🗂️ Handling File Paths

Python provides powerful tools for working with file and directory paths. The modern pathlib module and traditional os.path module offer cross-platform path handling.

from pathlib import Path

# Basic path operations
file_path = Path('documents/report.txt')
print(f"File name: {file_path.name}")
print(f"Parent directory: {file_path.parent}")
print(f"File exists: {file_path.exists()}")

🎯 Path Modules

Python offers two main approaches for path handling.

Path Creation and Properties

from pathlib import Path

# Creating paths
file_path = Path('documents/reports/annual.txt')
print(f"Path: {file_path}")

# Path properties
print(f"Name: {file_path.name}")
print(f"Suffix: {file_path.suffix}")
print(f"Stem: {file_path.stem}")
print(f"Parent: {file_path.parent}")
print(f"Parts: {file_path.parts}")

Path Operations

# Path operations and checks
print(f"Absolute path: {file_path.absolute()}")
print(f"Exists: {file_path.exists()}")
print(f"Is file: {file_path.is_file()}")
print(f"Is directory: {file_path.is_dir()}")

# Creating new paths from existing
new_path = file_path.with_suffix('.pdf')
print(f"New path: {new_path}")

backup_path = file_path.with_name('backup_' + file_path.name)
print(f"Backup path: {backup_path}")

Path Joining and Navigation

# Joining paths
base_dir = Path('projects')
project_path = base_dir / 'my_project' / 'src' / 'main.py'
print(f"Joined path: {project_path}")

# Current directory operations
current_dir = Path.cwd()
home_dir = Path.home()
print(f"Current directory: {current_dir}")
print(f"Home directory: {home_dir}")

🔍 Advanced Path Operations

Python allows sophisticated path manipulation and file system operations.

Directory Operations

from pathlib import Path

# Directory creation and structure
project_dir = Path('my_project')

# Create directory structure
(project_dir / 'src').mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
(project_dir / 'tests').mkdir(exist_ok=True)
(project_dir / 'docs').mkdir(exist_ok=True)

print(f"Created directory structure in {project_dir}")

# List directory contents
for item in project_dir.iterdir():
    if item.is_dir():
        print(f"Directory: {item.name}")
    else:
        print(f"File: {item.name}")

File Pattern Matching

# Find files with patterns
py_files = list(project_dir.rglob('*.py'))
print(f"Python files: {py_files}")

txt_files = list(project_dir.glob('**/*.txt'))
print(f"Text files: {txt_files}")

# Find files in specific directory
src_files = list((project_dir / 'src').glob('*'))
print(f"Files in src: {src_files}")

Path Validation and Safe Operations

import shutil

# Path validation and normalization
def validate_path(path_str):
    try:
        path = Path(path_str)
        # Resolve to absolute path
        resolved = path.resolve()
        print(f"Resolved path: {resolved}")
        return resolved
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Invalid path: {e}")
        return None

# Safe file operations
def safe_file_operation(source, destination):
    source_path = Path(source)
    dest_path = Path(destination)
    
    if not source_path.exists():
        print(f"Source file {source} does not exist")
        return False
    
    # Create destination directory if needed
    dest_path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    
    try:
        shutil.copy2(source_path, dest_path)
        print(f"Copied {source} to {destination}")
        return True
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Copy failed: {e}")
        return False

validate_path('../documents/file.txt')

Cross-Platform and Relative Paths

import os

# Cross-platform path handling
def get_config_path():
    """Get platform-appropriate config directory"""
    if os.name == 'nt':  # Windows
        return Path.home() / 'AppData' / 'Local' / 'MyApp'
    else:  # Unix-like
        return Path.home() / '.config' / 'myapp'

# Working with relative paths
def make_relative_path(file_path, base_path):
    """Make file_path relative to base_path"""
    try:
        return Path(file_path).relative_to(base_path)
    except ValueError:
        return Path(file_path)

config_dir = get_config_path()
print(f"Config directory: {config_dir}")

rel_path = make_relative_path('/home/user/projects/file.py', '/home/user')
print(f"Relative path: {rel_path}")

📋 Path Methods Reference Table

MethodPurposeExample
.nameFile name with extension'report.txt'
.stemFile name without extension'report'
.suffixFile extension'.txt'
.parentParent directoryPath('docs')
.partsPath components('documents', 'report.txt')
.exists()Check if path existsTrue/False
.is_file()Check if it's a fileTrue/False
.is_dir()Check if it's a directoryTrue/False
.mkdir()Create directoryCreates directory
.iterdir()List directory contentsIterator of paths
.glob()Find files by patternList of matching paths

🎯 Key Takeaways

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