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From: tmoran@acm.org
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: more Ada.Directories questions
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 05:49:35 +0000 (UTC)
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Date: 2011-04-01T05:49:35+00:00
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Does Ada.Directories.Create_Directory("X"); raise Use_Error if directory X
already exists?  It seems it should if the system does not support
creation of something that already exists.  (On Windows at least, mkdir x
fails if x already exists.) Ditto if file "X" exists and the system won't
allow a file and a directory of the same name.  Does "Create" mean "change
the state of the file system" or does it mean "arrange that the file
system has a certain state"?  Create_Directory apparently means the
former.

Apparently the latter meaning applies to Create_Path, since
according to the Rationale, Ada.Directories.Create_Path("X");
does not raise Use_Error, but is a NOP, if directory X exists.

So the only reason to use Create_Directory rather than Create_Path is
to detect the case where a file or directory of that name already
exists, correct?

If "???" is an illegal name for a directory, it seems that
Create_Path("a/b/???/c"); will raise Name_Error without creating "a/b".
Correct?