pathconcat

Pathconcat is a term used in computing to describe the operation of joining multiple path components into a single path string. It is closely related to, and often synonymous with, path joining or path normalization in various programming libraries. The goal is to produce a syntactically valid path for the target filesystem by combining fragments while accounting for separators and relative components.

In typical implementations, pathconcat takes two or more path segments and returns a normalized path. Behavior varies by platform: on POSIX systems, forward slashes are used; on Windows, backslashes and drive letters may influence the result. If a segment is absolute, many implementations reset the accumulated path to that segment. Relative parts such as '.' and '..' are resolved to produce a clean path, and duplicate separators are collapsed. Some variants preserve a trailing separator to indicate a directory path.

Common language examples include Python's os.path.join and the Path object in pathlib, Node.js path.join, and Go's filepath.Join. In practice, pathconcat cannot be relied on to access the filesystem immediately; it only builds the path string, and resolution to a real path may require additional normalization or filesystem querying (for example, resolving symbolic links).

Cautions: cross-platform code should use library-provided path concatenation functions to handle separator and case rules correctly. Relative imports or URL-like paths may require different logic, as URL paths follow their own rules distinct from filesystem paths.

See also: path joining, path normalization, abspath, realpath, join.