Python pathlib complete guide

Need to work with file paths in Python using modern, cross-platform pathlib instead of os.path.

Pathlib recipes for common operations:

from pathlib import Path

# Create paths
p = Path('src') / 'components' / 'Button.tsx'  # Joins with /
p = Path.home() / '.config' / 'app'            # Home directory
p = Path.cwd() / 'data'                         # Current directory

# Path information
p.name           # 'Button.tsx'
p.stem           # 'Button'
p.suffix         # '.tsx'
p.suffixes       # ['.test', '.tsx'] for 'Button.test.tsx'
p.parent         # Path('src/components')
p.parents[1]     # Path('src')
p.parts          # ('src', 'components', 'Button.tsx')
p.is_absolute()  # False
p.resolve()      # Absolute path, resolves symlinks

# File operations
p.exists()
p.is_file()
p.is_dir()
p.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)  # Like mkdir -p

# Read/write (no open() needed)
text = p.read_text(encoding='utf-8')
p.write_text('content', encoding='utf-8')
bytes_data = p.read_bytes()
p.write_bytes(b'data')

# Glob patterns
list(Path('src').glob('*.py'))           # Direct children
list(Path('src').rglob('*.py'))          # Recursive
list(Path('.').glob('**/*.test.tsx'))     # Recursive glob

# Rename and move
p.rename('new_name.txt')                 # Same directory
p.replace(Path('dest') / p.name)         # Move (overwrites)

# Temporary files
import tempfile
with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(suffix='.json') as f:
    tmp = Path(f.name)

pathlib provides an object-oriented, cross-platform API for filesystem operations. It's more readable than os.path string manipulation.

Python file and path manipulation