Checking File Attributes in Perl

I have been using perl for quite some time now. I have also been using the file handling logic in my scripts. However, what I did not know till now is that you can quickly check for certain file properties in perl. Here is an example:

#!/usr/bin/perl
my (@description,$size);
if (-e $file)
{
push @description, ‘binary’ if (-B _);
push @description, ‘a socket’ if (-S _);
push @description, ‘a text file’ if (-T _);
push @description, ‘a block special file’ if (-b _);
push @description, ‘a character special file’ if (-c _);
push @description, ‘a directory’ if (-d _);
push @description, ‘executable’ if (-x _);
push @description, (($size = -s _)) ? “$size bytes” : ‘empty’;
print “$file is “, join(‘, ‘,@description),”\n”;
}

Nice, isn’t it?

Here is the complete list of features that you can check:

Operator	Description
-A	Age of file (at script startup) in days since modification.
-B	Is it a binary file?
-C	Age of file (at script startup) in days since modification.
-M	Age of file (at script startup) in days since modification.
-O	Is the file owned by the real user ID?
-R	Is the file readable by the real user ID or real group?
-S	Is the file a socket?
-T	Is it a text file?
-W	Is the file writable by the real user ID or real group?
-X	Is the file executable by the real user ID or real group?
-b	Is it a block special file?
-c	Is it a character special file?
-d	Is the file a directory?
-e	Does the file exist?
-f	Is it a plain file?
-g	Does the file have the setgid bit set?
-k	Does the file have the sticky bit set?
-l	Is the file a symbolic link?
-o	Is the file owned by the effective user ID?
-p	Is the file a named pipe?
-r	Is the file readable by the effective user or group ID?
-s	Returns the size of the file, zero size = empty file.
-t	Is the filehandle opened by a TTY (terminal)?
-u	Does the file have the setuid bit set?
-w	Is the file writable by the effective user or group ID?
-x	Is the file executable by the effective user or group ID?
-z	Is the file size zero?