From dshivak@metabolex.com

Summary​: glob returns initial argument string, only if no wildcards are
present in the glob argument. It happens in both scalar and list return
context.

TEST CODE​:
use Data​::Dumper; use strict;

my $noWildcard = "this_file_does_not_exist";
my $withWildcard = "file_does_not_exist_with_wildcard*";

globtest($noWildcard);
globtest($withWildcard);

sub globtest
{
my $filename = shift;
die if (-f $filename);
print "Testing glob using string '$filename'\n";
my @​array = glob($filename);
my $scalarvar = glob($filename);
print Dumper(\@​array);
print Dumper(\$scalarvar);
}

OUTPUT​:
Testing glob using string 'this_file_does_not_exist'
$VAR1 = [
  'this_file_does_not_exist'
  ];
$VAR1 = \'this_file_does_not_exist';
Testing glob using string 'file_does_not_exist_with_wildcard*'
$VAR1 = [];
$VAR1 = \undef;

PERL VERSION​:
Summary of my perl5 (revision 5.0 version 8 subversion 0) configuration​:
  Platform​:
  osname=solaris, osvers=2.8, archname=sun4-solaris
  uname='-----------'
  config_args=''
  hint=recommended, useposix=true, d_sigaction=define
  usethreads=undef use5005threads=undef useithreads=undef
usemultiplicity=undef
  useperlio=define d_sfio=undef uselargefiles=define usesocks=undef
  use64bitint=undef use64bitall=undef uselongdouble=undef
  usemymalloc=n, bincompat5005=undef
  Compiler​:
  cc='gcc', ccflags ='-fno-strict-aliasing -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64',
  optimize='-O',
  cppflags='-fno-strict-aliasing'
  ccversion='', gccversion='3.2', gccosandvers='solaris2.8'
  intsize=4, longsize=4, ptrsize=4, doublesize=8, byteorder=4321
  d_longlong=define, longlongsize=8, d_longdbl=define, longdblsize=16
  ivtype='long', ivsize=4, nvtype='double', nvsize=8, Off_t='off_t',
lseeksize=8
  alignbytes=8, prototype=define
  Linker and Libraries​:
  ld='gcc', ldflags =' -L/usr/local/lib '
  libpth=/usr/local/lib /usr/lib /usr/ccs/lib
  libs=-lsocket -lnsl -lgdbm -ldb -ldl -lm -lc
  perllibs=-lsocket -lnsl -ldl -lm -lc
  libc=/lib/libc.so, so=so, useshrplib=false, libperl=libperl.a
  gnulibc_version=''
  Dynamic Linking​:
  dlsrc=dl_dlopen.xs, dlext=so, d_dlsymun=undef, ccdlflags=' '
  cccdlflags='-fPIC', lddlflags='-G -L/usr/local/lib'

Characteristics of this binary (from libperl)​:
  Compile-time options​: USE_LARGE_FILES
  Built under solaris
  Compiled at Dec 11 2002 14​:42​:03
  @​INC​:
  /share/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.0/sun4-solaris
  /share/usr/local/lib/perl5/5.8.0
  /share/usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0/sun4-solaris
  /share/usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.0
  /share/usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.0
  /share/usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl

From @hvds

"David Shivak" (via RT) <perlbug-followup@​perl.org> wrote​:
:Summary​: glob returns initial argument string, only if no wildcards are
:present in the glob argument. It happens in both scalar and list return
:context.

I think the problem here is one of documentation​: `perldoc -f glob`
refers one to File​::Glob which says that​:
  Since v5.6.0, Perl's CORE​::glob() is implemented in terms of bsd_glob().
.. but doesn't how it calls it. In fact, it calls the (undocumented)
File​::Glob​::csh_glob() instead, which does the extra argument parsing
described before calling the same internal routine as bsd_glob().

You are probably best off calling File​::Glob​::bsd_glob() directly,
with the particular set of flags appropriate to your needs.

An alternative is to load File​::Glob and set $File​::Glob​::DEFAULT_FLAGS
(also undocumented, I'm afraid) to your preferred set of GLOB_* flags,
and then use glob() in the usual way.

As far as I can see, the results you are seeing are as expected for
the default settings (GLOB_CSH along with GLOB_NOCASE on certain
systems, for historical reasons of csh compatibility).

Volunteers to improve the documentation are always welcome. :)

Hugo

From dshivak@metabolex.com

An alternative is to load File​::Glob and set
$File​::Glob​::DEFAULT_FLAGS
(also undocumented, I'm afraid) to your preferred set of GLOB_* flags,
and then use glob() in the usual way.

As far as I can see, the results you are seeing are as expected for
the default settings (GLOB_CSH along with GLOB_NOCASE on certain
systems, for historical reasons of csh compatibility).

Volunteers to improve the documentation are always welcome. :)

Hugo

Thanks for the informative and comprehensive reply! I'll take a look at
the documentation contribution process; if you have a direct hyperlink
to the cvs that would be appreciated. I agree, documentation is the
best place to address the expected but non-obvious output ;).

Dave Shivak

p5p@spam.wizbit.be - Status changed from 'open' to 'resolved'