TSP (libtsp) - FLpathList

FLpathList

Routine

int FLpathList (const char Fi[], const char Dlist[], char Fo[])

Purpose

Fill in a directory for a file name from a list of paths

Description

This routine fills in a directory path name for a file name from a list of directories. The intended purpose of this routine is to fill in the directory path from a list of defaults prior to opening the file. If the input file name specifies any directory components, the output name is set to the input name. If the input file name is a simple file name (no directory components), each path from the list is used in turn as a directory path. A check is made to see if the corresponding file can be found. The file name of the first file found is returned. If the search for such a file is unsuccessful, the input name is returned. Note that this behaviour effectively puts the current directory at the end of the list of paths. The user can specify a search of the current directory in some other order, by including the current directory in the list of paths. The current directory can be specified as "." or as an empty specification.

For Unix sytems this routine performs the additional service of expanding home directory specifications of the form "~" or "~USER" which appear as the first component of the path name in the input name or in one of the paths in the list of paths. In the case of the input name containing a home directory specification, the resulting expanded name will then have a directory component and no further search using the list of paths will occur. If the home directory cannot be found (unknown user, for instance), the "~" specification is treated as part of an ordinary filename string.

The path name list is a white-space or colon (semicolon for Windows) separated list of paths. For example, ":/usr/users/usera/:~userb". The path names can have an optional trailing / character. This specification includes the current directory as the first element of the list.

The list of path names can be specified directly in the Dlist variable, or Dlist can specify the name of an environment variable (signalled by a leading $ character) which contains the list.

Parameters

<- int FLpathList: Number of characters in the output string
-> const char Fi[]: Character string containing the file name
-> const char Dlist[]: Input character string containing a list of directories, or the name of an environment variable (including a leading $). If Dlist specifies an environment variable, the value of this variable supplies the list of directories.
<- char Fo[]: Character string containing the file name. At most FILENAME_MAX characters including the terminating null are returned. This string can overlay the input string if desired.

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