Nathan Wiger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > I say this as a Unix weenie, albeit a Unix *user* rather than a Unix
> > *programmer*. I'm quite used to navigating the Unix filesystem but,
> > having never braved Unix systems programming, had no conceptual link
> > between deleting/"rm"ing files, and the term "unlink". It tooks me
> > quite a bit of camel-petting to find the right function, when I first
> > needed it.
>
> >From a user level, it might seem odd ("Where's rm?"). However, there is
> one key distinction here: A Perl program runs file operations at a
> system level. It needs to be able to handle everything the system can.
>
> I am open to the possiblity of *adding* a remove() command if it had a
> different fundamental ability from unlink(). For example, one could make
> remove() remove *all* the links for a file, whereas unlink() only
> removes one.
It so happens that remove() is standard C (library) for removing a
file. It therefore makes sense to use *that* name, if any change is
made.
Regarding the existence of multiple links -- That is probably an
implementation detail of the platform on which the library is
running. Since all remove() does is break the association between the
name and the contents, links are a red herring.
[...]
--
Ariel Scolnicov |"GCAAGAATTGAACTGTAG" | [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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