The ptools (power tools) library is an additional set of commands for the File class based on Unix command line tools.

On MS Windows you will need the win32-file gem.

gem install ptools

gem cert --add <(curl -Ls https://raw.githubusercontent.com/djberg96/ptools/main/certs/djberg96_pub.pem)

require "ptools"

File.which("ruby")         # '/usr/local/bin/ruby'
File.whereis("ruby")       # ['/usr/local/bin/ruby','/opt/bin/ruby']

File.head("myfile")        # Returns first 10 lines of 'myfile'
File.tail("myfile",3)      # Returns last 3 lines of 'myfile'
File.wc("myfile",'words')  # Returns the number of words in 'myfile'

File.touch("newfile")      # "newfile" now exists
File.null                  # '/dev/null' on Unix, 'NUL' on Windows
File.binary?('some_file')  # true or false
File.sparse?('some_file')  # true or false

# Creates a copy of 'myfile' called 'newfile', in DOS format
File.nl_convert("myfile", "newfile", "dos")

The File.which and File.whereis methods may fail when using JRuby on Windows. See jruby/jruby#2291 for details.

Please report any other issues on the github project page.

http://www.github.com/djberg96/ptools

The File.which method was originally adopted from the FileWhich code posted by Michael Granger on the now defunct rubygarden.org website. That code was later replaced by a version based on the ruby-which library.

The File.nl_convert method is based on the nlcvt program found at http://www.perl.com/language/ppt/src/nlcvt/nlcvt, written by Tom Christiansen.

Thanks go to Matt Hoyle for help with the File.tail method.

And thanks to any and all contributors!

Add whatever other tools people think might be useful.

Apache-2.0

(C) 2003-2022 Daniel J. Berger All Rights Reserved.

This package is provided "as is" and without any express or implied warranties, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.

Daniel J. Berger