Chapter 13

file.ss: Filesystem Utilities

See also section 11.3 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual.

(build-absolute-path base path ···)      PROCEDURE

Like build-path (see section 11.3 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual), but base is required to be an absolute pathname. If base is not an absolute pathname, error is called.

(build-relative-path base path ···)      PROCEDURE

Like build-path (see section 11.3 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual), but base is required to be a relative pathname. If base is not a relative pathname, error is called.

(call-with-input-file* pathname proc flag-symbol ···)      PROCEDURE

Like call-with-input-file, except that the opened port is closed if control escapes from the body of proc.

(call-with-output-file* pathname proc flag-symbol ···)      PROCEDURE

Like call-with-output-file, except that the opened port is closed if control escapes from the body of proc.

(copy-directory/files src-path dest-path)      PROCEDURE

Copies the file or directory src-path to dest-path, raising exn:i/o:filesystem if the file or directory cannot be copied, possibly because dest-path exists already. If src-path is a directory, the copy applies recursively to the directory's content. If a source is a link, the target of the link is copied rather than the link itself.

(delete-directory/files path)      PROCEDURE

Deletes the file or directory specified by path, raising exn:i/o:filesystem if the file or directory cannot be deleted. If path is a directory, then delete-directory/files is first applied to each file and directory in path before the directory is deleted. The return value is void.

(explode-path path)      PROCEDURE

Returns the list of directories that constitute path. The path argument must be normalized (except for letter case; see normalize-path below).

(file-name-from-path path)      PROCEDURE

If path is a file pathname, returns just the file name part without the directory path.

(filename-extension path)      PROCEDURE

Returns a string that is the extension part of the filename in path. If path is (syntactically) a directory, #f is returned.

(find-library name collection)      PROCEDURE

Returns the path of the specified library (see Chapter 16 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual), returning #f if the specified library or collection cannot be found. The collection argument is optional, defaulting to "mzlib".

(find-relative-path basepath path)      PROCEDURE

Finds a relative pathname with respect to basepath that names the same file or directory as path. Both basepath and path must be normalized (except for letter case; see normalize-path below). If path is not a proper subpath of basepath (i.e., a subpath that is strictly longer), path is returned.

(get-preference name [failure-thunk flush-cache? filename])      PROCEDURE

Extracts a preference value from the file designated by (find-system-path 'pref-file) (see section 11.3 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual), or by filename if it is provided and is not #f. In the former case, if the preference file doesn't exist, get-preferences attempts to read a plt-prefs.ss file in the defaults collection, instead. If neither file exists, the preference set is empty.

The preference file should contain a symbol-keyed association list (written to the file with the default parameter settings). Keys starting with mzscheme:, mred:, and plt: in any letter case are reserved for use by PLT.

The result of get-preference is the value associated with name if it exists in the association list, or the result of calling failure-thunk otherwise. The default failure-thunk returns #f.

Preference settings from the standard preference file are cached (weakly) across calls to get-preference; if flush-cache? is provided as #f, the cache is used instead of the re-consulting the preferences file.

See also put-preferences. The framework collection supports a more elaborate preference system; see PLT Framework: GUI Application Framework for details.

(make-directory* path)      PROCEDURE

Creates directory specified by path, creating intermediate directories as necessary.

(make-temporary-file [format-string copy-from-filename])      PROCEDURE

Creates a new temporary file and returns a pathname string for the file. Instead of merely generating a fresh file name, the file is actually created; this prevents other threads or processes from picking the same temporary name; if copy-from-filename is provided as string, the temporary file is created as a copy of the named file,. If copy-from-filename is #f or not provided, the temporary file is created as empty.

The temporary file is not opened for reading or writing when the pathname is returned. The client program calling make-temporary-file is expected to open the file with the desired access and flags (probably using the 'truncate flag; see section 11.1.2 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual) and to delete it when it is no longer needed.

If format-string is specified, it must be a format string suitable for use with format and one additional string argument (where the string contains only digits). If the resulting string is a relative path, it is combined with the result of (find-system-path 'temp-dir). The default format-string is "mztmp~a".

(normalize-path path wrt)      PROCEDURE

Returns a normalized, complete version of path, expanding the path and resolving all soft links. If path is relative, then the pathname wrt is used as the base path. The wrt argument is optional; if is omitted, then the current directory is used as the base path.

Letter case is not normalized by normalize-path, so combine normalize-path with normal-case-path to get strings for path comparison.

An error is signaled by normalize-path if the input path contains an embedded path for a non-existent directory, or if an infinite cycle of soft-links is detected.

(path-only path)      PROCEDURE

If path is a filename, the file's path is returned. If path is syntactically a directory, #f is returned.

(put-preferences name-list val-list [locked-proc filename])      PROCEDURE

See also get-preference.

Installs a set of preference values and writes all current values to the preference file designated by (find-system-path 'pref-file) (see section 11.3 in PLT MzScheme: Language Manual), or fielname if it is supplied and not #f. The name-list argument must be a list of symbols for the preference names, and val-list must have the same length as name-list.

Current preference values are read from the preference file before updating, and an update ``lock'' is held starting before the file read, and lasting until after the preferences file is updated. The lock is implemented by the existence of a file in the same directory as the preference file.

If the update lock is already held (i.e., the lock file exists), then locked-proc is called with a single argument: the path of the lock file. The default locked-proc reports an error; an alternative thunk might wait a while and try again, or give the user the choice to delete the lock file (in case a previous update attempt encountered disaster).

If filename is #f or not supplied, and the preference file does not already exist, then values read from the defaults collection (if any) are written for preferences that are not mentioned in name-list.