Ubuntu Manpage: readdir - directory input parser for gawk

NAME

       readdir - directory input parser for gawk

SYNOPSIS

       @load "readdir"

       BEGIN { PROCINFO["readdir_override"] = any_value }  # optional

DESCRIPTION

The readdir extension adds an input parser for directories.

When this extension is in use, instead of skipping directories named on the command line (or with
getline), they are read, with each entry returned as a record.

The record consists of three fields separated by forward slash characters. The first two are the inode
number and the filename, and the third field is a single letter indicating the type of the file: f for
file, d for directory, b for a block device, c for a character device, p for a FIFO, l for a symbolic
link, or s for a socket.

On systems where the directory entry contains the file type, the third field is filled in from that
information. On systems without the file type information, the extension falls back to calling stat(2),
in order to provide the information. Thus the third field should never be u (unknown).

Normally, when reading directories, you should set FS equal to "/". However, you may instead chose to
create PROCINFO["readdir_override"] (with any value). If this element exists when the directory is
opened, then the extension automatically sets the fields in each record for you.

By default, if a directory cannot be opened (due to permission problems, for example), gawk will exit.
As with regular files, this situation can be handled using a BEGINFILE rule that checks ERRNO and prints
an error or otherwise handles the problem.

EXAMPLE

       @load "readdir"
       ...
       BEGIN { FS = "/" }
       { print "file name is", $2 }

AUTHOR

       Arnold Robbins, arnold@skeeve.com.

COPYING PERMISSIONS