When multiple directories need to be concatenated, as in an executable search path, there is an os-dependent separator character. For Windows it's ';', for Linux it's ':'. Is there a way in Python to get which character to split on?
In the discussions to this question How do I find out my python path using python? , it is suggested that os.sep will do it. That answer is wrong, since it is the separator for components of a directory or filename and equates to '\\' or '/'.
The character conventionally used by the operating system to separate search path components (as in PATH), such as
':'for POSIX or';'for Windows. Also available via os.path.
os.sep or os.path.sep is what you need for filesystem paths.
os.pathsep is : or ; while os.path.sep is \\ or / - sometimes the names in Python strike me as shockingly poorly chosen. That . makes way too big of a difference.
os.sep and os.path.sep, which are equal, as well as os.pathsep and os.path.pathsep which are also equal. Why would they do this?It is os.pathsep
OK, so there are:
os.pathsep that is ; and which is a separator in the PATH environment variable;os.path.sep that is / in Unix/Linux and \ in Windows, which is a separator between path components.The similarity is a source of confusion.
-1 for the python filesystem author. Guido is that you?
os! That's os.sep and os.altsep They're identical to the ones under os.path as listed in the docs Maybe that's a little less confusing?
os.pathsep and os.path.pathsep and os.sep and os.path.sep. So to make it less confusing, pick one location to use and stick to it.Making it a little more explicit (For python newbies like me)
import os
print(os.pathsep)
This is a sample path for your working directory/specific folder -
import os
my = os.pathsep+ "testImages" + os.pathsep + "imageHidden.png"
print(my)
Output for Linux-
:testImages:imageHidden.png
Output for Windows-
;testImages;imageHidden.png
