Getting a list of the files in a directory

ruby-talk
1

Hi, I’m just starting out with ruby and I’m writing a script to rename
a bunch of files in a directory to a way I want them to be (just to
get more familiar). I’ve looked at the documentation for the file
class (http://www.rubycentral.com/book/ref_c_file.html), but I can’t
seem to find the method I’d use to get all the names of files in a
directory. How can I do this?

Sorry about the ultra simplitic question.

2

The good thing about these questions is that they are somewhat easier
to answer. There are several ways to do what you want, but they are all
basically the same:

dir_contents = Dir.entries(Dir.pwd)

The above works if your shell is in the directory of interest to you.
You can substitute a string literal for Dir.pwd

dir_contents = Dir.entries(“/absolute/path/to/directory”)

This includes any directories (and the ‘.’ and ‘…’ directories)

You can use the File.file? class method to check the entries:

require ‘ftools’

files = Array.new
Dir.new(Dir.pwd).entries.each { |n| files.push(n) if File.file?(n) }

Regards,

Mark

···

On Wednesday, October 1, 2003, at 11:24 PM, Revision17 wrote:

Hi, I’m just starting out with ruby and I’m writing a script to rename
a bunch of files in a directory to a way I want them to be (just to
get more familiar). I’ve looked at the documentation for the file
class (http://www.rubycentral.com/book/ref_c_file.html), but I can’t
seem to find the method I’d use to get all the names of files in a
directory. How can I do this?

Sorry about the ultra simplitic question.

3

Hi, I’m just starting out with ruby and I’m writing a script to rename
a bunch of files in a directory to a way I want them to be (just to
get more familiar). I’ve looked at the documentation for the file
class (http://www.rubycentral.com/book/ref_c_file.html), but I can’t
seem to find the method I’d use to get all the names of files in a
directory. How can I do this?

It’s in the Dir class, not the File class, which is why you didn’t
see it. :slight_smile:

The easiest way is probably to use foreach and do your renaming in
the block you pass to it:

Dir.foreach(pathname) do
>f>
# do whatever you want with f, which is a filename within the
# given directory (not fully-qualified)
end

···

On Wed, Oct 01, 2003 at 08:01:21PM -0700, Revision17 wrote:

4

The easy way is to use the glogging feature of Dir#.
For example

files = Dir[“*”]

To upcase all files in a directory, do:

Dir[“*”].each { |file| mv #{file} #{file.upcase} }

for unix. It’s similar for windows, but I don’t have
a windows box to test it.

···

On Thursday, 2 October 2003 at 12:24:25 +0900, Revision17 wrote:

Hi, I’m just starting out with ruby and I’m writing a script to rename
a bunch of files in a directory to a way I want them to be (just to
get more familiar). I’ve looked at the documentation for the file
class (http://www.rubycentral.com/book/ref_c_file.html), but I can’t
seem to find the method I’d use to get all the names of files in a
directory. How can I do this?

–
Jim Freeze

Hofstadter’s Law:
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take
Hofstadter’s Law into account.

5

“Jim Freeze” jim@freeze.org schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:20031002062017.A50661@freeze.org…

···

On Thursday, 2 October 2003 at 12:24:25 +0900, Revision17 wrote:

Hi, I’m just starting out with ruby and I’m writing a script to rename
a bunch of files in a directory to a way I want them to be (just to
get more familiar). I’ve looked at the documentation for the file
class (http://www.rubycentral.com/book/ref_c_file.html), but I can’t
seem to find the method I’d use to get all the names of files in a
directory. How can I do this?

The easy way is to use the glogging feature of Dir#.
For example

files = Dir[“*”]

To upcase all files in a directory, do:

Dir[“*”].each { |file| mv #{file} #{file.upcase} }

for unix. It’s similar for windows, but I don’t have
a windows box to test it.

Why not

Dir[“*”].each { |file| File.rename( file, file.upcase ) }

?

robert
6

That works to. :slight_smile:

···

On Thursday, 2 October 2003 at 20:25:44 +0900, Robert Klemme wrote:

“Jim Freeze” jim@freeze.org schrieb im Newsbeitrag

The easy way is to use the glogging feature of Dir#.
For example

files = Dir[“*”]

To upcase all files in a directory, do:

Dir[“*”].each { |file| mv #{file} #{file.upcase} }

for unix. It’s similar for windows, but I don’t have
a windows box to test it.

Why not

Dir[“*”].each { |file| File.rename( file, file.upcase ) }

–
Jim Freeze

Every little picofarad has a nanohenry all its own.
– Don Vonada

7

“Jim Freeze” jim@freeze.org schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:20031002095840.A51014@freeze.org…

···

On Thursday, 2 October 2003 at 20:25:44 +0900, Robert Klemme wrote:

“Jim Freeze” jim@freeze.org schrieb im Newsbeitrag

The easy way is to use the glogging feature of Dir#.
For example

files = Dir[“*”]

To upcase all files in a directory, do:

Dir[“*”].each { |file| mv #{file} #{file.upcase} }

for unix. It’s similar for windows, but I don’t have
a windows box to test it.

Why not

Dir[“*”].each { |file| File.rename( file, file.upcase ) }

That works to. :slight_smile:

:-)))

… and it’s portable!

robert