Version 6 of file attributes

Updated 2007-09-13 15:08:06 by LV

file attributes name

file attributes name ?option?

file attributes name ?option value option value...?

This subcommand returns or sets platform specific values associated with a file. The first form returns a list of the platform specific flags and their values. The second form returns the value for the specific option. The third form sets one or more of the values. The values are as follows:

On Unix, -group gets or sets the group name for the file. A group id can be given to the command, but it returns a group name. -owner gets or sets the user name of the owner of the file. The command returns the owner name, but the numerical id can be passed when setting the owner. -permissions sets or retrieves the octal code that chmod(1) uses. This command does also has limited support for setting using the symbolic attributes for chmod(1), of the form [ugo]?[[+-=][rwxst],[...]]], where multiple symbolic attributes can be separated by commas (example: u+s,go-rw add sticky bit for user, remove read and write permissions for group and other). A simplified ls style string, of the form rwxrwxrwx (must be 9 characters), is also supported (example: rwxr-xr-t is equivalent to 01755).

On Windows, -archive gives the value or sets or clears the archive attribute of the file. -hidden gives the value or sets or clears the hidden attribute of the file. -longname will expand each path element to its long version. This attribute cannot be set. -readonly gives the value or sets or clears the readonly attribute of the file. -shortname gives a string where every path element is replaced with its short (8.3) version of the name. This attribute cannot be set. -system gives or sets or clears the value of the system attribute of the file.

On Macintosh, -creator gives or sets the Finder creator type of the file. -hidden gives or sets or clears the hidden attribute of the file. -readonly gives or sets or clears the readonly attribute of the file. Note that directories can only be locked if File Sharing is turned on. -type gives or sets the Finder file type for the file.


Each platform (win,mac,unix) has its own set of attributes attached to native files. With the VFS support in Tcl 8.4, any filesystem can create its own set of attributes (either read-only or read-write) with arbitrary names and states. These attributes are defined by the filesystem (it might be nice in the future to be able to extend these, dynamically on the fly so, say, we could add a '-versioncontrolstate' attribute to all native files).


What about BSD flags? schg, sappnd etc.


See also:


Tcl syntax help - Category Command - Category File