Strange path separators on Windows

Question

I an running this code:

#!/usr/bin/python      coding=utf8
#  test.py = to demo fault
def loadFile(path):
    f = open(path,\'r\')
    text = f.read()
    re         


        

Answer 1

The backslash \ is an escape character in Python. So your actual filepath is going to be D:\work\Kindle\srcs<tab>est1.html. Use os.sep, escape the backslashes with \\ or use a raw string by having r'some text'.

Answer 2

Gotcha — backslashes in Windows filenames provides an interesting overview.

Answer 3

You need to escape backslashes in paths with an extra backslash... like you've done for '\\test1.html'.

'\t' is the escape sequence for a tab character.

'D:\work\Kindle\srcs\test1.html is essentially 'D:\work\Kindle\srcs est1.html'.

You could also use raw literals, r'\test1.html' expands to:

'\\test1.html'

Answer 4

The backslash is an escape character when the next character combination would result in a special meaning. Take the following examples:

>>> '\r'
'\r'
>>> '\n'
'\n'
>>> '\b'
'\x08'
>>> '\c'
'\\c'
>>>

r, n, and b all have special meanings when preceded by a backslash. The same is true for t, which would produce a tab. You either need to A. Double all your backslashes, for consistency, because '\\' will produce a backslash, or, B, use raw strings: r'c:\path\to\my\file.txt'. The preceding r will prompt the interpreter not to evaluate back slashes as escape sequences, preventing the \t from appearing as a tab.

Answer 5

Use raw strings for Windows paths:

path = r'D:\work\Kindle\srcs\test1.html'

Otherwise the \t piece of your string will be interpreted as a Tab character.

Answer 6

In addition to using a raw string (prefix string with the r character), the os.path module may be helpful to automatically provide OS-correct slashes when building a pathname.