Reading entire subfolder tree into an array

[sdyates]

It is amazing how such a simple concept is so difficult to code. I have tried many ways of processing each file with in a directory tree, but each way leads me to a massive problem. I know there must be a simple command or loop to do this. There are many threads here, but none seem to answer the question:

How do I read the entire contents of a subfolder tree into an array. /home/user1 would consist of:
home.txt folder1 test.txt folder2 test2.txt file2.org The array should read the entire listing just as dir would generate and dump it into the array, then take each folder and generate another object list, dumping it into an array, and so on...

Is there not a simple command for doing this? Currently, I have a lot of code and much more to generate.

Please advise,
Simon

[broquaint]

If you mean a straight directory listing then just use opendir() in conjunction with readdir()

opendir(DH, ".") or die("ack - $!");
my @listing = readdir(DH);
closedir(DH);
print "@listing\n";

__output__

. .. foo bar baz quux

If you mean a recursive directory listing then you can probably use File::Find to suit your needs.
HTH

_________
broquaint

[SuperCruncher]

Well, here's an idea:

my $dir = '/home/user1'; 
my @files = glob("$dir/*");  # Get list of files 
my @directories = grep { -d } @files;  # Use -d to get dirs

Then you could do:

foreach my $directory (@directories) { 
  my @list = glob("$directory/*"); 
}

...and of course repeat the process until a directory contains no more directories. Probably an easier way of traversing a directory structure is using the File::Find module though it does have some very irritating behaviours... It's a "standard" Perl module, and it should be on your system already.

[Aristotle]

Actually I strongly advise using File::Find instead. There's too much to think of when you roll your own: what happens if you run into symlinks for example? Perl standard and CPAN modules for seemingly simple tasks are there for a reason.

Makeshifts last the longest.

[sdyates]

Based on all your input, I have spent the last few hours readin up on find::file and believe it is the best way to go. However, i do have one remaining question.

First, herre is my code I have come up with:

use File::Find;

finddepth (\&RetrieveAll, "c:\\fpx");

sub RetrieveAll {
    push (@list,$_,"\n");
}

How do I get $_ to include the absolute path of the file? $_ lists the folder name, then all files within it... i'd rather have the absolute path.

Is this simple?

Please advise
Simon

[dorko]

Hmmm... Looks like Paco asked almost the same question. ;)

Cheers!

Brent

-- Yeah, I'm a Delt.