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Four compound questions about a path — does it exist and is it readable and is it a file — answered as one boolean each, with no exception when the path is not there.

Version

0.2.0

Depends

nothing outside the core

License

Unlicense

Its own test suite

no test files, so trivially green

Checked

2026-09-15 against Raku++ 3.28.0 and Rakudo 2026.08

Where it lives

raku.land · source

Install it #

$ rakupp install File::Presence

zef install File::Presence writes the same store; either installer leaves the module usable by both engines.

What it is for #

The check before opening a file is never one check. "Can I read this config file" means it exists, and it is readable, and it is a file rather than a directory — three tests whose order matters, because asking about readability of something that is not there is a different kind of answer than False.

Raku's own .e, .r and .f each answer one third of it, and on a missing path some of them hand back a Failure that throws when you use it. This distribution rolls each useful combination into one call that always answers a plain Bool.

The four questions #

use File::Presence;

my $dir = $*TMPDIR.add("pres-{$*PID}");
$dir.mkdir;
$dir.add('sub').mkdir;
my $file = $dir.add('readable.txt');
$file.spurt("hi\n");
$file.chmod(0o444);

my $P = File::Presence;
say 'file, readable       ', $P.exists-readable-file($file.Str);
say 'file, read-write     ', $P.exists-readwriteable-file($file.Str);
say 'dir, readable        ', $P.exists-readable-dir($dir.add('sub').Str);
say 'dir, read-write      ', $P.exists-readwriteable-dir($dir.add('sub').Str);
say 'missing              ', $P.exists-readable-file($dir.add('nope').Str);
say 'a dir asked as file  ', $P.exists-readable-file($dir.add('sub').Str);
say 'a file asked as dir  ', $P.exists-readable-dir($file.Str);

say $P.show($file.Str).sort.map({ .key ~ '=' ~ .value }).join(' ');

$file.chmod(0o644);
$file.unlink;
$dir.add('sub').rmdir;
$dir.rmdir;

file, readable       True
file, read-write     False
dir, readable        True
dir, read-write      True
missing              False
a dir asked as file  False
a file asked as dir  False
d=False e=True f=True r=True w=False x=False

Nothing throws, everything is a Bool, and the file-versus-directory distinction is honoured in both directions. show is the underlying six-flag snapshot the four predicates are built from, for when you want to ask a question the four do not cover.

The one thing to know #

A False never distinguishes "not there" from "there, but I cannot see it". Every answer bottoms out in an existence test, and that test is False for a file you lack permission to reach:

use File::Presence;

my $dir = $*TMPDIR.add("presl-{$*PID}");
$dir.mkdir;
$dir.add('locked').mkdir;
$dir.add('locked/inside.txt').spurt("I exist\n");

my $P = File::Presence;
my $real    = $dir.add('locked/inside.txt').Str;
my $missing = $dir.add('locked/never-made.txt').Str;

say 'before: real    ', $P.exists-readable-file($real);
say 'before: missing ', $P.exists-readable-file($missing);

$dir.add('locked').chmod(0o000);
say 'after:  real    ', $P.exists-readable-file($real);
say 'after:  missing ', $P.exists-readable-file($missing);
say 'identical snapshots: ',
    $P.show($real).sort.gist eq $P.show($missing).sort.gist;

$dir.add('locked').chmod(0o755);
$dir.add('locked/inside.txt').unlink;
$dir.add('locked').rmdir;
$dir.rmdir;

before: real    True
before: missing False
after:  real    False
after:  missing False
identical snapshots: True

With the parent directory unsearchable, a file that is certainly on disk and a path that was never created produce byte-identical all-false answers. So "this file does not exist, I will create it" is the wrong conclusion to draw from a False — the create will fail with a permission error, and the diagnostic you print will say the wrong thing.

Where that distinction matters, test the parent directory's own searchability first, or attempt the open and read the error. A dangling symbolic link collapses the same way, reporting as nothing at all rather than as a link that points nowhere.