3 Win32 - Interfaces to some Win32 API Functions
7 Perl on Win32 contains several functions to access Win32 APIs. Some
8 are included in Perl itself (on Win32) and some are only available
9 after explicitly requesting the Win32 module with:
13 The builtin functions are marked as [CORE] and the other ones
14 as [EXT] in the following alphabetical listing. The C<Win32> module
15 is not part of the Perl source distribution; it is distributed in
16 the libwin32 bundle of Win32::* modules on CPAN. The module is
17 already preinstalled in binary distributions like ActivePerl.
19 =head2 Alphabetical Listing of Win32 Functions
23 =item Win32::AbortSystemShutdown(MACHINE)
25 [EXT] Aborts a system shutdown (started by the
26 InitiateSystemShutdown function) on the specified MACHINE.
28 =item Win32::BuildNumber()
30 [CORE] Returns the ActivePerl build number. This function is
31 only available in the ActivePerl binary distribution.
33 =item Win32::CopyFile(FROM, TO, OVERWRITE)
35 [CORE] The Win32::CopyFile() function copies an existing file to a new
36 file. All file information like creation time and file attributes will
37 be copied to the new file. However it will B<not> copy the security
38 information. If the destination file already exists it will only be
39 overwritten when the OVERWRITE parameter is true. But even this will
40 not overwrite a read-only file; you have to unlink() it first
43 =item Win32::DomainName()
45 [CORE] Returns the name of the Microsoft Network domain that the
46 owner of the current perl process is logged into. This information
47 is not available to 32 bit programs on Win 9X. Therefore this function
48 will return C<undef> on these systems.
50 =item Win32::ExpandEnvironmentStrings(STRING)
52 [EXT] Takes STRING and replaces all referenced environment variable
53 names with their defined values. References to environment variables
54 take the form C<%VariableName%>. Case is ignored when looking up the
55 VariableName in the environment. If the variable is not found then the
56 original C<%VariableName%> text is retained. Has the same effect
59 $string =~ s/%([^%]*)%/$ENV{$1} || "%$1%"/eg
61 =item Win32::FormatMessage(ERRORCODE)
63 [CORE] Converts the supplied Win32 error number (e.g. returned by
64 Win32::GetLastError()) to a descriptive string. Analogous to the
65 perror() standard-C library function. Note that C<$^E> used
66 in a string context has much the same effect.
68 C:\> perl -e "$^E = 26; print $^E;"
69 The specified disk or diskette cannot be accessed
73 [CORE] Returns the name of the filesystem of the currently active
74 drive (like 'FAT' or 'NTFS'). In list context it returns three values:
75 (FSTYPE, FLAGS, MAXCOMPLEN). FSTYPE is the filesystem type as
76 before. FLAGS is a combination of values of the following table:
78 0x00000001 supports case-sensitive filenames
79 0x00000002 preserves the case of filenames
80 0x00000004 supports Unicode in filenames
81 0x00000008 preserves and enforces ACLs
82 0x00000010 supports file-based compression
83 0x00000020 supports disk quotas
84 0x00000040 supports sparse files
85 0x00000080 supports reparse points
86 0x00000100 supports remote storage
87 0x00008000 is a compressed volume (e.g. DoubleSpace)
88 0x00010000 supports object identifiers
89 0x00020000 supports the Encrypted File System (EFS)
91 MAXCOMPLEN is the maximum length of a filename component (the part
92 between two backslashes) on this file system.
94 =item Win32::FreeLibrary(HANDLE)
96 [EXT] Unloads a previously loaded dynamic-link library. The HANDLE is
97 no longer valid after this call. See L<LoadLibrary|Win32::LoadLibrary(LIBNAME)>
98 for information on dynamically loading a library.
100 =item Win32::GetArchName()
102 [EXT] Use of this function is deprecated. It is equivalent with
103 $ENV{PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE}. This might not work on Win9X.
105 =item Win32::GetChipName()
107 [EXT] Returns the processor type: 386, 486 or 586 for Intel processors,
108 21064 for the Alpha chip.
110 =item Win32::GetCwd()
112 [CORE] Returns the current active drive and directory. This function
113 does not return a UNC path, since the functionality required for such
114 a feature is not available under Windows 95.
116 =item Win32::GetFullPathName(FILENAME)
118 [CORE] GetFullPathName combines the FILENAME with the current drive
119 and directory name and returns a fully qualified (aka, absolute)
120 path name. In list context it returns two elements: (PATH, FILE) where
121 PATH is the complete pathname component (including trailing backslash)
122 and FILE is just the filename part. Note that no attempt is made to
123 convert 8.3 components in the supplied FILENAME to longnames or
124 vice-versa. Compare with Win32::GetShortPathName and
125 Win32::GetLongPathName.
127 This function has been added for Perl 5.6.
129 =item Win32::GetLastError()
131 [CORE] Returns the last error value generated by a call to a Win32 API
132 function. Note that C<$^E> used in a numeric context amounts to the
135 =item Win32::GetLongPathName(PATHNAME)
137 [CORE] Returns a representation of PATHNAME composed of longname
138 components (if any). The result may not necessarily be longer
139 than PATHNAME. No attempt is made to convert PATHNAME to the
140 absolute path. Compare with Win32::GetShortPathName and
141 Win32::GetFullPathName.
143 This function has been added for Perl 5.6.
145 =item Win32::GetNextAvailDrive()
147 [CORE] Returns a string in the form of "<d>:" where <d> is the first
148 available drive letter.
150 =item Win32::GetOSVersion()
152 [CORE] Returns the array (STRING, MAJOR, MINOR, BUILD, ID), where
153 the elements are, respectively: An arbitrary descriptive string, the
154 major version number of the operating system, the minor version
155 number, the build number, and a digit indicating the actual operating
156 system. For ID, the values are 0 for Win32s, 1 for Windows 9X and 2
157 for Windows NT. In scalar context it returns just the ID.
159 =item Win32::GetShortPathName(PATHNAME)
161 [CORE] Returns a representation of PATHNAME composed only of
162 short (8.3) path components. The result may not necessarily be
163 shorter than PATHNAME. Compare with Win32::GetFullPathName and
164 Win32::GetLongPathName.
166 =item Win32::GetProcAddress(INSTANCE, PROCNAME)
168 [EXT] Returns the address of a function inside a loaded library. The
169 information about what you can do with this address has been lost in
170 the mist of time. Use the Win32::API module instead of this deprecated
173 =item Win32::GetTickCount()
175 [CORE] Returns the number of milliseconds elapsed since the last
176 system boot. Resolution is limited to system timer ticks (about 10ms
177 on WinNT and 55ms on Win9X).
179 =item Win32::InitiateSystemShutdown(MACHINE, MESSAGE, TIMEOUT, FORCECLOSE, REBOOT)
181 [EXT] Shutsdown the specified MACHINE, notifying users with the
182 supplied MESSAGE, within the specified TIMEOUT interval. Forces
183 closing of all documents without prompting the user if FORCECLOSE is
184 true, and reboots the machine if REBOOT is true. This function works
187 =item Win32::IsWinNT()
189 [CORE] Returns non zero if the Win32 subsystem is Windows NT.
191 =item Win32::IsWin95()
193 [CORE] Returns non zero if the Win32 subsystem is Windows 95.
195 =item Win32::LoadLibrary(LIBNAME)
197 [EXT] Loads a dynamic link library into memory and returns its module
198 handle. This handle can be used with Win32::GetProcAddress and
199 Win32::FreeLibrary. This function is deprecated. Use the Win32::API
202 =item Win32::LoginName()
204 [CORE] Returns the username of the owner of the current perl process.
206 =item Win32::LookupAccountName(SYSTEM, ACCOUNT, DOMAIN, SID, SIDTYPE)
208 [EXT] Looks up ACCOUNT on SYSTEM and returns the domain name the SID and
211 =item Win32::LookupAccountSID(SYSTEM, SID, ACCOUNT, DOMAIN, SIDTYPE)
213 [EXT] Looks up SID on SYSTEM and returns the account name, domain name,
216 =item Win32::MsgBox(MESSAGE [, FLAGS [, TITLE]])
218 [EXT] Create a dialogbox containing MESSAGE. FLAGS specifies the
219 required icon and buttons according to the following table:
223 2 = Abort, Retry, and Ignore
224 3 = Yes, No and Cancel
228 MB_ICONSTOP "X" in a red circle
229 MB_ICONQUESTION question mark in a bubble
230 MB_ICONEXCLAMATION exclamation mark in a yellow triangle
231 MB_ICONINFORMATION "i" in a bubble
233 TITLE specifies an optional window title. The default is "Perl".
235 The function returns the menu id of the selected push button:
247 =item Win32::NodeName()
249 [CORE] Returns the Microsoft Network node-name of the current machine.
251 =item Win32::RegisterServer(LIBRARYNAME)
253 [EXT] Loads the DLL LIBRARYNAME and calls the function DllRegisterServer.
255 =item Win32::SetCwd(NEWDIRECTORY)
257 [CORE] Sets the current active drive and directory. This function does not
258 work with UNC paths, since the functionality required to required for
259 such a feature is not available under Windows 95.
261 =item Win32::SetLastError(ERROR)
263 [CORE] Sets the value of the last error encountered to ERROR. This is
264 that value that will be returned by the Win32::GetLastError()
265 function. This functions has been added for Perl 5.6.
267 =item Win32::Sleep(TIME)
269 [CORE] Pauses for TIME milliseconds. The timeslices are made available
270 to other processes and threads.
272 =item Win32::Spawn(COMMAND, ARGS, PID)
274 [CORE] Spawns a new process using the supplied COMMAND, passing in
275 arguments in the string ARGS. The pid of the new process is stored in
276 PID. This function is deprecated. Please use the Win32::Process module
279 =item Win32::UnregisterServer(LIBRARYNAME)
281 [EXT] Loads the DLL LIBRARYNAME and calls the function