"pathlib.Path" - Path for Both Linux and Windows

Python Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟"pathlib" - Object-Oriented Filesystem Paths

∟"pathlib.Path" - Path for Both Linux and Windows

This section describes the 'Path' class which represents a concrete path for Windows or Unix/Linux systems.

What Is "pathlib.Path" Class? "pathlib.Path" is a class representing concrete path for Windows or Unix/Linux systems.

Main features of "pathlib.Path" are:

1. Automatically detects operating system type and wraps WindowsPath or PosixPath for you. For example:

>>> from pathlib import Path

# A PosixPath object for "/Users/Herong" on Unix/Linux
>>> p = Path('/Users/Herong')
>>> p
PosixPath('/Users/Herong')
>>> str(p)
'/Users/Herong'

# A WindowsPath object for "\Users\Herong" on Windows
>>> p = Path('/Users/Herong')
>>> p
PosixPath('/Users/Herong')
>>> str(p)
'\\Users\\Herong'

Note that Python display "\" as an escape sequence of "\\" on the screen.

2. Uses "/" as the generic path delimiter for both Windows and Unix/Linux systems. See above example.

3. Supports the "/" operator to join sub directory and file names for creating new path objects. For example:

# A PosixPath object for "/Users/Herong" on Unix/Linux
>>> p = Path('.') / 'src' / 'hello.py'
>>> str(p)
'src/hello.py'

# A WindowsPath object for "\Users\Herong" on Windows
>>> p = Path('.') / 'src' / 'hello.py'
>>> str(p)
'src\\hello.py'

4. Automatically detects absolute and relative paths and assigns "/" as the root for absolute paths. For example:

>>> Path('tmp/hello.py').is_absolute()
False
>>> Path('tmp/hello.py').root
''

>>> Path('/tmp/hello.py').is_absolute()
True
>>> Path('/tmp/hello.py').root
'/'

4. Offers a number of nice properties.

anchor - Property holding the combination of drive and root components of this path.
drive - Property holding the drive letter component of Windows paths. For example, 'c:' for paths on drive C:.
name - Property holding the last part of this path.
parent - Property holding the parent path object of this path.
root - Property holding the root of this path: '' for relative paths, '/' for absolute Unix/Linux paths, '\\' for absolute Windows paths.
stem - Property holding the stem part of this name without the suffix.
suffix - Property holding the extension part starting from the last "." in this name.

5. Offers a number of methods to manage path objects.

as_uri() - Method returns the URI string of this path.
chmod(mode) - Method changes the permission mode of this path.
cwd() - Method returns an absolute path object for the current working directory.
exists() - Method returns "True" if this path exists on the system, and "False" if it does not.
exists() - Method returns "True" if this path exists on the system. Otherwise it returns "False".
glob(pattern) - Method returns a list of relative path objects that match the given pattern under this path.
home() - Method returns an absolute path object for the home directory of the current user.
is_absolute() - Method returns "True" if this path is an absolute path. Otherwise it returns "False".
is_dir() - Method returns "True" if this path is a directory. Otherwise it returns "False".
is_file() - Method returns "True" if this path is a file. Otherwise it returns "False".
joinpath(part1, part2, ...) - Method returns a new path object by appending more parts to this path.
stat() - Method returns an os.stat_result object containing information about this path.
with_name(name) - Method returns a new path object with name changed the given name.
with_stem(name) - Method returns a new path object with stem changed the given stem.
with_suffix(suffix) - Method returns a new path object with suffix changed the given suffix.