OS Path module in Python

OS Path module contains some useful functions on pathnames. The path parameters are either strings or bytes. These functions here are used for different purposes such as for merging, normalizing, and retrieving path names in Python. All of these functions accept either only bytes or only string objects as their parameters. The result is an object of the same type if a path or file name is returned. As there are different versions of the operating system there are several versions of this module in the standard library. In this article, we will start working with Paths in the Python OS Module.

Working with Paths in Python OS Module

Below are some OS Path functions by which we can do Path Manipulation in the Python OS Module:

• os.path.basename(path)
• os.path.dirname(path)
• os.path.isabs(path)
• os.path.isdir(path)
• os.path.isfile(path)
• os.path.normcase(path)
• os.path.normpath(path)

os.path.basename(path)

os.path.basename(path) is used to return the basename of the file. This function returns the file name from the path given.

# basename function
import os
out = os.path.basename("/baz/foo")
print(out)

foo

os.path.dirname(path)

os.path.dirname(path) is used to return the directory name from the path given. This function returns the name from the path except the path name. 

# dirname function
import os
out = os.path.dirname("/baz/foo")
print(out)

/baz

os.path.isabs(path)

os.path.isabs(path) specifies whether the path is absolute or not. In Unix system absolute path means path begins with the slash('/') and in Windows that it begins with a (back)slash after chopping off a potential drive letter. 

# isabs function
import os
out = os.path.isabs("/baz/foo")
print(out)

True

os.path.isdir(path)

os.path.isdir(path) function specifies whether the path is existing directory or not. 

# isdir function
import os
out = os.path.isdir("C:\\Users")
print(out)

Output:

True

os.path.isfile(path)

os.path.isfile(path) function specifies whether the path is existing file or not. 

# isfile function
import os
out = os.path.isfile("C:\\Users\foo.csv")
print(out)

Output: 

True

os.path.normcase(path)

os.path.normcase(path) function normalizes the case of the pathname specified. In Unix and Mac OS X system it returns the pathname as it is . But in Windows it converts the path to lowercase and forward slashes to backslashes. 

# normcase function in windows
import os
out = os.path.normcase("/BAz")
print(out)

Output:

'\\baz'

os.path.normpath(path)

os.path.normpath(path) function normalizes the path names by collapsing redundant separators and up-level references so that A//B, A/B/, A/./B and A/foo/../B all become A/B. On Windows, it converts forward slashes to backward slashes . 

# normpath function in Unix
import os
out = os.path.normpath("foo/./bar")
print(out)

Output: 

'foo/bar'