# Help: File.file?, ftype fails oddly **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [February 7, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-file-file-ftype-fails-oddly/102064 "2006-02-07T18:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chris](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@chris](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chris)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-file-file-ftype-fails-oddly/102064/1 "2006-02-07T18:16:35Z")
Hello all, I’ve been working on a class+script to crawl through my directories and thought I had it working just right, when it crashed some 13 minutes into running. I included the stack at the bottom, in case it gives a better hint to anyone here. The code where it fails is this method - the if checks fail to see that filename is a file, and even errors out on the else’s File.ftype(filename) call: def get\_dir\_info\_recursive change\_into\_dir, write\_to\_file, put\_in\_container Dir.chdir( change\_into\_dir ) Dir.foreach(".") {|filename| if File.directory?(filename) then # write\_to\_file.puts stuff # … recursively call this method elsif File.file?(filename) then # write\_to\_file.puts stuff # … simple gather info and add to collection else puts “ERROR: TYPE=#{File.ftype(filename)} for #{filename} in #{put\_in\_container.path}” end } Dir.chdir(’…’) end My problem solving skills came up with a few alternatives: 1. Maybe the filename/directory path is too long. After all the path + filename end up being right about 255 characters long. NOPE: Tried starting the loop right in the directory where the file errors out, even at earlier directories, the error doesn’t happen - the file is correctly identified as a file! 2. Maybe there’s a problem with the output file? It is 11\_892\_316 bytes at the error. NOPE: Used irb to append another several k to the file with seek then putc - no problem there. 3. Is there a hidden runtime problem? RAM consumption? NOPE, I’ve run the script on larger, though not deeper directories without it crashing. Though I would like to know how to set the RAM usage. Anyone? Any help and ideas are much appreciated. Thanks, -Chris * * * Try #1: IF file? ELSE treat it as a directory Starting file fdata\_Q Mon Feb 06 22:40:22 Central Standard Time 2006 drive7.rb:118:in `chdir': Invalid argument - _EJSRemoteStatelessCrystalItemReconControllerHome_Tie.java (Errno::EINVAL) ... ... 55 levels... ... Try #2 with drive8: do directory? THEN file? THEN try printing File.ftype: C:\CHRIS\ruby\MyFiles>ruby drive8.rb Q Starting file fdata_Q Mon Feb 06 23:45:27 Central Standard Time 2006 Finished file fdata_Q Mon Feb 06 23:58:37 Central Standard Time 2006 drive8.rb:139:in`ftype’: No such file or directory - \_EJSRemoteStatelessCrystalItemReconControllerHome\_Tie.java (Errno: :ENOENT) from drive8.rb:139:in `get_dir_info_recursive' from drive8.rb:122:in`foreach’ from drive8.rb:122:in `get_dir_info_recursive' from drive8.rb:128:in`get\_dir\_info\_recursive’ from drive8.rb:122:in `foreach' from drive8.rb:122:in`get\_dir\_info\_recursive’ from drive8.rb:128:in `get_dir_info_recursive' from drive8.rb:122:in`foreach’ … 54 levels… from drive8.rb:122:in `get_dir_info_recursive' from drive8.rb:163 from drive8.rb:148:in`each’ from drive8.rb:148 ---
**Author:** ![chris](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@chris](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chris)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-file-file-ftype-fails-oddly/102064/2 "2006-02-07T18:31:58Z")
DÅ?a Utorok 07 Február 2006 18:15 Chris napísal: –snip– > 1. Maybe the filename/directory path is too long. After all the path + > filename end up being right about 255 characters long. > NOPE: Tried starting the loop right in the directory where the file > errors out, even at earlier directories, the error doesn’t happen - > the file is correctly identified as a file! –snip– > ``` > Ruby + NTFS + WinXP = ?occasional problem? > > ``` Actually, I think NTFS does have some arbitrary limit on the path length. Or the filename length. Or something. That said, I don’t think it’s quite related, since you are #chdir-ing around, but who knows. Try to rework the script to see if you occur it even if using File.find or feeding the filenames via lessay Cygwin find, as opposed to recursing the directories by hand? David V. David V. ---
**Author:** ![chris](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@chris](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/chris)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/help-file-file-ftype-fails-oddly/102064/3 "2006-02-08T07:24:41Z")
Chris wrote: > ``` > puts "ERROR: TYPE=#{File.ftype(filename)} for #{filename} in > > ``` > > filename end up being right about 255 characters long. > NOPE: Tried starting the loop right in the directory where the file > errors out, even at earlier directories, the error doesn’t happen - > the file is correctly identified as a file! YEP. You’re hitting the MAX\_PATH character limit. Try the following sample code to see what I mean: #initial = “\\?\C:\really\_long\_test\_path\_to\_be\_deleted” initial = “C:\really\_long\_test\_path\_to\_be\_deleted” Dir.mkdir(initial) Dir.chdir(initial) 1.upto(40){ |n| dir = “this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_#{n}” file = “_some\_really\_long\_file_#{n}.bogus” File.open(file, “w+”){} # touch puts “Created file: #{file}” Dir.mkdir(dir) puts “Created dir: #{dir}” Dir.chdir(dir) puts “Changed into dir: #{dir}” puts "Current dir length: " + Dir.pwd.length.to\_s puts } And here’s the output: C:\eclipse\workspace\ruby-foo\>ruby deepdir.rb Created file: \_some\_really\_long\_file\_1.bogus Created dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_1 Changed into dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_1 Current dir length: 68 Created file: \_some\_really\_long\_file\_2.bogus Created dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_2 Changed into dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_2 Current dir length: 94 Created file: \_some\_really\_long\_file\_3.bogus Created dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_3 Changed into dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_3 Current dir length: 120 Created file: \_some\_really\_long\_file\_4.bogus Created dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_4 Changed into dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_4 Current dir length: 146 Created file: \_some\_really\_long\_file\_5.bogus Created dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_5 Changed into dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_5 Current dir length: 172 Created file: \_some\_really\_long\_file\_6.bogus Created dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_6 Changed into dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_6 Current dir length: 198 Created file: \_some\_really\_long\_file\_7.bogus Created dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_7 Changed into dir: this\_is\_long\_dir\_number\_7 Current dir length: 224 Created file: \_some\_really\_long\_file\_8.bogus deepdir.rb:14:in `mkdir': No such file or directory - this_is_long_dir_number_8 (Errno::ENOENT) from deepdir.rb:14 from deepdir.rb:7:in`upto’ from deepdir.rb:7 Note that even adding the leading “\?” to the directory doesn’t seem to help (though it should). This isn’t the best error message, but that could be Microsoft’s fault - I haven’t checked to see what error is returned for this case using C and GetLastError(). Regards, Dan