Ruby's File class vs. Rails' FileUtils
ruby, ruby-on-rails
Solution
`FileUtils` is part of the Ruby Core API. It's not Rails specific. Also, it's a module, so you could mix in some of the abilities it has to offer into another class. Your best bet is to probably read the File RDoc, as well as the FileUtils RDoc. Hope this helps you out a bit. Cheers.
Edit:
Is one preferred over the other where there are differences?
I don't know if there is much consensus over which to use when the methods have the same ultimate end–result, such as `File.makedirs` vs. `FileUtils.mkdir_p`, but I often see the latter in other peoples code. I think you will almost always use the two (`File` & `FileUtils`) in conjunction.
Problem
Now about 2 weeks into learning Ruby and Rails, I've found myself using the `File` class a lot for things like `File.join`, `File.open`, etc. Then I bumped into a need for `File.copy` only to find out that no such method exists. A little more looking uncovered Rails' `FileUtils` class and now I'm a little confused. There are differences, of course, but there are also what appear to be redundancies. Is one preferred over the other where there are differences? Why do both exist (is it solely to handle the omissions in the Ruby core class)? I'd just like to get a feel for how these things work together or conflict so I know how to move forward. Thanks.