Windows path in Python

Question

What is the best way to represent a Windows directory, for example \"C:\\meshes\\as\"? I have been trying to modify a script but it never works because I can\'t

Answer 1

Yes, \ in Python string literals denotes the start of an escape sequence. In your path you have a valid two-character escape sequence \a, which is collapsed into one character that is ASCII Bell:

>>> '\a'
'\x07'
>>> len('\a')
1
>>> 'C:\meshes\as'
'C:\\meshes\x07s'
>>> print('C:\meshes\as')
C:\meshess

Other common escape sequences include \t (tab), \n (line feed), \r (carriage return):

>>> list('C:\test')
['C', ':', '\t', 'e', 's', 't']
>>> list('C:\nest')
['C', ':', '\n', 'e', 's', 't']
>>> list('C:\rest')
['C', ':', '\r', 'e', 's', 't']

As you can see, in all these examples the backslash and the next character in the literal were grouped together to form a single character in the final string. The full list of Python's escape sequences is here.

There are a variety of ways to deal with that:

1. Python will not process escape sequences in string literals prefixed with r or R:

   >>> r'C:\meshes\as'
   'C:\\meshes\\as'
   >>> print(r'C:\meshes\as')
   C:\meshes\as
   

2. Python on Windows should handle forward slashes, too.

3. You could use os.path.join ...

   >>> import os
   >>> os.path.join('C:', os.sep, 'meshes', 'as')
   'C:\\meshes\\as'
   

4. ... or the newer pathlib module

   >>> from pathlib import Path
   >>> Path('C:', '/', 'meshes', 'as')
   WindowsPath('C:/meshes/as')