Running perl script on multiple files using Ant

Question

I have a set of files that I want to run a perl script on. The problem is they are not in the same directory. In fact they are all part of an ordered but complex directory hierarchy.

I wrote a Bash script that does what I want:

if [ ${HOME:+1} ]; then
    for A in ${HOME}/a/b/*; do
        for B in ${A}/c/*; do
            for C in ${B}/*; do
                if [ -f $C/somefile ]; then
                    some_perl_script $C/somefile;
                fi
            done;
        done;
    done;
fi

So that works, and it's not too complicated. However, I need that functionality to be available using Ant. Of course I could just call that script from Ant, but I want to know if there is anyway of having Ant do it in the first place, which seems like a more straightforward way of doings things. Essentially, I want something similar to the following build.xml:

<project name="application" basedir=".">
    <target name="apply_to_all">
      <exec executable="perl" dir="${basedir}">
        <arg value="some_perl_script.pl"/>
        <arg value="a/b/**/c/**/**/somefile"/>
      </exec>
    </target>
</project>

I found this SO post. However, I'd like to do it without ant-contrib.

you can simplify your bash loops: `for file in ${HOME}/a/b/*/c/*/*/somefile; do [[ -f "$file" ]] && some_perl_script "$file"; done` — glenn jackman, Jun 22 '11 at 20:37

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 22 '11 at 20:26

Use the apply task to invoke your perlscript on all files that are included in the nested fileset(s) :

<apply executable="perl">
  <arg value="-your args.."/>
  <fileset dir="/some/dir">
    <patternset>
      <include name="**/*.pl"/>
    </patternset>
  </fileset>
  <fileset refid="other.files"/>
</apply>

Optionally use the attribute parallel = true, means run the command only once, appending all files as arguments. If false, command will be executed once for every file, default =false => see Ant manual on apply
You may use include / exclude patterns and one or more filesets. F.e. you may use **/*.pl for all your perl scripts.

That was simpler than I thought. Thank you! – yarian Jun 22 '11 at 20:39 — yarian, Jun 22 '11 at 20:39

Running perl script on multiple files using Ant

1 Answers1