Problem with File.exists? giving an incorrect result

I have a problem with a script I'm working on. File.exists? is telling me that a file does in fact exist, then immediately after when I try to do a File.read, it crashes because the file doesn't exist. I know that it does not exist, because I'm testing that condition. If the file doesn't exist, it should do something else.

<sigh> this is on Windows, so maybe the OS is to blame?
Here's the code, if it helps..

             $debug_log.fatal("does file exist? :: #{ibl}")
             if File.exist?(ibl)
               $debug_log.fatal("YES - it most certainlyt does!")
               iblLocation = ibl
             else
                 #find the file and set iblLocation
             end
             File.read(iblLocation) # << bombs here

The file referred to by ibl was recently renamed by this same script, so the file name in ibl is no longer valid. The script should then go looking for ibl's new name and use that... but it won't work <sob><sob>

Hope someone can enlighten me.
Thanks!

I assume you have permission to read the file?

···

On 22/07/2007, at 8:21 PM, Chris Dwan wrote:

I have a problem with a script I'm working on. File.exists? is telling me that a file does in fact exist, then immediately after when I try to do a File.read, it crashes because the file doesn't exist. I know that it does not exist, because I'm testing that condition. If the file doesn't exist, it should do something else.

<sigh> this is on Windows, so maybe the OS is to blame?
Here's the code, if it helps..

            $debug_log.fatal("does file exist? :: #{ibl}")
            if File.exist?(ibl)
              $debug_log.fatal("YES - it most certainlyt does!")
              iblLocation = ibl
            else
                #find the file and set iblLocation
            end
            File.read(iblLocation) # << bombs here

The file referred to by ibl was recently renamed by this same script, so the file name in ibl is no longer valid. The script should then go looking for ibl's new name and use that... but it won't work <sob><sob>

Hope someone can enlighten me.
Thanks!

You need to open the file first.
File.new OR File.open
check them with ri first, you may need to choose binary or text when setting the file mode because you're using windows

···

On Jul 22, 2007, at 5:21 AM, Chris Dwan wrote:

I have a problem with a script I'm working on. File.exists? is telling me that a file does in fact exist, then immediately after when I try to do a File.read, it crashes because the file doesn't exist. I know that it does not exist, because I'm testing that condition. If the file doesn't exist, it should do something else.

<sigh> this is on Windows, so maybe the OS is to blame?
Here's the code, if it helps..

            $debug_log.fatal("does file exist? :: #{ibl}")
            if File.exist?(ibl)
              $debug_log.fatal("YES - it most certainlyt does!")
              iblLocation = ibl
            else
                #find the file and set iblLocation
            end
            File.read(iblLocation) # << bombs here

The file referred to by ibl was recently renamed by this same script, so the file name in ibl is no longer valid. The script should then go looking for ibl's new name and use that... but it won't work <sob><sob>

Hope someone can enlighten me.
Thanks!

What does the rename code look like? I've seen lots of weirdness on
Windows because file operations that you might think are atomic,
aren't.

-A

···

On 7/22/07, Chris Dwan <radixhound@gmail.com> wrote:

I have a problem with a script I'm working on. File.exists? is
telling me that a file does in fact exist, then immediately after
when I try to do a File.read, it crashes because the file doesn't
exist. I know that it does not exist, because I'm testing that
condition. If the file doesn't exist, it should do something else.

<sigh> this is on Windows, so maybe the OS is to blame?
Here's the code, if it helps..

             $debug_log.fatal("does file exist? :: #{ibl}")
             if File.exist?(ibl)
               $debug_log.fatal("YES - it most certainlyt does!")
               iblLocation = ibl
             else
                 #find the file and set iblLocation
             end
             File.read(iblLocation) # << bombs here

The file referred to by ibl was recently renamed by this same script,
so the file name in ibl is no longer valid. The script should then go
looking for ibl's new name and use that... but it won't work <sob><sob>

Hope someone can enlighten me.
Thanks!

Hi,

At Sun, 22 Jul 2007 19:21:19 +0900,
Chris Dwan wrote in [ruby-talk:261241]:

<sigh> this is on Windows, so maybe the OS is to blame?
Here's the code, if it helps..

             $debug_log.fatal("does file exist? :: #{ibl}")
             if File.exist?(ibl)
               $debug_log.fatal("YES - it most certainlyt does!")
               iblLocation = ibl
             else
                 #find the file and set iblLocation
             end
             File.read(iblLocation) # << bombs here

What are the actual exception you get, and the version? And
$debug_log shows "YES - ..."?

···

--
Nobu Nakada