How to manipulate pathnames using Python?

In this article, we will learn to manipulate pathnames using Python.

Here are some different examples mentioned below -

• Get the main file name from the file path

• Get directory name from file path

• Connect path components together

• Expand the user's home directory

• Separate file extension from file path

Algorithm (steps)

Below are the algorithms/steps that need to be followed to perform the required task. -

• Use the import keyword to import the os module.

• Create a variable to store the input file path.

• Use the basename() function of the os module (which returns the base name of the given file path) to get the last component of the input file path (the main file name) and print it out.

Get the main file name from the file path

Example

The following program uses the os.path.basename() function to return the main file name from the input file -

# importing os module
import os
 
# input path of the file 
inputFilepath = 'C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/tutorialsPoint.pdf'

# Printing the given input path
print("Give Input Path is:",inputFilepath)

# getting the last component(main file name )of the input file path
print("Base Name of the given path is :",os.path.basename(inputFilepath))

Output

When executed, the above program will generate the following output -

Give Input Path is: C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/tutorialsPoint.pdf
Base Name of the given path is:  tutorialsPoint.pdf

Get directory name from file path

Use the os.path.dirname() function (which returns the directory name from the given file path) to get the directory/folder of the given input file path by passing it as an argument.

Example

The following program uses the os.path.dirname() function to return the directory name from the input file path -

# importing os module
import os
 
# input path of the file 
inputFilepath =  'C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/tutorialsPoint.pdf'
# Printing the given input path
print("Give Input Path is:",inputFilepath)

# getting the directory/folder path from the input file path using dirname() function
print("Directory path of the given path is: ",os.path.dirname(inputFilepath))

Output

When executed, the above program will generate the following output -

Give Input Path is: C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/tutorialsPoint.pdf
Directory path of the given path is:  C:/Users/cirus/Desktop

Connect path components together

os.path.join() function

Python’s os.path.join() function effectively joins one or more path components. This method joins different path components by placing a directory separator ('/') after each non-empty portion except the last. When the last path component to be added is empty, add a directory separator ("/") at the end.

If the path component represents an absolute path, all previously connected components will be removed and the connection will continue starting from the absolute path component.

Example

The following program uses the os.path.join() function to join the given path components with the base name -

# importing os module
import os
 
# input path of the file 
inputFilepath = 'C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/kohli.pdf'
# Printing the given input path
print("Give Input Path is:",inputFilepath)

# joining the components to the main file name of the input file path 
print("Joining the given paths to input Path:\n",
   os.path.join('tutorials', 'python', os.path.basename(inputFilepath)))

Output

When executed, the above program will generate the following output -

Give Input Path is: C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/kohli.pdf
Joining the given paths to input Path:
 tutorials/python/kohli.pdf

Expand the user's home directory

os.path.expanduser() function

Python function os.path.expanduser() Expands the initial path ~ (tilde) or ~user in the specified path to the user's home directory.

grammar

The following is the syntax of this function.

os.path.expanduser(path)

Example

The following program uses the expanduser() function to return the expanded path of the user's home directory -

# importing os module
import os
# input path of the file 
inputFilepath =  '~/Users/cirus'
# Printing the given input path
print("Give Input Path is:",inputFilepath)

# Expanding the user's home directory
print("Expanded Path is:\n",os.path.expanduser(inputFilepath))

Output

When executed, the above program will generate the following output -

Give Input Path is: ~/Users/cirus
Expanded Path is:
 /root/Users/cirus

Separate file extension from file path

os.path.splitext() function - Splits a file pathname into a pair of root and extension. The root here is everything except the file extension.

If the given file path has no extension, the extension will be empty. If a given path has a leading period ("."), the path is ignored.

grammar

The following is the syntax of this function.

os.path.splitext(path)

Use the os.path.splitext() function to split the file path and file extension from the input file path.

Example

The following program uses the os.path.splitext() function to split the main file path and file extension from the input file path -

# importing os module
import os
# input path of the file 
inputFilepath ='C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/tutorialsPoint.pdf'
# Printing the given input path
print("Give Input Path is:",inputFilepath)

# splitting the file path and file extension from the input file path
# using the splitext() function 
print("Splitting the given path by extension:\n",os.path.splitext(inputFilepath))

Output

When executed, the above program will generate the following output -

Give Input Path is: C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/tutorialsPoint.pdf
Splitting the given path by extension:
 ('C:/Users/cirus/Desktop/tutorialsPoint', '.pdf')

in conclusion

In this article, we learned how to use OS modules to modify pathnames. From the file path, we learned how to extract the main (base) file name and directory name. We learned how to combine the component name of a path with the path. The user home directory expansion process is discussed. Finally, we found out how to separate the file path from the extension.

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