> I'd even go so far as to say that the current -X syntax should be
> _extended_, to allow for multiple tests at once, maybe by way of a
> leading caret (mnemonic "all"):
>
> -^rwx; # $_ is readable, writable and executable
>
> ($size, $mod, $acc, $ichange) = -^sMAC;
In fact, you wouldn't even need a caret, since all file tests are a
single letter. Just like grouping s/// flags, we should make file tests
groupable as well:
if ( -drwx /usr/local and ! -h /usr/local ) {
# directory exists and has correct perms
}
> And, as the filetest operators currently rely solely on the unix-ish mode
> and uid/gid of the file, there should be a pragma that you can use to
> force the interpretation to be "true", i.e., modulo ACLs, readonly
> filesystems, etc., maybe
>
> use filetest true;
This is a good idea, I think.
The more I look at the RFC, the less enamoured I am with the original
suggestion, which came from Tom's perl6storm email. "Learn Perl" comes
to mind. As Bart notes, short is good, and -r makes just as much/little
sense as s/// for non shell-people. We shouldn't be trying to make Perl
into Pascal - beginner-friendly but shitty.
-Nate
