== Description
The ptools (power tools) library is an additional set of commands for the
File class based on Unix command line tools.
== Prerequisites
On MS Windows you will need the win32-file gem.
== Installation
gem install ptools
== Synopsis
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")
== Known Bugs
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
== Acknowledgements
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.
The binary?() method was based almost entirely on a blog post by Ryan
Davis (who, in turn, based his code on Perl's -B switch).
Thanks go to Matt Hoyle for help with the File.tail method.
== Future Plans
Add whatever other tools people think might be useful.
== License
Artistic 2.0
== Copyright
(C) 2003-2014 Daniel J. Berger
All Rights Reserved.
== Warranty
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.
== Author
Daniel J. Berger