Re: Check existence of a directory?

[Scott Klement <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Adam,

> I have a CL program that uses CHKDLO to determine the existence of a folder.
> We are changing things around to use directories.  What would the equivalent
> command be to check for the existence of a directory?

The "right" way is to use the access() API.  You check for the existence
of a directory in the exact same manner that you check for the existence
of a stream file -- search the archives, there have been 2 or 3 threads
about checking for a stream file.

the stat() API is another way to go.  It's a bit slower than access(), but
it has the added advantage that you can pick apart the mode to see if the
file is actually a directory (as opposed to a stream file)  I know that
I've posted examples of this in the past as well.

I personally DON'T like using CHKIN or CHKOUT for this.  They allocate the
resources to your job, and I don't think that's what you want to do.

I also wouldn't use DSPLNK because of the overhead of creating a spooled
file -- but it's certainly a lot better than using CHKIN or CHKOUT.

> I assume we can't use wrklnk, because that will actually display the
> screen.  Also, what would the correct msgid be?

WRKLNK is interactive, it's not really what you're looking for.