FindBin(3p) | Perl Programmers Reference Guide | FindBin(3p)

# NAME

FindBin - Locate directory of original Perl script

# SYNOPSIS

     use FindBin;
     use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../lib";
     use FindBin qw($Bin);
     use lib "$Bin/../lib";

# DESCRIPTION

Locates the full path to the script bin directory to allow the use of paths relative to the bin directory.

This allows a user to setup a directory tree for some software with directories "<root>/bin" and "<root>/lib", and then the above example will allow the use of modules in the lib directory without knowing where the software tree is installed.

If "perl" is invoked using the "-e" option or the Perl script is read from "STDIN", then "FindBin" sets both $Bin and $RealBin to the current directory.

# EXPORTABLE VARIABLES

$Bin or $Dir
  Path to the bin directory from where script was invoked
$Script
  Basename of the script from which "perl" was invoked
$RealBin or $RealDir
  $Bin with all links resolved
$RealScript
  $Script with all links resolved

You can also use the "ALL" tag to export all of the above variables together:

      use FindBin ':ALL';

# KNOWN ISSUES

If there are two modules using "FindBin" from different directories under the same interpreter, this won't work. Since "FindBin" uses a "BEGIN" block, it'll be executed only once, and only the first caller will get it right. This is a problem under "mod_perl" and other persistent Perl environments, where you shouldn't use this module. Which also means that you should avoid using "FindBin" in modules that you plan to put on CPAN. Call the "again" function to make sure that "FindBin" will work:

      use FindBin;
      FindBin::again(); # or FindBin->again;

In former versions of "FindBin" there was no "again" function. The workaround was to force the "BEGIN" block to be executed again:

      delete $INC{'FindBin.pm'};
      require FindBin;

# AUTHORS

"FindBin" is supported as part of the core perl distribution. Please submit bug reports at <https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.

Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com> Nick Ing-Simmons <nik@tiuk.ti.com>

# COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 1995 Graham Barr & Nick Ing-Simmons. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

2025-01-28 | perl v5.40.1