Is it possible to 'stat' a file and find its file type - regular or directory?
views:
51answers:
4
A:
CLISP has a function EXT:PROBE-DIRECTORY, which tells you whether a file exists and is a directory.
Note that this function is specific to CLISP and not standard common list.
sepp2k
2010-09-17 02:05:39
Am sorry but is GNU Common Lisp and GNU CLISP the same? I am using GNU Common Lisp (GCL 2.6.6 on Windows) but I could not find the said package "ext".
hyper_w
2010-09-17 02:12:26
@hyper: No, GCL and CLISP are two different implementations of the Common Lisp language. Since you tagged this `clisp` I assumed you were using the latter.
sepp2k
2010-09-17 02:17:38
Removed the clisp tag. Thanks!
hyper_w
2010-09-17 02:24:02
A:
I don't know if there's a portable built-in way to do it, but CL-FAD has a function DIRECTORY-EXISTS-P which might help.
Ken
2010-09-17 02:37:17
It doesn't look like this will work with GCL. At least GCL is not listed under "Supported Lisp implementations"
sepp2k
2010-09-17 02:46:46
I guess the good news is that, as GCL has not had a release in over half a decade, if you figure out how to do it there you probably won't have to worry about it changing on you any time soon!
Ken
2010-09-17 03:21:41
I checked the source code of CL-FAD - the said function only works for Allegro and LispWorks.
hyper_w
2010-09-17 03:50:11
hyper_w: The function only has *special cases* for Allegro and Lispworks. The library claims to support 11 different compilers, and I bet it probably works for more than that.
Ken
2010-09-17 17:09:33
+2
A:
Read the chapter about a portable pathname library from Peter Seibel's Practical Common Lisp book. It's available for free. It has a function file-exists-p that will return a pathname when the file exists or nil if it doesn't. The returned pathname will be in directory form if it's a directory. He also gives another function for checking if the pathname is indeed in directory form.
BTW the whole book is really worth reading so check it out if you haven't already.
jondro
2010-09-17 06:34:10
+1
A:
There are I think several ways. probe-file followed by checking the returned true name to determine that it has a directory name but not a filename and type should do it. e.g. for a directory
(pathname-name (probe-file filespec)) -> NIL
John
2010-09-17 06:55:41