File::Spec->catpath does not work for Windows

Question

I am using the File::Spec module like this

my $volume = 'C';

my $path = File::Spec->catpath(
    $volume,
    File::Spec->catdir('panel', 'texts'),
    'file'
);

print $path;

output

Cpanel\texts\file

How is File::Spec a portable module, as discussed in How can I construct OS-independent file paths in Perl ...? if I have to write the volume as C:\ and not just C to get it right?

Couldn't `C` also refer to a machine on the network named `C`? e.g., `\\C\some\file` — mob, Aug 28 '15 at 17:55
Windows volume names are of the form `d:` or `\\sever\share` (which includes a lot of funky stuff like `\\.\C$`). — ikegami, Aug 28 '15 at 18:24

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 28 '15 at 18:22

You have 2 problems. The first is that Windows volume names include the colon, so you should have said $volume = 'C:'. The second is that you specified a relative path, so you got a relative path. If you want an absolute path, you have to give one:

use 5.010;
use File::Spec;

my $volume = 'C:';
my $path = File::Spec->catpath($volume,
    File::Spec->catdir('', 'panel', 'texts'), 'file');
say $path;

On Windows, that will print C:\panel\texts\file, and on Unix it will say /panel/texts/file.

Note that it's perfectly legitimate to have a relative path with a volume name on Windows:

File::Spec->catpath('C:',
    File::Spec->catdir('panel', 'texts'), 'file');

will give you C:panel/texts/file, which means panel/texts/file relative to the current directory on drive C:. (In Windows, each drive has its own current directory.)

File::Spec->catpath does not work for Windows

output

1 Answers1