Pathstring

I was bored of all the File.join for not using Pathname everywhere, and bored for all the to_s for using it. So i designed a midway.

Pathstring is a String, but it interfaces some of the Pathname instance utilities, as well as a few other homebrewed ones.

Pathstring instances always know their absolute context (even when initialised with relative paths) and their relative context (if a "relative root" is given), and can switch easily from one to the other.

Ruby 1.9.2 is required.

Install it with rubygems:

gem install pathstring

With bundler, add it to your Gemfile:

gem "pathstring"

require 'pathstring'

# path, relative root (optional)
# relative root can be set later on with relative root_with method
f = Pathstring.new '/home/me/my_project/LICENSE', Dir.home

# same as
f = Pathstring.join(Dir.pwd, 'LICENSE').with_relative_root(Dir.home)
# with_relative_root accepts a list of arguments on which it does a File.join

puts f # => '/home/me/my_project/LICENSE'

f.absolute_dirstring # puts '/home/me/my_project'
f.relative_dirstring # puts 'my_project'
f.dirstring # puts '/home/me/my_project' because we are using the absolute facade

f.relative! # changes facade to relative
puts f # => 'my_project/LICENSE', relative from Dir.home
f.dirstring # puts 'my_project' because we are now using the relative facade

f.content = File.read('/home/me/my_other_project/LICENSE')
f.content << "And most important, do what the fuck you want with it !\n"
f.save

Pathstring behaves like a String but it knows from Pathname :

• delegated : file?, directory?, extname, size, readlines dirname, absolute?, relative?, cleanpath exist?, basename, stat, children, delete

• delegated and post-processed :

• basestring (basename to string)

• dirstring (dirname to string)

With the help of Pathname but custom-made :

• read : reads the file content and memoizes it
• content : alias for the above-mentionned
• content= : sets file content
• save : saves to file if content is set and file path exists
• save! : saves to file, loading content if need be, creates path if need be
• mkdir : create a folder after the pathstring content if parent dir exists
• mkdir! : create a folder after the pathstring, creates all path elements if need be
• rename : self-explicit (does not save file though)
• open : default mode is 'w' (if you need to read, the read)

Pathstring specifics (relative stuff available if a "relative_root" was set) :

• relative! : switches to relative facade
• absolute! : switches to absolute facade
• absolute_dirname : absolute dirname as a Pathname
• absolute_dirstring : absolute dirname as a String
• relative_dirname : relative dirname as a Pathname
• relative_dirstring : relative dirname as a String
• relative_root : relative paths originate there
• with_relative_root : (re)set the relative path origin

pathstring also provides another small utility class : PathstringRoot. It is a full-fledge Pathstring, look above for the specifics. On top of that, it instantiates Pathstring's giving itself as relative path, exposing the new Pathstring with its relative facade. It lists the a Pathstring children as instances of Pathstring.

An example after the highly inedible above sentences :

require 'pathstring_root'

root = PathstringRoot.join '/home/me', 'plop'

puts root.read('README.md')       # puts documentation

readme = root.enroot('README.md')
puts readme                       # puts README.md
puts readme.absolute              # puts '/home/me/plop/README.md'
puts readme.file?                 # puts true

readme = root.select('plap') # same as enroot but memoizes readme
                                  # for futher use

root.branching('plap') do |element|
  # custom ls
  puts "#{element} : #{element.size}" if element.file?
end

# but thanks to `select`, `root.branching do |element|` would have done the same

root.wire_branching # same a branching, filter on directories
root.leaf_branching # same a branching, filter on files

To determine how to cast the elements found, PathstrinRoot (or a subclass) will look at its name and strip the 'Root' appendix from it. PlopRoot or Plip::PlapRoot would instantiate Plop or Plip::Plap objects respectively.

There is also an attribute writer branching_class to set it explicitly.

If the above-mentionned elements classes do not derive from Pathtstring, the subclassing class would have to overload the enroot method (as it sticks too much to Pathstring so far).

I was tempted by the WTFPL, but i have to take time to read it. So far see LICENSE.