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Mac Forum / Programming / Perl / July 2004Incorrect Path or format?
I am just learning to use Perl on OS 10.3. I am not an experienced Unix programmer, so I am probably doing something very basically wrong. My first "Hello World" script is not executing. I created a Plain Text script using TextEdit and saved it in my Documents folder with the name "simple_print". In Terminal, I give a pwd command and get back the reply: /Users/username When I type: perl /Documents/simple_print, I get the diagnostic Can't open perl script "/Documents/simple_print": No such file or directory That seems to mean I am making some kind of mistake with the path name. The first line in the program is: #! /usr/bin/perl What is wrong? Nick Hi Nick, You are trying to run a file from the Document folder on your hard disk, not your home directory... You need to do it like this perl ~/Documents/simple_print Or perl /Users/username/Documents/simple_print But I suspect you will also need to make the file executable first, with this command chmod a+x ~/Documents/simple_print Cheers adam > I am just learning to use Perl on OS 10.3. I am not an experienced > Unix programmer, so I am probably doing something very basically [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Nick  SignatureThis message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. To clarify what Adam is saying (I didn't understand his answer at first.) Yes, you are in the correct place (your home directory) but when you typed /Documents/simple_print that is a full-path. To execute using a relative path from within your user's directory (which pwd showed you that youy were) you could use either: Documents/simple_print -or- ./Documents/simple_print Notice that neither is prepended with a slash which indicates full path. Adams answer of using the ~ expansion works just as well. -Andrew > Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 14:21:37 +0100 > From: Adam Witney <awitney@sghms.ac.uk> [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. >I am just learning to use Perl on OS 10.3. I am not an experienced Unix >programmer, so I am probably doing something very basically wrong. You'll get there. >My first "Hello World" script is not executing. I created a Plain Text >script using TextEdit and saved it in my Documents folder with the name >"simple_print". > >In Terminal, I give a pwd command and get back the reply: /Users/username This is telling you that the full path to your Documents folder is actually /Users/username/Documents. >When I type: perl /Documents/simple_print, I get the diagnostic >Can't open perl script "/Documents/simple_print": No such file or directory Unix paths are constructed starting from a root directory. The name of that root directory is "/". If you want to use a relative path, that is one that does not start from "/", you need to indicate that you are building a relative path. This is done with one of a few different characters - either ".", or "~" usually. "~" means "Relative to my home directory", and "." means "relative to the current directory. So you could cd to /, and then "perl ~/Documents/simple_print", and that would be the same as "perl /Users/username/Documents/simple_print". Or you could cd (or not, since you're starting there) to /Users/username, and say "perl ./Documents/simple_print". (notice the period before the first slash), and that would also be equivalent to "perl /Users/username/Documents/simple_print". But if you were cded to somewhere else like '/etc/mail', then "perl ./Documents/simple_print" would be equivalent to "perl /etc/mail/Documents/simple_print" where "perl ~/Documents/simple_print" will always be equivalent to "perl /Users/username/Documents/simple_print". -jeff lowrey who probably is not the first or only person to answer this, and his message will likely show up late >When I type: perl /Documents/simple_print, I get the diagnostic >Can't open perl script "/Documents/simple_print": No such file or directory Your documents folder is probably in your home directory rather than on the root. perl $HOME/Documents/simple_print or cd $HOME/Documents perl simple_print The OS neXt GUI confuses the concept when it offers the option of saving to "Documents". SignatureApplescript syntax is like English spelling: Roughly, but not thoroughly, thought through. Thanks for the responses - so many and so quickly. I'm sure I'll be back with more. I am working my way up to writing a program that will read and store temperature information from some external sensors. Nick >I am just learning to use Perl on OS 10.3. I am not an experienced >Unix programmer, so I am probably doing something very basically [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > >Nick > Thanks for the responses - so many and so quickly. The easy questions tend to get more responses :-) > I'm sure I'll be back with more. I am working my way up to writing a > program that will read and store temperature information from some > external sensors. Unless what you're doing is OSX specific -- which would be cool, as the project sounds interesting, but my guess is that it's more generic than that -- then the Perl Beginners list might be the right place for this. Basic information on the list is available at <http://learn.perl.org/>; there's a subscription box on the top-right side of the page. There's also a FAQ for the list at <http://learn.perl.org/beginners-faq>. Good luck with your project :-) SignatureChris Devers >Unless what you're doing is OSX specific -- which would be cool, as >the project sounds interesting, but my guess is that it's more >generic than that -- then the Perl Beginners list might be the right >place for this. Yes, I'll be there as well, I just felt this question might be tangled up in OS X and I would get a more helpful response here. The application is OS X based. |
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