Path Separator in Python 3

Question

I have two strings:

C:\Data

and another folder

Foo1

I need, the windows output to be

C:\Data\Foo1

and the Linux output to be

/data/foo1

assuming /data is in linux. Is there any constant separator that can be used in Python, that makes it easy to use irrespective of underlying OS?

score 19 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '12 at 02:12

19

Yes, python provides os.sep, which is that character, but for your purpose, the function os.path.join() is what you are looking for.

>>> os.path.join("data", "foo1")
"data/foo1"

answered Nov 12 '12 at 02:12

Gareth Latty

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I got: TypeError: join() missing 1 required positional argument: 'a' – Romaan Nov 12 '12 at 02:15
1

@Romaan Please go back and read the documentation, then try to use the function. – Gareth Latty Nov 12 '12 at 02:15

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 12 '12 at 02:20

4

os.path.normpath() will normalize a path correctly for Linux and Windows. FYI, Windows OS calls can use either slash, but should be displayed to the user normalized.

answered Nov 12 '12 at 02:20

Mark Tolonen

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score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 12 '12 at 09:17

The os.path.join() is always better. As Mark Tolonen wrote (my +1 to him), you can use a normal slash also for Windows, and you should prefer this way if you have to write the path explicitly. You should avoid using the backslash for paths in Python at all. Or you would have to double them in strings or you would have to use r'raw strings' to suppress the backslash interpretation. Otherwise, 'c:\for\a_path\like\this' actually contains \f, \a, and \t escape sequences that you may not notice in the time of writing... and they may be source of headaches in future.

Path Separator in Python 3

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