This module attempts to provide a small, fast utility for working with file paths. It is friendlier to use than the File::Spec manpage and provides easy access to functions from several other core file handling modules.

It doesn't attempt to be as full-featured as the IO::All manpage or the Path::Class manpage, nor does it try to work for anything except Unix-like and Win32 platforms. Even then, it might break if you try something particularly obscure or tortuous. (Quick! What does this mean: '///../../..//./././a//b/.././c/././'? And how does it differ on Win32?)

All paths are forced to have Unix-style forward slashes. Stringifying the object gives you back the path (after some clean up).

File input/output methods 'flock' handles before reading or writing, as appropriate.

The '*_utf8' methods ('slurp_utf8', 'lines_utf8', etc.) operate in raw mode without CRLF translation. Installing the Unicode::UTF8 manpage 0.58 or later will speed up several of them and is highly recommended.