The path Package

path works on slash-separated paths: URLs, import paths, and anything else that always uses "/". For files on disk, reach for path/filepath instead.

Examples

Join glues elements together and cleans the result, so .. is resolved and duplicate slashes collapse.

fmt.Println(path.Join("a", "b", "..", "c"))
fmt.Println(path.Clean("//a//b/../c/"))
fmt.Println(path.IsAbs("/etc"), path.IsAbs("etc"))

Output

a/c
/a/c
true false

Base, Dir, and Ext pull the pieces apart. Split returns the directory and file in one call, with the directory keeping its trailing slash.

p := "/usr/local/bin/go"

fmt.Println(path.Base(p))
fmt.Println(path.Dir(p))
fmt.Println(path.Ext("archive.tar.gz"))

dir, file := path.Split(p)
fmt.Printf("%q %q\n", dir, file)

Output

go
/usr/local/bin
.gz
"/usr/local/bin/" "go"

Match tests a name against a shell pattern. The star stops at a slash, so it never matches across directory boundaries.

ok, _ := path.Match("*.go", "main.go")
fmt.Println(ok)

// * does not cross a slash
ok, _ = path.Match("*.go", "cmd/main.go")
fmt.Println(ok)

Output

true
false

Function	Description
Join(elem ...string) string `path.Join("a", "b", "..", "c") // "a/c"`	Joins the elements with slashes and cleans the result. Empty elements are dropped.
Split(p string) (dir, file string) `path.Split("/usr/bin/go") // "/usr/bin/", "go"`	Splits after the final slash. dir keeps its trailing slash.
Base(p string) string `path.Base("/usr/bin/go") // "go"`	The last element. Returns "." for an empty path and "/" for a path of all slashes.
Dir(p string) string `path.Dir("/usr/bin/go") // "/usr/bin"`	Everything but the last element, cleaned.
Ext(p string) string `path.Ext("archive.tar.gz") // ".gz"`	The extension including the dot, taken from the final dot in the last element.
Clean(p string) string `path.Clean("//a//b/../c/") // "/a/c"`	Removes duplicate slashes, . elements, and resolves .. lexically without touching the filesystem.
IsAbs(p string) bool	Reports whether the path begins with a slash.
Match(pattern, name string) (bool, error) `path.Match("*.go", "main.go") // true`	Reports whether name matches a shell pattern. * does not cross slashes.

Related: path/filepath os strings

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