NAME
       file - Manipulate file names and attributes

SYNOPSIS
       file option name ?arg arg ...?


DESCRIPTION
       This   command   provides  several  operations  on  a  file's  name  or
       attributes.  Name is the name of a file; if it  starts  with  a  tilde,
       then  tilde  substitution is done before executing the command (see the
       manual entry for filename for details).  Option indicates  what  to  do
       with  the file name.  Any unique abbreviation for option is acceptable.
       The valid options are:

       file atime name ?time?
              Returns a decimal string giving the time at which file name  was
              last  accessed.   If  time is specified, it is an access time to
              set for the file.  The time is measured in  the  standard  POSIX
              fashion  as seconds from a fixed starting time (often January 1,
              1970).  If the file doesn't exist or its access time  cannot  be
              queried or set then an error is generated.  On Windows, FAT file
              systems do not support access time.

       file attributes name

       file attributes name ?option?

       file attributes name ?option value option value...?
              This subcommand returns or sets platform specific values associ-
              ated  with a file. The first form returns a list of the platform
              specific flags and their values. The  second  form  returns  the
              value  for  the specific option. The third form sets one or more
              of the values. The values are as follows:

              On Unix, -group gets or sets the group  name  for  the  file.  A
              group  id  can  be  given to the command, but it returns a group
              name. -owner gets or sets the user name  of  the  owner  of  the
              file.  The  command returns the owner name, but the numerical id
              can be passed when  setting  the  owner.  -permissions  sets  or
              retrieves  the octal code that chmod(1) uses.  This command does
              also  has  limited  support  for  setting  using  the   symbolic
              attributes for chmod(1), of the form [ugo]?[[+-=][rwxst],[...]],
              where multiple symbolic attributes can be  separated  by  commas
              (example:  u+s,go-rw  add  sticky  bit for user, remove read and
              write permissions for group and other).  A simplified  ls  style
              string,  of  the  form rwxrwxrwx (must be 9 characters), is also
              supported (example: rwxr-xr-t is equivalent to 01755).

              On Windows, -archive gives the value or sets or clears  the  ar-
              chive  attribute of the file. -hidden gives the value or sets or
              clears the hidden attribute of the file. -longname  will  expand
              each  path element to its long version. This attribute cannot be
              set. -readonly gives the value or sets or  clears  the  readonly
              attribute  of  the  file.  -shortname gives a string where every
              path element is replaced with its short  (8.3)  version  of  the
              name.  This  attribute  cannot  be set. -system gives or sets or
              clears the value of the system attribute of the file.

              On Macintosh, -creator gives or sets the Finder creator type  of
              the  file.  -hidden gives or sets or clears the hidden attribute
              of the file. -readonly gives or  sets  or  clears  the  readonly
              attribute  of the file. Note that directories can only be locked
              if File Sharing is turned on. -type gives  or  sets  the  Finder
              file type for the file.

       file channels ?pattern?
              If  pattern isn't specified, returns a list of names of all reg-
              istered open channels in this interpreter.  If pattern is speci-
              fied,  only those names matching pattern are returned.  Matching
              is determined using the same rules as for string match.

       file copy ?-force? ?--? source target

       file copy ?-force? ?--? source ?source ...? targetDir
              The first form makes a copy of  the  file  or  directory  source
              under  the  pathname target. If target is an existing directory,
              then the second form is used.  The  second  form  makes  a  copy
              inside  targetDir of each source file listed.  If a directory is
              specified as a source, then the contents of the  directory  will
              be recursively copied into targetDir. Existing files will not be
              overwritten unless the -force option is specified.  When copying
              within a single filesystem, file copy will copy soft links (i.e.
              the links themselves are copied, not the things they point  to).
              Trying to overwrite a non-empty directory, overwrite a directory
              with a file, or overwrite a  file  with  a  directory  will  all
              result  in  errors  even if -force was specified.  Arguments are
              processed in the order specified, halting at the first error, if
              any.  A -- marks the end of switches; the argument following the
              -- will be treated as a source even if it starts with a -.

       file delete ?-force? ?--? pathname ?pathname ... ?
              Removes the file or directory specified by each  pathname  argu-
              ment.   Non-empty directories will be removed only if the -force
              option is specified.  When  operating  on  symbolic  links,  the
              links themselves will be deleted, not the objects they point to.
              Trying to delete a non-existent file is not considered an error.
              Trying  to  delete  a  read-only  file will cause the file to be
              deleted, even if the -force flags  is  not  specified.   If  the
              -force option is specified on a directory, Tcl will attempt both
              to change permissions and move the current directory  'pwd'  out
              of  the given path if that is necessary to allow the deletion to
              proceed.  Arguments are processed in the order specified,  halt-
              ing at the first error, if any.  A -- marks the end of switches;
              the argument following the -- will be treated as a pathname even
              if it starts with a -.

       file dirname name
              Returns  a  name comprised of all of the path components in name
              excluding the last element.  If name is a relative file name and
              only  contains one path element, then returns ``.'' (or ``:'' on
              the Macintosh).  If name refers to a root  directory,  then  the
              root directory is returned.  For example,
                     file dirname c:/
              returns c:/.

              Note  that  tilde  substitution  will only be performed if it is
              necessary to complete the command. For example,
                     file dirname ~/src/foo.c
              returns ~/src, whereas
                     file dirname ~
              returns /home (or something similar).

       file executable name
              Returns 1 if file name is executable by the current user, 0 oth-
              erwise.

       file exists name
              Returns  1  if  file name exists and the current user has search
              privileges for the directories leading to it, 0 otherwise.

       file extension name
              Returns all of the characters in name after  and  including  the
              last dot in the last element of name.  If there is no dot in the
              last element of name then returns the empty string.

       file isdirectory name
              Returns 1 if file name is a directory, 0 otherwise.

       file isfile name
              Returns 1 if file name is a regular file, 0 otherwise.

       file join name ?name ...?
              Takes one or more file names and combines them, using  the  cor-
              rect  path  separator for the current platform.  If a particular
              name is relative, then it will be joined to  the  previous  file
              name  argument.   Otherwise,  any earlier arguments will be dis-
              carded, and joining will proceed from the current argument.  For
              example,
                     file join a b /foo bar
              returns /foo/bar.

              Note  that any of the names can contain separators, and that the
              result is always canonical for the current platform: / for  Unix
              and Windows, and : for Macintosh.

       file link ?-linktype? linkName ?target?
              If  only  one  argument is given, that argument is assumed to be
              linkName, and this command returns the value of the  link  given
              by  linkName  (i.e.  the  name  of  the  file it points to).  If
              linkName isn't a link or its value cannot be read (as, for exam-
              ple,  seems to be the case with hard links, which look just like
              ordinary files), then an error is returned.  If 2 arguments  are
              given,  then  these  are  assumed  to be linkName and target. If
              linkName already exists, or if target doesn't  exist,  an  error
              will  be  returned.   Otherwise,  Tcl  creates a new link called
              linkName which points to the existing filesystem object at  tar-
              get,  where the type of the link is platform-specific (on Unix a
              symbolic link will be the default).  This is useful for the case
              where  the user wishes to create a link in a cross-platform way,
              and doesn't care what type of link  is  created.   If  the  user
              wishes  to  make  a link of a specific type only, (and signal an
              error if for  some  reason  that  is  not  possible),  then  the
              optional  -linktype  argument  should be given.  Accepted values
              for -linktype are "-symbolic" and "-hard".  When creating  links
              on  filesystems  that either do not support any links, or do not
              support the specific type requested, an error  message  will  be
              returned.   In  particular  Windows 95, 98 and ME do not support
              any links at present, but most Unix platforms support both  sym-
              bolic and hard links (the latter for files only), MacOS supports
              symbolic links and Windows NT/2000/XP (on NTFS  drives)  support
              symbolic directory links and hard file links.

       file lstat name varName
              Same  as  stat  option  (see below) except uses the lstat kernel
              call instead of stat.  This means that if name refers to a  sym-
              bolic  link  the information returned in varName is for the link
              rather than the file it refers to.  On systems that  don't  sup-
              port  symbolic links this option behaves exactly the same as the
              stat option.

       file mkdir dir ?dir ...?
              Creates each directory specified.  For each pathname dir  speci-
              fied,  this command will create all non-existing parent directo-
              ries as well as dir itself.  If an existing directory is  speci-
              fied,  then no action is taken and no error is returned.  Trying
              to overwrite an existing file with a directory will result in an
              error.   Arguments are processed in the order specified, halting
              at the first error, if any.

       file mtime name ?time?
              Returns a decimal string giving the time at which file name  was
              last  modified.  If time is specified, it is a modification time
              to set for the file (equivalent to Unix  touch).   The  time  is
              measured  in  the standard POSIX fashion as seconds from a fixed
              starting time (often January 1,  1970).   If  the  file  doesn't
              exist  or  its  modified  time  cannot be queried or set then an
              error is generated.

       file nativename name
              Returns the platform-specific name of the file. This  is  useful
              if  the  filename is needed to pass to a platform-specific call,
              such as exec under Windows or AppleScript on the Macintosh.

       file normalize name
              Returns a unique normalized path representation  for  the  file-
              system  object  (file, directory, link, etc), whose string value
              can be used as a unique identifier for it.  A normalized path is
              an  absolute path which has all '../', './' removed.  Also it is
              one which is in the ``standard'' format for the native platform.
              On  MacOS,  Unix, this means the segments leading up to the path
              must be free of symbolic links/aliases (but the very  last  path
              component  may be a symbolic link), and on Windows it also means
              we want the long form with that  form's  case-dependence  (which
              gives us a unique, case-dependent path).  The one exception con-
              cerning the last link in the path is necessary, because  Tcl  or
              the  user may wish to operate on the actual symbolic link itself
              (for example 'file  delete',  'file  rename',  'file  copy'  are
              defined  to  operate  on  symbolic links, not on the things that
              they point to).

       file owned name
              Returns 1 if file name is owned by the current  user,  0  other-
              wise.

       file pathtype name
              Returns  one  of  absolute,  relative,  volumerelative.  If name
              refers to a specific file on a specific volume,  the  path  type
              will be absolute.  If name refers to a file relative to the cur-
              rent working directory, then the path type will be relative.  If
              name  refers to a file relative to the current working directory
              on a specified volume, or to a  specific  file  on  the  current
              working volume, then the file type is volumerelative.

       file readable name
              Returns 1 if file name is readable by the current user, 0 other-
              wise.

       file readlink name
              Returns the value of the symbolic link given by name  (i.e.  the
              name  of  the file it points to).  If name isn't a symbolic link
              or its value cannot be read, then an error is returned.  On sys-
              tems that don't support symbolic links this option is undefined.

       file rename ?-force? ?--? source target

       file rename ?-force? ?--? source ?source ...? targetDir
              The first form takes the file or directory specified by pathname
              source and renames it to target, moving the file if the pathname
              target specifies a name in a different directory.  If target  is
              an existing directory, then the second form is used.  The second
              form moves each source file or directory into the directory tar-
              getDir. Existing files will not be overwritten unless the -force
              option is specified.  When operating inside a single filesystem,
              Tcl  will rename symbolic links rather than the things that they
              point to.  Trying to overwrite a non-empty directory,  overwrite
              a  directory  with  a  file, or a file with a directory will all
              result in errors.  Arguments are processed in the  order  speci-
              fied, halting at the first error, if any.  A -- marks the end of
              switches; the argument following the -- will  be  treated  as  a
              source even if it starts with a -.

       file rootname name
              Returns  all  of  the characters in name up to but not including
              the last ``.'' character in the last component of name.  If  the
              last component of name doesn't contain a dot, then returns name.

       file separator ?name?
              If no argument is given, returns the character which is used  to
              separate  path segments for native files on this platform.  If a
              path is given, the filesystem responsible for that path is asked
              to  return  its  separator character.  If no file system accepts
              name, an error is generated.

       file size name
              Returns a decimal string giving the size of file name in  bytes.
              If  the file doesn't exist or its size cannot be queried then an
              error is generated.

       file split name
              Returns a list whose elements are the path components  in  name.
              The  first  element  of the list will have the same path type as
              name.  All other elements will  be  relative.   Path  separators
              will  be discarded unless they are needed ensure that an element
              is unambiguously relative.  For example, under Unix
                     file split /foo/~bar/baz
              returns /  foo  ./~bar  baz to ensure that later  commands  that
              use  the third component do not attempt to perform tilde substi-
              tution.

       file stat  name varName
              Invokes the stat kernel call on  name,  and  uses  the  variable
              given  by  varName  to hold information returned from the kernel
              call.  VarName is treated as an array variable, and the  follow-
              ing  elements  of that variable are set: atime, ctime, dev, gid,
              ino, mode, mtime, nlink, size, type, uid.  Each  element  except
              type  is  a  decimal  string with the value of the corresponding
              field from the stat return structure; see the manual  entry  for
              stat  for  details on the meanings of the values.  The type ele-
              ment gives the type of the file in the same form returned by the
              command file type.  This command returns an empty string.

       file system name
              Returns  a  list of two elements, the first of which is the name
              of the filesystem to use for the file, and the second  an  arbi-
              trary string representing the filesystem-specific nature or type
              of the location within that filesystem.  If  a  filesystem  only
              supports  one type of file, the second element may be null.  For
              example the native files have a first element  'native',  and  a
              second  element  which  is a platform-specific type name for the
              file's system (e.g. 'NTFS', 'FAT', etc), or possibly  the  empty
              string  if no further information is available or if this is not
              implemented.  A generic virtual file  system  might  return  the
              list  'vfs ftp' to represent a file on a remote ftp site mounted
              as a virtual filesystem through an extension called  'vfs'.   If
              the  file  does not belong to any filesystem, an error is gener-
              ated.

       file tail name
              Returns all of the characters in name after the  last  directory
              separator.  If name contains no separators then returns name.

       file type name
              Returns a string giving the type of file name, which will be one
              of file, directory, characterSpecial, blockSpecial, fifo,  link,
              or socket.

       file volumes
              Returns the absolute paths to the volumes mounted on the system,
              as a proper Tcl list.  On the Macintosh, this will be a list  of
              the  mounted drives, both local and network.  N.B. if two drives
              have the same name, they will both appear on  the  volume  list,
              but  there  is currently no way, from Tcl, to access any but the
              first of these drives.  On UNIX, the command will always  return
              "/",  since all filesystems are locally mounted.  On Windows, it
              will return a list of the  available  local  drives  (e.g.  {a:/
              c:/}).

       file writable name
              Returns 1 if file name is writable by the current user, 0 other-
              wise.

PORTABILITY ISSUES
       Unix
              These commands always operate using  the  real  user  and  group
              identifiers, not the effective ones.

EXAMPLES
       This  procedure  shows  how  to search for C files in a given directory
       that have a correspondingly-named object file in the current directory:
              proc findMatchingCFiles {dir} {
                 set files {}
                 switch $::tcl_platform(platform) {
                    windows {
                       set ext .obj
                    }
                    unix {
                       set ext .o
                    }
                 }
                 foreach file [glob -nocomplain -directory $dir *.c] {
                    set objectFile [file tail [file rootname $file]]$ext
                    if {[file exists $objectFile]} {
                       lappend files $file
                    }
                 }
                 return $files
              }

       Rename  a file and leave a symbolic link pointing from the old location
       to the new place:
              set oldName foobar.txt
              set newName foo/bar.txt
              # Make sure that where we're going to move to exists...
              if {![file isdirectory [file dirname $newName]]} {
                 file mkdir [file dirname $newName]
              }
              file rename $oldName $newName
              file link -symbolic $oldName $newName


SEE ALSO
       filename(n), open(n),  close(n),  eof(n),  gets(n),  tell(n),  seek(n),
       fblocked(n), flush(n)


KEYWORDS
       attributes,  copy  files,  delete  files,  directory, file, move files,
