`pathlib` — Object-oriented filesystem paths¶

New in version 3.4.

This module offers classes representing filesystem paths with semantics appropriate for different operating systems. Path classes are divided between pure paths, which provide purely computational operations without I/O, and concrete paths, which inherit from pure paths but also provide I/O operations.

If you’ve never used this module before or just aren’t sure which class is right for your task, Path is most likely what you need. It instantiates a concrete path for the platform the code is running on.

Pure paths are useful in some special cases; for example:

If you want to manipulate Windows paths on a Unix machine (or vice versa). You cannot instantiate a WindowsPath when running on Unix, but you can instantiate PureWindowsPath.
You want to make sure that your code only manipulates paths without actually accessing the OS. In this case, instantiating one of the pure classes may be useful since those simply don’t have any OS-accessing operations.

Basic use¶

Importing the main class:

>>> from pathlib import Path

Listing subdirectories:

>>> p = Path('.')
>>> [x for x in p.iterdir() if x.is_dir()]
[PosixPath('.hg'), PosixPath('docs'), PosixPath('dist'),
 PosixPath('__pycache__'), PosixPath('build')]

Listing Python source files in this directory tree:

>>> list(p.glob('**/*.py'))
[PosixPath('test_pathlib.py'), PosixPath('setup.py'),
 PosixPath('pathlib.py'), PosixPath('docs/conf.py'),
 PosixPath('build/lib/pathlib.py')]

Navigating inside a directory tree:

>>> p = Path('/etc')
>>> q = p / 'init.d' / 'reboot'
>>> q
PosixPath('/etc/init.d/reboot')
>>> q.resolve()
PosixPath('/etc/rc.d/init.d/halt')

Querying path properties:

>>> q.exists()
True
>>> q.is_dir()
False

Opening a file:

>>> with q.open() as f: f.readline()
...
'#!/bin/bash\n'

Pure paths¶

Pure path objects provide path-handling operations which don’t actually access a filesystem. There are three ways to access these classes, which we also call flavours:

class pathlib.PurePath(*pathsegments)¶

A generic class that represents the system’s path flavour (instantiating it creates either a PurePosixPath or a PureWindowsPath):

>>> PurePath('setup.py')      # Running on a Unix machine
PurePosixPath('setup.py')

Each element of pathsegments can be either a string representing a path segment, an object implementing the os.PathLike interface which returns a string, or another path object:

>>> PurePath('foo', 'some/path', 'bar')
PurePosixPath('foo/some/path/bar')
>>> PurePath(Path('foo'), Path('bar'))
PurePosixPath('foo/bar')

When pathsegments is empty, the current directory is assumed:

>>> PurePath()
PurePosixPath('.')

If a segment is an absolute path, all previous segments are ignored (like os.path.join()):

>>> PurePath('/etc', '/usr', 'lib64')
PurePosixPath('/usr/lib64')
>>> PureWindowsPath('c:/Windows', 'd:bar')
PureWindowsPath('d:bar')

On Windows, the drive is not reset when a rooted relative path segment (e.g., r'\foo') is encountered:

>>> PureWindowsPath('c:/Windows', '/Program Files')
PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files')

Spurious slashes and single dots are collapsed, but double dots ('..') and leading double slashes ('//') are not, since this would change the meaning of a path for various reasons (e.g. symbolic links, UNC paths):

>>> PurePath('foo//bar')
PurePosixPath('foo/bar')
>>> PurePath('//foo/bar')
PurePosixPath('//foo/bar')
>>> PurePath('foo/./bar')
PurePosixPath('foo/bar')
>>> PurePath('foo/../bar')
PurePosixPath('foo/../bar')

(a naïve approach would make PurePosixPath('foo/../bar') equivalent to PurePosixPath('bar'), which is wrong if foo is a symbolic link to another directory)

Pure path objects implement the os.PathLike interface, allowing them to be used anywhere the interface is accepted.

Changed in version 3.6: Added support for the os.PathLike interface.

class pathlib.PurePosixPath(*pathsegments)¶

A subclass of PurePath, this path flavour represents non-Windows filesystem paths:

>>> PurePosixPath('/etc')
PurePosixPath('/etc')

pathsegments is specified similarly to PurePath.

class pathlib.PureWindowsPath(*pathsegments)¶

A subclass of PurePath, this path flavour represents Windows filesystem paths, including UNC paths:

>>> PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files/')
PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files')
>>> PureWindowsPath('//server/share/file')
PureWindowsPath('//server/share/file')

pathsegments is specified similarly to PurePath.

Regardless of the system you’re running on, you can instantiate all of these classes, since they don’t provide any operation that does system calls.

General properties¶

Paths are immutable and hashable. Paths of a same flavour are comparable and orderable. These properties respect the flavour’s case-folding semantics:

>>> PurePosixPath('foo') == PurePosixPath('FOO')
False
>>> PureWindowsPath('foo') == PureWindowsPath('FOO')
True
>>> PureWindowsPath('FOO') in { PureWindowsPath('foo') }
True
>>> PureWindowsPath('C:') < PureWindowsPath('d:')
True

Paths of a different flavour compare unequal and cannot be ordered:

>>> PureWindowsPath('foo') == PurePosixPath('foo')
False
>>> PureWindowsPath('foo') < PurePosixPath('foo')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: '<' not supported between instances of 'PureWindowsPath' and 'PurePosixPath'

Operators¶

The slash operator helps create child paths, like os.path.join(). If the argument is an absolute path, the previous path is ignored. On Windows, the drive is not reset when the argument is a rooted relative path (e.g., r'\foo'):

>>> p = PurePath('/etc')
>>> p
PurePosixPath('/etc')
>>> p / 'init.d' / 'apache2'
PurePosixPath('/etc/init.d/apache2')
>>> q = PurePath('bin')
>>> '/usr' / q
PurePosixPath('/usr/bin')
>>> p / '/an_absolute_path'
PurePosixPath('/an_absolute_path')
>>> PureWindowsPath('c:/Windows', '/Program Files')
PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files')

A path object can be used anywhere an object implementing os.PathLike is accepted:

>>> import os
>>> p = PurePath('/etc')
>>> os.fspath(p)
'/etc'

The string representation of a path is the raw filesystem path itself (in native form, e.g. with backslashes under Windows), which you can pass to any function taking a file path as a string:

>>> p = PurePath('/etc')
>>> str(p)
'/etc'
>>> p = PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files')
>>> str(p)
'c:\\Program Files'

Similarly, calling bytes on a path gives the raw filesystem path as a bytes object, as encoded by os.fsencode():

>>> bytes(p)
b'/etc'

Note

Calling bytes is only recommended under Unix. Under Windows, the unicode form is the canonical representation of filesystem paths.

Accessing individual parts¶

To access the individual “parts” (components) of a path, use the following property:

PurePath.parts¶

A tuple giving access to the path’s various components:

>>> p = PurePath('/usr/bin/python3')
>>> p.parts
('/', 'usr', 'bin', 'python3')

>>> p = PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files/PSF')
>>> p.parts
('c:\\', 'Program Files', 'PSF')

(note how the drive and local root are regrouped in a single part)

Methods and properties¶

Pure paths provide the following methods and properties:

PurePath.drive¶

A string representing the drive letter or name, if any:

>>> PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files/').drive
'c:'
>>> PureWindowsPath('/Program Files/').drive
''
>>> PurePosixPath('/etc').drive
''

UNC shares are also considered drives:

>>> PureWindowsPath('//host/share/foo.txt').drive
'\\\\host\\share'

PurePath.root¶

A string representing the (local or global) root, if any:

>>> PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files/').root
'\\'
>>> PureWindowsPath('c:Program Files/').root
''
>>> PurePosixPath('/etc').root
'/'

UNC shares always have a root:

>>> PureWindowsPath('//host/share').root
'\\'

If the path starts with more than two successive slashes, PurePosixPath collapses them:

>>> PurePosixPath('//etc').root
'//'
>>> PurePosixPath('///etc').root
'/'
>>> PurePosixPath('////etc').root
'/'

Note

This behavior conforms to The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, paragraph 4.11 Pathname Resolution:

“A pathname that begins with two successive slashes may be interpreted in an implementation-defined manner, although more than two leading slashes shall be treated as a single slash.”

PurePath.anchor¶

The concatenation of the drive and root:

>>> PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files/').anchor
'c:\\'
>>> PureWindowsPath('c:Program Files/').anchor
'c:'
>>> PurePosixPath('/etc').anchor
'/'
>>> PureWindowsPath('//host/share').anchor
'\\\\host\\share\\'

PurePath.parents¶

An immutable sequence providing access to the logical ancestors of the path:

>>> p = PureWindowsPath('c:/foo/bar/setup.py')
>>> p.parents[0]
PureWindowsPath('c:/foo/bar')
>>> p.parents[1]
PureWindowsPath('c:/foo')
>>> p.parents[2]
PureWindowsPath('c:/')

Changed in version 3.10: The parents sequence now supports slices and negative index values.

PurePath.parent¶

The logical parent of the path:

>>> p = PurePosixPath('/a/b/c/d')
>>> p.parent
PurePosixPath('/a/b/c')

You cannot go past an anchor, or empty path:

>>> p = PurePosixPath('/')
>>> p.parent
PurePosixPath('/')
>>> p = PurePosixPath('.')
>>> p.parent
PurePosixPath('.')

Note

This is a purely lexical operation, hence the following behaviour:

>>> p = PurePosixPath('foo/..')
>>> p.parent
PurePosixPath('foo')

If you want to walk an arbitrary filesystem path upwards, it is recommended to first call Path.resolve() so as to resolve symlinks and eliminate ".." components.

PurePath.name¶

A string representing the final path component, excluding the drive and root, if any:

>>> PurePosixPath('my/library/setup.py').name
'setup.py'

UNC drive names are not considered:

>>> PureWindowsPath('//some/share/setup.py').name
'setup.py'
>>> PureWindowsPath('//some/share').name
''

PurePath.suffix¶

The file extension of the final component, if any:

>>> PurePosixPath('my/library/setup.py').suffix
'.py'
>>> PurePosixPath('my/library.tar.gz').suffix
'.gz'
>>> PurePosixPath('my/library').suffix
''

PurePath.suffixes¶

A list of the path’s file extensions:

>>> PurePosixPath('my/library.tar.gar').suffixes
['.tar', '.gar']
>>> PurePosixPath('my/library.tar.gz').suffixes
['.tar', '.gz']
>>> PurePosixPath('my/library').suffixes
[]

PurePath.stem¶

The final path component, without its suffix:

>>> PurePosixPath('my/library.tar.gz').stem
'library.tar'
>>> PurePosixPath('my/library.tar').stem
'library'
>>> PurePosixPath('my/library').stem
'library'

PurePath.as_posix()¶

Return a string representation of the path with forward slashes (/):

>>> p = PureWindowsPath('c:\\windows')
>>> str(p)
'c:\\windows'
>>> p.as_posix()
'c:/windows'

PurePath.as_uri()¶

Represent the path as a file URI. ValueError is raised if the path isn’t absolute.

>>> p = PurePosixPath('/etc/passwd')
>>> p.as_uri()
'file:///etc/passwd'
>>> p = PureWindowsPath('c:/Windows')
>>> p.as_uri()
'file:///c:/Windows'

PurePath.is_absolute()¶

Return whether the path is absolute or not. A path is considered absolute if it has both a root and (if the flavour allows) a drive:

>>> PurePosixPath('/a/b').is_absolute()
True
>>> PurePosixPath('a/b').is_absolute()
False

>>> PureWindowsPath('c:/a/b').is_absolute()
True
>>> PureWindowsPath('/a/b').is_absolute()
False
>>> PureWindowsPath('c:').is_absolute()
False
>>> PureWindowsPath('//some/share').is_absolute()
True

PurePath.is_relative_to(*other)¶

Return whether or not this path is relative to the other path.

>>> p = PurePath('/etc/passwd')
>>> p.is_relative_to('/etc')
True
>>> p.is_relative_to('/usr')
False

New in version 3.9.

PurePath.is_reserved()¶

With PureWindowsPath, return True if the path is considered reserved under Windows, False otherwise. With PurePosixPath, False is always returned.

>>> PureWindowsPath('nul').is_reserved()
True
>>> PurePosixPath('nul').is_reserved()
False

File system calls on reserved paths can fail mysteriously or have unintended effects.

PurePath.joinpath(*other)¶

Calling this method is equivalent to combining the path with each of the other arguments in turn:

>>> PurePosixPath('/etc').joinpath('passwd')
PurePosixPath('/etc/passwd')
>>> PurePosixPath('/etc').joinpath(PurePosixPath('passwd'))
PurePosixPath('/etc/passwd')
>>> PurePosixPath('/etc').joinpath('init.d', 'apache2')
PurePosixPath('/etc/init.d/apache2')
>>> PureWindowsPath('c:').joinpath('/Program Files')
PureWindowsPath('c:/Program Files')

PurePath.match(pattern)¶

Match this path against the provided glob-style pattern. Return True if matching is successful, False otherwise.

If pattern is relative, the path can be either relative or absolute, and matching is done from the right:

>>> PurePath('a/b.py').match('*.py')
True
>>> PurePath('/a/b/c.py').match('b/*.py')
True
>>> PurePath('/a/b/c.py').match('a/*.py')
False

If pattern is absolute, the path must be absolute, and the whole path must match:

>>> PurePath('/a.py').match('/*.py')
True
>>> PurePath('a/b.py').match('/*.py')
False

As with other methods, case-sensitivity follows platform defaults:

>>> PurePosixPath('b.py').match('*.PY')
False
>>> PureWindowsPath('b.py').match('*.PY')
True

PurePath.relative_to(*other)¶

Compute a version of this path relative to the path represented by other. If it’s impossible, ValueError is raised:

>>> p = PurePosixPath('/etc/passwd')
>>> p.relative_to('/')
PurePosixPath('etc/passwd')
>>> p.relative_to('/etc')
PurePosixPath('passwd')
>>> p.relative_to('/usr')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "pathlib.py", line 694, in relative_to
    .format(str(self), str(formatted)))
ValueError: '/etc/passwd' is not in the subpath of '/usr' OR one path is relative and the other absolute.

NOTE: This function is part of PurePath and works with strings. It does not check or access the underlying file structure.

PurePath.with_name(name)¶

Return a new path with the name changed. If the original path doesn’t have a name, ValueError is raised:

>>> p = PureWindowsPath('c:/Downloads/pathlib.tar.gz')
>>> p.with_name('setup.py')
PureWindowsPath('c:/Downloads/setup.py')
>>> p = PureWindowsPath('c:/')
>>> p.with_name('setup.py')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
  File "/home/antoine/cpython/default/Lib/pathlib.py", line 751, in with_name
    raise 

pathlib — Object-oriented filesystem paths¶

Basic use¶

Pure paths¶

General properties¶

Operators¶

Accessing individual parts¶

Methods and properties¶

`pathlib` — Object-oriented filesystem paths¶