:mod:`os.path` --- Common pathname manipulations
================================================
.. module:: os.path
:synopsis: Operations on pathnames.
.. index:: single: path; operations
This module implements some useful functions on pathnames. To read or
write files see :func:`open`, and for accessing the filesystem see the
:mod:`os` module.
.. note::
On Windows, many of these functions do not properly support UNC pathnames.
:func:`splitunc` and :func:`ismount` do handle them correctly.
Unlike a unix shell, Python does not do any *automatic* path expansions.
Functions such as :func:`expanduser` and :func:`expandvars` can be invoked
explicitly when an application desires shell-like path expansion. (See also
the :mod:`glob` module.)
.. note::
Since different operating systems have different path name conventions, there
are several versions of this module in the standard library. The
:mod:`os.path` module is always the path module suitable for the operating
system Python is running on, and therefore usable for local paths. However,
you can also import and use the individual modules if you want to manipulate
a path that is *always* in one of the different formats. They all have the
same interface:
* :mod:`posixpath` for UNIX-style paths
* :mod:`ntpath` for Windows paths
* :mod:`macpath` for old-style MacOS paths
* :mod:`os2emxpath` for OS/2 EMX paths
.. function:: abspath(path)
Return a normalized absolutized version of the pathname *path*. On most
platforms, this is equivalent to calling the function :func:`normpath` as
follows: ``normpath(join(os.getcwd(), path))``.
.. versionadded:: 1.5.2
.. function:: basename(path)
Return the base name of pathname *path*. This is the second element of the
pair returned by passing *path* to the function :func:`split`. Note that
the result of this function is different
from the Unix :program:`basename` program; where :program:`basename` for
``'/foo/bar/'`` returns ``'bar'``, the :func:`basename` function returns an
empty string (``''``).
.. function:: commonprefix(list)
Return the longest path prefix (taken character-by-character) that is a prefix
of all paths in *list*. If *list* is empty, return the empty string (``''``).
Note that this may return invalid paths because it works a character at a time.
.. function:: dirname(path)
Return the directory name of pathname *path*. This is the first element of
the pair returned by passing *path* to the function :func:`split`.
.. function:: exists(path)
Return ``True`` if *path* refers to an existing path. Returns ``False`` for
broken symbolic links. On some platforms, this function may return ``False`` if
permission is not granted to execute :func:`os.stat` on the requested file, even
if the *path* physically exists.
.. function:: lexists(path)
Return ``True`` if *path* refers to an existing path. Returns ``True`` for
broken symbolic links. Equivalent to :func:`exists` on platforms lacking
:func:`os.lstat`.
.. versionadded:: 2.4
.. function:: expanduser(path)
On Unix and Windows, return the argument with an initial component of ``~`` or
``~user`` replaced by that *user*'s home directory.
.. index:: module: pwd
On Unix, an initial ``~`` is replaced by the environment variable :envvar:`HOME`
if it is set; otherwise the current user's home directory is looked up in the
password directory through the built-in module :mod:`pwd`. An initial ``~user``
is looked up directly in the password directory.
On Windows, :envvar:`HOME` and :envvar:`USERPROFILE` will be used if set,
otherwise a combination of :envvar:`HOMEPATH` and :envvar:`HOMEDRIVE` will be
used. An initial ``~user`` is handled by stripping the last directory component
from the created user path derived above.
If the expansion fails or if the path does not begin with a tilde, the path is
returned unchanged.
.. function:: expandvars(path)
Return the argument with environment variables expanded. Substrings of the form
``$name`` or ``${name}`` are replaced by the value of environment variable
*name*. Malformed variable names and references to non-existing variables are
left unchanged.
On Windows, ``%name%`` expansions are supported in addition to ``$name`` and
``${name}``.
.. function:: getatime(path)
Return the time of last access of *path*. The return value is a number giving
the number of seconds since the epoch (see the :mod:`time` module). Raise
:exc:`os.error` if the file does not exist or is inaccessible.
.. versionadded:: 1.5.2
.. versionchanged:: 2.3
If :func:`os.stat_float_times` returns True, the result is a floating point
number.
.. function:: getmtime(path)
Return the time of last modification of *path*. The return value is a number
giving the number of seconds since the epoch (see the :mod:`time` module).
Raise :exc:`os.error` if the file does not exist or is inaccessible.
.. versionadded:: 1.5.2
.. versionchanged:: 2.3
If :func:`os.stat_float_times` returns True, the result is a floating point
number.
.. function:: getctime(path)
Return the system's ctime which, on some systems (like Unix) is the time of the
last change, and, on others (like Windows), is the creation time for *path*.
The return value is a number giving the number of seconds since the epoch (see
the :mod:`time` module). Raise :exc:`os.error` if the file does not exist or
is inaccessible.
.. versionadded:: 2.3
.. function:: getsize(path)
Return the size, in bytes, of *path*. Raise :exc:`os.error` if the file does
not exist or is inaccessible.
.. versionadded:: 1.5.2
.. function:: isabs(path)
Return ``True`` if *path* is an absolute pathname. On Unix, that means it
begins with a slash, on Windows that it begins with a (back)slash after chopping
off a potential drive letter.
.. function:: isfile(path)
Return ``True`` if *path* is an existing regular file. This follows symbolic
links, so both :func:`islink` and :func:`isfile` can be true for the same path.
.. function:: isdir(path)
Return ``True`` if *path* is an existing directory. This follows symbolic
links, so both :func:`islink` and :func:`isdir` can be true for the same path.
.. function:: islink(path)
Return ``True`` if *path* refers to a directory entry that is a symbolic link.
Always ``False`` if symbolic links are not supported.
.. function:: ismount(path)
Return ``True`` if pathname *path* is a :dfn:`mount point`: a point in a file
system where a different file system has been mounted. The function checks
whether *path*'s parent, :file:`path/..`, is on a different device than *path*,
or whether :file:`path/..` and *path* point to the same i-node on the same
device --- this should detect mount points for all Unix and POSIX variants.
.. function:: join(path1[, path2[, ...]])
Join one or more path components intelligently. If any component is an absolute
path, all previous components (on Windows, including the previous drive letter,
if there was one) are thrown away, and joining continues. The return value is
the concatenation of *path1*, and optionally *path2*, etc., with exactly one
directory separator (``os.sep``) following each non-empty part except the last.
(This means that an empty last part will result in a path that ends with a
separator.) Note that on Windows, since there is a current directory for
each drive, ``os.path.join("c:", "foo")`` represents a path relative to the
current directory on drive :file:`C:` (:file:`c:foo`), not :file:`c:\\foo`.
.. function:: normcase(path)
Normalize the case of a pathname. On Unix and Mac OS X, this returns the
path unchanged; on case-insensitive filesystems, it converts the path to
lowercase. On Windows, it also converts forward slashes to backward slashes.
.. function:: normpath(path)
Normalize a pathname by collapsing redundant separators and up-level
references so that ``A//B``, ``A/B/``, ``A/./B`` and ``A/foo/../B`` all
become ``A/B``. This string manipulation may change the meaning of a path
that contains symbolic links. On Windows, it converts forward slashes to
backward slashes. To normalize case, use :func:`normcase`.
.. function:: realpath(path)
Return the canonical path of the specified filename, eliminating any symbolic
links encountered in the path (if they are supported by the operating system).
.. versionadded:: 2.2
.. function:: relpath(path[, start])
Return a relative filepath to *path* either from the current directory or from
an optional *start* point.
*start* defaults to :attr:`os.curdir`.
Availability: Windows, Unix.
.. versionadded:: 2.6
.. function:: samefile(path1, path2)
Return ``True`` if both pathname arguments refer to the same file or directory
(as indicated by device number and i-node number). Raise an exception if a
:func:`os.stat` call on either pathname fails.
Availability: Unix.
.. function:: sameopenfile(fp1, fp2)
Return ``True`` if the file descriptors *fp1* and *fp2* refer to the same file.
Availability: Unix.
.. function:: samestat(stat1, stat2)
Return ``True`` if the stat tuples *stat1* and *stat2* refer to the same file.
These structures may have been returned by :func:`fstat`, :func:`lstat`, or
:func:`stat`. This function implements the underlying comparison used by
:func:`samefile` and :func:`sameopenfile`.
Availability: Unix.
.. function:: split(path)
Split the pathname *path* into a pair, ``(head, tail)`` where *tail* is the
last pathname component and *head* is everything leading up to that. The
*tail* part will never contain a slash; if *path* ends in a slash, *tail*
will be empty. If there is no slash in *path*, *head* will be empty. If
*path* is empty, both *head* and *tail* are empty. Trailing slashes are
stripped from *head* unless it is the root (one or more slashes only). In
all cases, ``join(head, tail)`` returns a path to the same location as *path*
(but the strings may differ). Also see the functions :func:`dirname` and
:func:`basename`.
.. function:: splitdrive(path)
Split the pathname *path* into a pair ``(drive, tail)`` where *drive* is either
a drive specification or the empty string. On systems which do not use drive
specifications, *drive* will always be the empty string. In all cases, ``drive
+ tail`` will be the same as *path*.
.. versionadded:: 1.3
.. function:: splitext(path)
Split the pathname *path* into a pair ``(root, ext)`` such that ``root + ext ==
path``, and *ext* is empty or begins with a period and contains at most one
period. Leading periods on the basename are ignored; ``splitext('.cshrc')``
returns ``('.cshrc', '')``.
.. versionchanged:: 2.6
Earlier versions could produce an empty root when the only period was the
first character.
.. function:: splitunc(path)
Split the pathname *path* into a pair ``(unc, rest)`` so that *unc* is the UNC
mount point (such as ``r'\\host\mount'``), if present, and *rest* the rest of
the path (such as ``r'\path\file.ext'``). For paths containing drive letters,
*unc* will always be the empty string.
Availability: Windows.
.. function:: walk(path, visit, arg)
Calls the function *visit* with arguments ``(arg, dirname, names)`` for each
directory in the directory tree rooted at *path* (including *path* itself, if it
is a directory). The argument *dirname* specifies the visited directory, the
argument *names* lists the files in the directory (gotten from
``os.listdir(dirname)``). The *visit* function may modify *names* to influence
the set of directories visited below *dirname*, e.g. to avoid visiting certain
parts of the tree. (The object referred to by *names* must be modified in
place, using :keyword:`del` or slice assignment.)
.. note::
Symbolic links to directories are not treated as subdirectories, and that
:func:`walk` therefore will not visit them. To visit linked directories you must
identify them with ``os.path.islink(file)`` and ``os.path.isdir(file)``, and
invoke :func:`walk` as necessary.
.. note::
This function is deprecated and has been removed in Python 3 in favor of
:func:`os.walk`.
.. data:: supports_unicode_filenames
True if arbitrary Unicode strings can be used as file names (within limitations
imposed by the file system).
.. versionadded:: 2.3
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