File Selection Language is a language used to select files based on their attributes. It is a descriptive language that allows users to specify which files they want to include or exclude from a selection.
File Selection Language (FSL) is a powerful tool for selectively picking files from a directory structure. This unique software is highly useful for selective backups and comes equipped with a descriptive language entirely dedicated to file selection. FSL uses glob patterns as its basic building block to fine-tune file selection. Additionally, inclusion/exclusion rule combinations and conditional expressions are available to refine the selection process, including file size and modification date in the expressions.
One of the key features of FSL is its versatility. It can be used with a command line tool, fsltool, or with an interface in Python, which is clearly explained in the Interpreter.py documentation. It is also possible to combine multiple FSL rule files in a cascading manner, just like CSS. The software supports both Windows-like and Unix-like paths and has strict parse-time type checking to catch as many errors as possible before run-time.
Before you get started with FSL, there are a few requirements you'll need to meet, including Python 2.3 or greater. Installing the software is simple. First, download FSL and then unpack the archive. If you have Python 2.4 or greater, you can install FSL automatically by running python setup.py install, which will install FSL into your site-packages directory. If you have Python 2.3, you will need to install manually.
Once you've installed FSL, be sure to test the installation by executing testall.py under fsl/test/. You should expect one test to fail, which is entirely normal. If any more tests fail, check to see if there is an issue with the installation or environment. If that doesn't resolve the problem, contact the author for further assistance.
Finally, you can start exploring the full potential of fsltool. This software has a few updates in its latest release. The globs beginning with * now work even when the root directory is the root of the file system. Additionally, the make_struct.sh script no longer raises exceptions, and the test cases that check the modification time of a file work as expected. Interpreter.run now raises other exceptions as mentioned in the documentation.
In conclusion, FSL is a versatile and powerful software for selectively picking files from a directory structure. Whether you're backing up important data or working on a programming project, FSL is a valuable tool for refining your file selection process.
One of the key features of FSL is its versatility. It can be used with a command line tool, fsltool, or with an interface in Python, which is clearly explained in the Interpreter.py documentation. It is also possible to combine multiple FSL rule files in a cascading manner, just like CSS. The software supports both Windows-like and Unix-like paths and has strict parse-time type checking to catch as many errors as possible before run-time.
Before you get started with FSL, there are a few requirements you'll need to meet, including Python 2.3 or greater. Installing the software is simple. First, download FSL and then unpack the archive. If you have Python 2.4 or greater, you can install FSL automatically by running python setup.py install, which will install FSL into your site-packages directory. If you have Python 2.3, you will need to install manually.
Once you've installed FSL, be sure to test the installation by executing testall.py under fsl/test/. You should expect one test to fail, which is entirely normal. If any more tests fail, check to see if there is an issue with the installation or environment. If that doesn't resolve the problem, contact the author for further assistance.
Finally, you can start exploring the full potential of fsltool. This software has a few updates in its latest release. The globs beginning with * now work even when the root directory is the root of the file system. Additionally, the make_struct.sh script no longer raises exceptions, and the test cases that check the modification time of a file work as expected. Interpreter.run now raises other exceptions as mentioned in the documentation.
In conclusion, FSL is a versatile and powerful software for selectively picking files from a directory structure. Whether you're backing up important data or working on a programming project, FSL is a valuable tool for refining your file selection process.
What's New
Version 0.5.1: N/A