Modelica.Utilities.Files

Functions to work with files and directories

Information

This package contains functions to work with files and directories. As a general convention of this package, '/' is used as directory separator both for input and output arguments of all functions. For example:

exist("Modelica/Mechanics/Rotational.mo");

The functions provide the mapping to the directory separator of the underlying operating system. Note, that on Windows system the usage of '\' as directory separator would be inconvenient, because this character is also the escape character in Modelica and C Strings.

In the table below an example call to every function is given:

Extends from Modelica.Icons.FunctionsPackage (Icon for packages containing functions).

Package Content

Name	Description
list	List content of file or directory
copy	Generate a copy of a file or of a directory
move	Move a file or a directory to another place
remove	Remove file or directory (ignore call, if it does not exist)
removeFile	Remove file (ignore call, if it does not exist)
createDirectory	Create directory (if directory already exists, ignore call)
exist	Inquire whether file or directory exists
assertNew	Trigger an assert, if a file or directory exists
fullPathName	Get full path name of file or directory name
splitPathName	Split path name in directory, file name kernel, file name extension
temporaryFileName	Return arbitrary name of a file that does not exist and is in a directory where access rights allow to write to this file (useful for temporary output of files)
loadResource	Return the absolute path name of a URI or local file name

Modelica.Utilities.Files.list

List content of file or directory

Information

Syntax

Files.list(name);

Description

If "name" is a regular file, the content of the file is printed.

If "name" is a directory, the directory and file names in the "name" directory are printed in sorted order.

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.copy

Generate a copy of a file or of a directory

Information

Syntax

Files.copy(oldName, newName);
Files.copy(oldName, newName, replace = true);

Description

Function copy(..) copies a file or a directory to a new location. Via the optional argument replace it can be defined whether an already existing file may be replaced by the required copy.

If oldName/newName are directories, then the newName directory may exist. In such a case the content of oldName is copied into directory newName. If replace = false it is required that the existing files in newName are different from the existing files in oldName.

Example

copy("C:/test1/directory1", "C:/test2/directory2");
   -> the content of directory1 is copied into directory2
      if "C:/test2/directory2" does not exist, it is newly
      created. If "replace=true", files in directory2
      may be overwritten by their copy
copy("test1.txt", "test2.txt")
   -> make a copy of file "test1.txt" with the name "test2.txt"
      in the current directory

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.move

Move a file or a directory to another place

Information

Syntax

Files.move(oldName, newName);
Files.move(oldName, newName, replace = true);

Description

Function move(..) moves a file or a directory to a new location. Via the optional argument replace it can be defined whether an already existing file may be replaced.

If oldName/newName are directories, then the newName directory may exist. In such a case the content of oldName is moved into directory newName. If replace = false it is required that the existing files in newName are different from the existing files in oldName.

Example

move("C:/test1/directory1", "C:/test2/directory2");
   -> the content of directory1 is moved into directory2.
      Afterwards directory1 is deleted.
      if "C:/test2/directory2" does not exist, it is newly
      created. If "replace=true", files in directory2
      may be overwritten
move("test1.txt", "test2.txt")
  -> rename file "test1.txt" into "test2.txt"
     within the current directory

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.remove

Remove file or directory (ignore call, if it does not exist)

Information

Syntax

Files.remove(name);

Description

Removes the file or directory "name". If "name" does not exist, the function call is ignored. If "name" is a directory, first the content of the directory is removed and afterwards the directory itself.

This function is silent, i.e., it does not print a message.

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.removeFile

Remove file (ignore call, if it does not exist)

Information

Syntax

Files.removeFile(fileName);

Description

Removes the file "fileName". If "fileName" does not exist, the function call is ignored. If "fileName" exists but is no regular file (e.g., directory, pipe, device, etc.) an error is triggered.

This function is silent, i.e., it does not print a message.

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.createDirectory

Create directory (if directory already exists, ignore call)

Information

Syntax

Files.createDirectory(directoryName);

Description

Creates directory "directoryName". If this directory already exists, the function call is ignored. If several directories in "directoryName" do not exist, all of them are created. For example, assume that directory "E:/test1" exists and that directory "E:/test1/test2/test3" shall be created. In this case the directories "test2" in "test1" and "test3" in "test2" are created.

This function is silent, i.e., it does not print a message. In case of error (e.g., "directoryName" is an existing regular file), an assert is triggered.

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.exist

Inquire whether file or directory exists

Information

Syntax

result = Files.exist(name);

Description

Returns true, if "name" is an existing file or directory. If this is not the case, the function returns false.

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Outputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.assertNew

Trigger an assert, if a file or directory exists

Information

Syntax

Files.assertNew(name);
Files.assertNew(name, message="This is not allowed");

Description

Triggers an assert, if "name" is an existing file or directory. The error message has the following structure:

File "<name>" already exists.
<message>

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.fullPathName

Get full path name of file or directory name

Information

Syntax

fullName = Files.fullPathName(name);

Description

Returns the full path name of a file or directory "name".

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Outputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.splitPathName

Split path name in directory, file name kernel, file name extension

Information

Syntax

(directory, name, extension) = Files.splitPathName(pathName);

Description

Function splitPathName(..) splits a path name into its parts.

Example

(directory, name, extension) = Files.splitPathName("C:/user/test/input.txt")

-> directory = "C:/user/test/"
   name      = "input"
   extension = ".txt"

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Inputs

Outputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.temporaryFileName

Return arbitrary name of a file that does not exist and is in a directory where access rights allow to write to this file (useful for temporary output of files)

Information

Syntax

fileName = Files.temporaryFileName();

Description

Return arbitrary name of a file that does not exist and is in a directory where access rights allow to write to this file (useful for temporary output of files).

The created temporary file is not automatically deleted when closed, but needs to be explicitly deleted, e.g. by removeFile(fileName).

Warning: The underlying C implementation of ModelicaInternal_temporaryFileName calls the standard C function tmpnam, which has a race condition security problem in the case another process creates a file with the same fileName just after tmpnam generated the full path name.

Example

fileName = Files.temporaryFileName();
   -> fileName is the absolute path name of the temporary file
Streams.print(String(System.getPid()), fileName);
   -> Create the temporary file
      Warning: Possible race condition on file access
Files.removeFile(fileName);
   -> Explicitly delete the temporary file (after use)

Extends from Modelica.Icons.Function (Icon for functions).

Outputs

Modelica.Utilities.Files.loadResource

Return the absolute path name of a URI or local file name

Information

Syntax

fileReference = Files.loadResource(uri);

Description

The function call "Files.loadResource(uri)" returns the absolute path name of the file that is either defined by an URI or by a local path name. With the returned file name it is possible to access the file with function calls of the C standard library. If the data or file is stored in a data-base, this might require copying the resource to a temporary folder and referencing that.

The implementation of this function is tool specific. However, at least Modelica URIs (see "chapter 13.2.3 External Resources" of the Modelica Specification), as well as absolute local file path names are supported.

Example

file1 = loadResource("modelica://Modelica/Resources/Data/Utilities/Examples_readRealParameters.txt")
        // file1 is the absolute path name of the file
file2 = loadResource("C:\\data\\readParameters.txt")
        file2 = "C:/data/readParameters.txt"

Extends from Modelica.Utilities.Internal.PartialModelicaServices.ExternalReferences.PartialLoadResource (Interface for tool specific function to return the absolute path name of a URI or local file name), ModelicaServices.ExternalReferences.loadResource (Return the absolute path name of a URI or local file name (in this default implementation URIs are not supported, but only local file names)).

Inputs

Outputs