DirHandle − (obsolete) supply object methods for directory handles
# recommended
approach since Perl 5.6: do not use DirHandle
if (opendir my $d, '.') {
while (readdir $d) { something($_); }
rewind $d;
while (readdir $d) { something_else($_); }
}
# how you would use this module if you were going to
use DirHandle;
if (my $d = DirHandle−>new(".")) {
while (defined($_ = $d−>read)) { something($_); }
$d−>rewind;
while (defined($_ = $d−>read)) {
something_else($_); }
}
There is no reason to use this module nowadays.
The "DirHandle" method provide an alternative interface to the opendir(), closedir(), readdir(), and rewinddir() functions.
Up to Perl 5.5, opendir() could not autovivify a directory handle from "undef", so using a lexical handle required using a function from Symbol to create an anonymous glob, which took a separate step. "DirHandle" encapsulates this, which allowed cleaner code than opendir(). Since Perl 5.6, opendir() alone has been all you need for lexical handles.