From: Matt Armstrong <matt@...>
Date: 2002-03-19T16:36:49+09:00
Subject: Re: dots in Dir.entries

matz@ruby-lang.org (Yukihiro Matsumoto) writes:

> Could you summarize pros and cons for filtering dot files (. and ..)
> from Dir.entries and Dir.each, please?

This is from my memory of the thread.

Pros:

    - Convenience -- you rarely need them, and often they get in the
      way, requiring code like this over and over:

        next if ['.', '..'].include?(dir)

    - Portability -- some file systems don't have '.' and '..', so
      code depending on it won't be as "portable."

    - The '.' and '..' are not _really_ a member of the directory.
      They exist as an implementation artifact of the file system.

Cons:

    - The '.' and '..' are returned as directory entries by the OS, so
      Ruby should include them too.

    - If an application needs to have '.' and '..' included, it has to
      add them manually.


Personally, I think filtering makes Ruby more convenient and so is a
good thing.

-- 
matt