---
name: "File::Find::Rule::Procedural"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "perl-file-find-rule"
version: "0.35-3"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/File::Find::Rule::Procedural"
---

# File::Find::Rule::Procedural(3pm)

File::Find::Rule's procedural interface

## NAME

File::Find::Rule::Procedural - File::Find::Rule's procedural interface

## SYNOPSIS

```
  use File::Find::Rule;
  # find all .pm files, procedurally
  my @files = find(file => name => '*.pm', in => \@INC);
```

## DESCRIPTION

In addition to the regular object-oriented interface, File::Find::Rule provides two subroutines for you to use.

- find( @clauses )

  - rule( @clauses )

  `"find"` and `"rule"` can be used to invoke any methods available to the OO version.  `"rule"` is a synonym for `"find"`

Passing more than one value to a clause is done with an anonymous array:

```
 my $finder = find( name => [ '*.mp3', '*.ogg' ] );
```

`"find"` and `"rule"` both return a File::Find::Rule instance, unless one of the arguments is `"in"`, in which case it returns a list of things that match the rule.

```
 my @files = find( name => [ '*.mp3', '*.ogg' ], in => $ENV{HOME} );
```

Please note that `"in"` will be the last clause evaluated, and so this code will search for mp3s regardless of size.

```
 my @files = find( name => '*.mp3', in => $ENV{HOME}, size => '<2k' );
                                                    ^
                                                    |
               Clause processing stopped here ------/
```

It is also possible to invert a single rule by prefixing it with `"!"` like so:

```
 # large files that aren't videos
 my @files = find( file    =>
                   '!name' => [ '*.avi', '*.mov' ],
                   size    => '>20M',
                   in      => $ENV{HOME} );
```

## AUTHOR

Richard Clamp \<richardc@unixbeard.net\>

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2003 Richard Clamp.  All Rights Reserved.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

## SEE ALSO

File::Find::Rule