Pathlib

Pathlib is a Python standard library module that provides an object-oriented approach to working with filesystem paths. It replaces many traditional os.path operations with path objects that encapsulate path semantics and related operations, improving readability and portability across operating systems.

The module introduces two main tiers: PurePath and Path. PurePath offers pure path manipulation without touching the filesystem, suitable for building and analyzing paths. Path is a concrete subclass that combines the same path operations with actual file I/O on the operating system. There are specialized classes such as PurePosixPath and PureWindowsPath that implement POSIX and Windows path semantics, respectively.

Path objects can be created from strings and joined using the slash operator or joinpath. They expose properties like drive, root, anchor, name, stem, and suffix, enabling convenient parsing and modification of paths. Common I/O operations include exists, is_dir, is_file, is_symlink, and stat. For filesystem modifications, Path provides mkdir, rmdir, unlink, and the broader functionality for creating and removing directories or files. The resolve method allows canonicalizing paths, with optional strictness.

Directory and content traversal is supported through iterdir, glob, and rglob, which yield Path objects matching patterns or recursively across a directory tree. Reading and writing file contents is straightforward via read_text, write_text, read_bytes, and write_bytes, with encoding options. Path objects can be converted to strings with str(path) or path.as_posix/as_posix for specific representations.

Pathlib emphasizes cross-platform compatibility, handling OS-specific path separators and conventions. It remains closely integrated with the rest of the Python standard library, complementing modules like os and shutil and offering a more expressive API for filesystem work.