) list

du fln_lst Return the amount of space of all the file which are subdir of fln_lst. Also return details for each file scanned. See POSIX documentation.

val find : ?follow:action_link -> ?match_compile:(FilePath.filename -> FilePath.filename -> bool) -> test_file -> FilePath.filename -> ('a -> FilePath.filename -> 'a) -> 'a -> 'a

find ~follow:fol tst fln exec accu Descend the directory tree starting from the given filename and using the test provided. You cannot match current_dir and parent_dir. For every file found, the action exec is done, using the accu to start. For a simple file listing, you can use find True "." (fun x y -> y :: x) [] See POSIX documentation.

For future release:

  • val pathchk: filename -> boolean * string, check whether file names are valid or portable
  • val setfacl: filename -> permission -> unit, set file access control lists (UNIX + extended attribute)
  • val getfacl: filename -> permission, get file access control lists

ACL related function will be handled through a plugin system to handle at runtime which attribute can be read/write (i.e. Win32 ACL, NFS acl, Linux ACL -- or none).

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