ntpath

ntpath is a Python standard library module that implements Windows-style path manipulation. It provides the Windows-specific backend used by the os.path module on Windows, with os.path selecting ntpath on Windows and posixpath on POSIX systems. The module operates on strings and offers routines for constructing, splitting, and normalizing Windows paths.

Key functionalities include functions for joining path components, splitting a path into head and tail, and breaking out drive letters or UNC prefixes. It supports Windows-specific features such as drive-letter paths (for example, C:\) and UNC paths (for example, \\server\share\...). It also offers normalization and case handling through normpath and normcase, and can determine whether a path is absolute via isabs. The typical set of operations mirrors other os.path backends, providing a familiar, portable API for Windows-style path processing.

ntpath handles Windows path semantics such as backslash separators, drive prefixes, and case-insensitive comparisons by normalizing paths to a canonical form. It does not perform any I/O or interact with the filesystem; it purely manipulates path strings. Because of its design, ntpath is primarily used to implement platform-appropriate path logic within Python programs that run on Windows.

Usage context and relationship to other modules: On Windows, os.path imports ntpath, making its functions available as os.path.basename, os.path.join, os.path.normpath, and so on. On non-Windows systems, os.path uses posixpath instead. This separation allows Python code to handle file paths in a platform-appropriate way while using a consistent API across environments.