Module posixpath

Common operations on Posix pathnames.

Instead of importing this module directly, import os and refer to this module as os.path. The "os.path" name is an alias for this module on Posix systems; on other systems (e.g. Mac, Windows), os.path provides the same operations in a manner specific to that platform, and is an alias to another module (e.g. macpath, ntpath).

Some of this can actually be useful on non-Posix systems too, e.g. for manipulation of the pathname component of URLs.

Functions

[hide private]

normcase(s)
Normalize case of pathname.

isabs(s)
Test whether a path is absolute

join(a, *p)
Join two or more pathname components, inserting '/' as needed

split(p)
Split a pathname.

splitext(p)
Split the extension from a pathname.

splitdrive(p)
Split a pathname into drive and path.

basename(p)
Returns the final component of a pathname

dirname(p)
Returns the directory component of a pathname

commonprefix(m)
Given a list of pathnames, returns the longest common leading component

getsize(filename)
Return the size of a file, reported by os.stat().

getmtime(filename)
Return the last modification time of a file, reported by os.stat().

getatime(filename)
Return the last access time of a file, reported by os.stat().

getctime(filename)
Return the metadata change time of a file, reported by os.stat().

islink(path)
Test whether a path is a symbolic link

exists(path)
Test whether a path exists.

lexists(path)
Test whether a path exists.

isdir(path)
Test whether a path is a directory

isfile(path)
Test whether a path is a regular file

samefile(f1, f2)
Test whether two pathnames reference the same actual file

sameopenfile(fp1, fp2)
Test whether two open file objects reference the same file

samestat(s1, s2)
Test whether two stat buffers reference the same file

ismount(path)
Test whether a path is a mount point

walk(top, func, arg)
Directory tree walk with callback function.

expanduser(path)
Expand ~ and ~user constructions.

expandvars(path)
Expand shell variables of form $var and ${var}.

normpath(path)
Normalize path, eliminating double slashes, etc.

abspath(path)
Return an absolute path.

realpath(filename)
Return the canonical path of the specified filename, eliminating any symbolic links encountered in the path.

_resolve_link(path)
Internal helper function.

Variables

[hide private]

curdir = '.'

pardir = '..'

extsep = '.'

sep = '/'

pathsep = ':'

defpath = ':/bin:/usr/bin'

altsep = None

devnull = '/dev/null'

_varprog = None

supports_unicode_filenames = False

Imports: os, stat

Function Details

[hide private]

normcase(s)

Normalize case of pathname. Has no effect under Posix

split(p)

Split a pathname. Returns tuple "(head, tail)" where "tail" is everything after the final slash. Either part may be empty.

splitext(p)

Split the extension from a pathname. Extension is everything from the last dot to the end. Returns "(root, ext)", either part may be empty.

splitdrive(p)

Split a pathname into drive and path. On Posix, drive is always empty.

exists(path)

Test whether a path exists. Returns False for broken symbolic links

lexists(path)

Test whether a path exists. Returns True for broken symbolic links

walk(top, func, arg)

Directory tree walk with callback function.

For each directory in the directory tree rooted at top (including top itself, but excluding '.' and '..'), call func(arg, dirname, fnames). dirname is the name of the directory, and fnames a list of the names of the files and subdirectories in dirname (excluding '.' and '..'). func may modify the fnames list in-place (e.g. via del or slice assignment), and walk will only recurse into the subdirectories whose names remain in fnames; this can be used to implement a filter, or to impose a specific order of visiting. No semantics are defined for, or required of, arg, beyond that arg is always passed to func. It can be used, e.g., to pass a filename pattern, or a mutable object designed to accumulate statistics. Passing None for arg is common.

expanduser(path)

Expand ~ and ~user constructions. If user or $HOME is unknown, do nothing.

expandvars(path)

Expand shell variables of form $var and ${var}. Unknown variables are left unchanged.

_resolve_link(path)

Internal helper function. Takes a path and follows symlinks until we either arrive at something that isn't a symlink, or encounter a path we've seen before (meaning that there's a loop).