Problem
Which Python module can I use to extract filenames from paths, regardless of what operating system I’m using or what path format I’m using?
For example, I’d like c: to be returned by all of these pathways.
a/b/c/
a/b/c
\a\b\c
\a\b\c\
a\b\c
a/b/../../a/b/c/
a/b/../../a/b/c
Asked by BuZz
Solution #1
In fact, there’s a function that does exactly what you’re looking for.
import os
print(os.path.basename(your_path))
WARNING: When using os.path.basename() to get the base name from a Windows styled path (e.g. “C:myfile.txt”) on a POSIX system, the complete path will be returned.
Below is an example of an interactive Python shell on a Linux host:
Python 3.8.2 (default, Mar 13 2020, 10:14:16)
[GCC 9.3.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import os
>>> filepath = "C:\\my\\path\\to\\file.txt" # A Windows style file path.
>>> os.path.basename(filepath)
'C:\\my\\path\\to\\file.txt'
Answered by stranac
Solution #2
Others’ suggestions of using os.path.split or os.path.basename won’t always work: if you run the script on Linux and try to process a standard Windows-style path, it will fail.
The path separator in Windows paths can be either a backslash or a forward slash. As a result, on all systems, the ntpath module (which is similar to os.path on Windows) will function for all(1) paths.
import ntpath
ntpath.basename("a/b/c")
Of course, if the file ends with a slash, the basename will be empty, so make your own function to deal with it:
def path_leaf(path):
head, tail = ntpath.split(path)
return tail or ntpath.basename(head)
Verification:
>>> paths = ['a/b/c/', 'a/b/c', '\\a\\b\\c', '\\a\\b\\c\\', 'a\\b\\c',
... 'a/b/../../a/b/c/', 'a/b/../../a/b/c']
>>> [path_leaf(path) for path in paths]
['c', 'c', 'c', 'c', 'c', 'c', 'c']
(1) One caveat: filenames on Linux may contain backslashes. So on linux, r’a/b\c’ always refers to the file b\c in the a folder, while on Windows, it always refers to the c file in the b subfolder of the a folder. So when both forward and backward slashes are used in a path, you need to know the associated platform to be able to interpret it correctly. In practice it’s usually safe to assume it’s a windows path since backslashes are seldom used in Linux filenames, but keep this in mind when you code so you don’t create accidental security holes.
Answered by Lauritz V. Thaulow
Solution #3
The function you’re looking for is os.path.split.
head, tail = os.path.split("/tmp/d/a.dat")
>>> print(tail)
a.dat
>>> print(head)
/tmp/d
Answered by Jakob Bowyer
Solution #4
In python 3
>>> from pathlib import Path
>>> Path("/tmp/d/a.dat").name
'a.dat'
Answered by Kishan B
Solution #5
import os
head, tail = os.path.split('path/to/file.exe')
tail is what you want, the filename.
For further information, see the python os module documentation.
Answered by number5
Post is based on https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8384737/extract-file-name-from-path-no-matter-what-the-os-path-format