FindBin(3perl) Perl Programmers Reference Guide FindBin(3perl)
NAME
FindBin - Locate directory of original Perl script
SYNOPSIS
use FindBin;
use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../lib";
use FindBin qw($Bin);
use lib "$Bin/../lib";
DESCRIPTION
Locates the full path to the script bin directory to allow the use of
paths relative to the bin directory.
This allows a user to setup a directory tree for some software with
directories "<root>/bin" and "<root>/lib", and then the above example
will allow the use of modules in the lib directory without knowing where
the software tree is installed.
If "perl" is invoked using the "-e" option or the Perl script is read
from "STDIN", then "FindBin" sets both $Bin and $RealBin to the current
directory.
EXPORTABLE VARIABLES
$Bin or $Dir
Path to the bin directory from where script was invoked
$Script
Basename of the script from which "perl" was invoked
$RealBin or $RealDir
$Bin with all links resolved
$RealScript
$Script with all links resolved
You can also use the "ALL" tag to export all of the above variables
together:
use FindBin ':ALL';
KNOWN ISSUES
If there are two modules using "FindBin" from different directories
under the same interpreter, this won't work. Since "FindBin" uses a
"BEGIN" block, it'll be executed only once, and only the first caller
will get it right. This is a problem under "mod_perl" and other
persistent Perl environments, where you shouldn't use this module. Which
also means that you should avoid using "FindBin" in modules that you
plan to put on CPAN. Call the "again" function to make sure that
"FindBin" will work:
use FindBin;
FindBin::again(); # or FindBin->again;
In former versions of "FindBin" there was no "again" function. The
workaround was to force the "BEGIN" block to be executed again:
delete $INC{'FindBin.pm'};
require FindBin;
AUTHORS
"FindBin" is supported as part of the core perl distribution. Please
submit bug reports at <https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues>.
Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com> Nick Ing-Simmons <nik@tiuk.ti.com>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1995 Graham Barr & Nick Ing-Simmons. All rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
perl v5.40.1 2026-08-30 FindBin(3perl)
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