Re: Deleting old files from directory

[TomDLux]

Does that even work? "perldoc -f -X" gives the example:

while (<>) {
   chomp;
   next unless -f $_;      # ignore specials
                           #...
}

From which I gather the filetests don't take a default "$_". But once you've tested "-f $_", you can re-use the data structure from that query for the -M test by specifying a single underscore: "-M _". Personally I would do it as in the example, with a while, rather than loading all the filenames ... potentially a large number. I would also use a variable rather than "$_", because when you nest loops or call routines, the value of $_ might be altered.

[jwkrahn]

From which I gather the filetests don't take a default "$_".

Well if you read "perldoc -f -X" you'll see it says:

    -X FILEHANDLE
    -X EXPR
    -X DIRHANDLE
    -X      A file test, where X is one of the letters listed below.  This unary
            operator takes one argument, either a filename, a filehandle, or a
            dirhandle, and tests the associated file to see if something is true
            about it.  If the argument is omitted, tests $_, except for "-t", which
            tests STDIN.  Unless otherwise documented, it returns 1 for true
            and '' for false, or the undefined value if the file doesn't exist.  Despite
            the funny names, precedence is the same as any other named unary operator.

[Anonymous Monk]

Um, grep always works with $_, and OP already has named variable $delfiles