NET:FTP delete method 1

[plotzer]

I am trying to delete some files from an ftp directory using the delete method. I've create a list array of all the files in the directory and I'm trying to loop through all files and delete them. FOr some reason I am unable to do this. I actually hard coded one of the filenames into the method and it still didnt work. Is there a special way the filename needs to formated before it can be deleted? Attached is my code:

use Net::FTP;

$ftp = Net::FTP->new("s4", Debug => 0)|| die "Could not open FTP COnnection: $!\n";
$ftp->login('obs','abc')|| die "Could not login: $!\n";
$ftp->cwd("/export/home&quot|| die "Could not open home directory: $!\n";
(@list1 = $ftp->ls("/export/home&quot)|| die "LS Failed: $!\n";

$i = 0;
while($i < scalar(@list1))
{
$i++;
print &quot;Deleting $list1[$i]\n&quot;;
$ftp->delete($list1[$i])|| die &quot;Delete Failed: $!\n&quot;;
}

$ftp->quit;





Thanks in advance

 

[justice41]

Do you mean to skip the first file in the list? Perl arrays are zero-based so in your while loop when you increment $i BEFORE you call delete you skip the zeroth element of @list1 and delete the first element. The zeroth element never gets deleted. Another consequence of putting $i++ at the beginning of the loop is that you increment $i beyond the last index of the array and then access the array (remember that scalar(@list1) is the number of element in the array, NOT the index of the last value, which is $#list1). this will throw an error about uninitialized values when you do get the code to work.

If you insist on using that atrocious loop syntax then you should put the $i++ at the end of the loop. Or if you really do mean to skip the first element then shift() it off before the loop begins or initialise $i to 1.

A prettier (and more Perlish) way to loop over the elements of @list1 would be like

foreach $file ( @list1 )
{
print &quot;Deleting $file\n&quot;;
$ftp->delete($file) || die &quot;Delete Failed: $!\n&quot;;
}

no messing with indecies when it's not necessary and no worrying about array bounds.

As for why your code isn't working, I ran what you posted and it worked fine so your paths must be incorrect or something else is wrong. What do you mean that you are &quot;unable to do this&quot; and &quot;it still didn't work&quot;? What are the error messages that you get? What, if any, is the output? Add a

print &quot;@list\n&quot;;

before the loop. Does it output what you expect?

jaa

 

[plotzer]

Thanks much

You are correct, my loop was atrocious. Your code snippet worked perfectly.

Thanks for your help.