Unusual path joining in python's os library

Question

I am trying this in Windows 8.1, with python v.3.4. The os.path module has a join method which, according to the documentation, is a safe way to join fragments of files or folders without mixing up back and forward slashes. In the code snippet below I am trying to join a file and a folder:-

>>> photo = r"\camera\picnic.jpg"
>>> folder = os.getcwd()
>>> print(folder)
C:\Users\Renae
>>> path = os.path.join(folder, photo)
>>> print(path)
C:\camera\picnic.jpg

And boom goes the dynamite. I was expecting path to be C:\Users\Renae\camera\picnic.jpg. I've tried removing the r in front of photo with no results. I've also tried backslashes even though Windows uses forward slashes which made it worse. The result was a mix of back and forward slashes. If I remember correctly this was not a problem in Linux.

Ned Rockson · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-14 00:55:43Z

2

Try removing the initial slash.

I can't speak for windows because it's been a long time since working on windows, but in *nix systems, starting a path with a slash signifies the root of the file system. I'm guessing that the implementation in python (and possibly more languages) use this convention on windows as well. I don't have a windows box to verify this on though.

edited Jul 14, 2015 at 0:55

answered Jul 14, 2015 at 0:21

Ned Rockson

1,1757 silver badges16 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Renae Lider Over a year ago

The reason why I used r is to avoid cases like folder\night\update.dat. Here \n and \u will be wrongly interpreted by python's internal processing.

Ned Rockson Over a year ago

Ah of course, I forgot you're using backslashes -- my fault. Definitely remove the initial backslash though and you should be good to go.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Unusual path joining in python's os library

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Related