Python Tips - Path Management With Pathlib
In the os module, you can find a lot of things:
- the environment variables (
os.environ) - a basic path management system (
os.path.(...)) - function the current numeric umask and return the previous umask (
os.umask(mask))
There is a more conveniant way to manage path, the pathlib package.
Let's import it !
>>>import pathlib
To create a path juste use the pathlib.Path class:
>>>bashrc_path = pathlib.Path("/home/slash/.bashrc")
The real type of bashrc_path will depend on your plateform
Here is the class inheritance diagram :
So how do we use it ?
You can combine two path with this operator: / , here is an exemple.
>>>init_path = pathlib.Path("/home/slash/.bashrc")
>>>bashrc_file_path = pathlib.Path(".bashrc")
>>>bashrc_path = init_path / bashrc_file_path
Parts
You can access the differents parts of a path :
>>> p = pathlib.Path('/usr/bin/python3')
>>> p.parts
('/', 'usr', 'bin', 'python3')
Methods and properties
We will setup the path test_path like shown below for this section:
>>> test_path = pathlib.Path("/home/slash/Documents/rendu.xls")
Root
>>> test_path.root
'/'
Parent
>>> test_path.parent
PurePosixPath('/home/slash/Documents')
Name
This is the name of the file is it's a file
>>> test_path.name
'rendu.xls'
Stem
>>> test_path.stem
'rendu'
This is just a very tiny part of what pathlib is capable, you will find the documentation for Python 3.8.4 here: https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html?highlight=pathlib#module-pathlib
Pathlib was in Python In The Morning ! You can find the corresponding section here
You made it to the end, bravo! If you have any questions, don't forget to ask. See you next time! If you spot a grammar or vocabulary mistake, please let me know in the comments.
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