File::UserDirs

Section: User Contributed Perl Documentation (3pm)
Updated: 2018-05-11
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NAME

File::UserDirs - find extra media and documents directories

VERSION

This document describes File::UserDirs version 0.04.

SYNOPSIS

    use File::UserDirs qw(:all);
    print xdg_desktop_dir; # e.g. /home/user/Desktop

DESCRIPTION

This module can be used to find directories as informally specified by the Freedesktop.org xdg-user-dirs software. This gives a mechanism to locate extra directories for media and documents files.

INTERFACE

"xdg_desktop_dir": Returns the desktop directory. Unless changed by the user, this is the directory Desktop in the home directory.
"xdg_documents_dir": Returns the documents directory. Unless changed by the user, this is the home directory.
"xdg_download_dir": Returns the download directory. Unless changed by the user, this is the home directory.
"xdg_music_dir": Returns the music directory. Unless changed by the user, this is the home directory.
"xdg_pictures_dir": Returns the pictures directory. Unless changed by the user, this is the home directory.
"xdg_publicshare_dir": Returns the public share directory. Unless changed by the user, this is the home directory.
"xdg_templates_dir": Returns the templates directory. Unless changed by the user, this is the home directory.
"xdg_videos_dir": Returns the videos directory. Unless changed by the user, this is the home directory.

EXPORTS

None by default, but any method can be exported on demand. Also the group ":all" is defined which exports all methods.

DIAGNOSTICS

""xdg-user-dir" failed to start: %s": The executable "xdg-user-dir" could not be run, most likely because it was not installed. See ``DEPENDENCIES''.

CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT

The location of the directories can be specified by the user in the file $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/user-dirs.dirs. It is a shell file setting a number of environment variables. To find the exact pathname from Perl, run:

    use File::BaseDir qw(config_home);
    print config_home('user-dirs.dirs');

Example customised user-dirs.dirs

    XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="$HOME/Workspace"
    XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR="$HOME/Files"
    XDG_DOWNLOAD_DIR="$HOME/Files/Downloads"
    XDG_MUSIC_DIR="$HOME/Files/Audio"
    XDG_PICTURES_DIR="$HOME/Files/Images"
    XDG_PUBLICSHARE_DIR="$HOME/public_html"
    XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/Files/Document templates"
    XDG_VIDEOS_DIR="$HOME/Files/Video"

DEPENDENCIES

This module requires the executable xdg-user-dir from the package "xdg-user-dirs". Source code is available from <http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-user-dirs/>.