Python | os.path.join() method

The os.path.join() method is a method in the Python os.path module that is used to join one or more path components together into a complete path.

It takes one or more path components as arguments and returns a new path that is the concatenation of all of the individual path components.

For example, if you have a directory called /home/user and a file called file.txt, you could use os.path.join() to create the complete path to the file like this:

import os

path = os.path.join('/home/user', 'file.txt')
print(path)  # Output: /home/user/file.txt

One of the benefits of using os.path.join() is that it automatically handles the correct path separator for the current operating system.

For example, on Windows systems, the path separator is a backslash (), while on Linux and macOS systems, the path separator is a forward slash (/). os.path.join() takes care of using the correct separator for the operating system, so you don't have to worry about it.

In addition to joining path components together, os.path.join() can also be used to expand a relative path to an absolute path. For example, if you have a relative path like ../file.txt, you can use os.path.join() to expand it to an absolute path like this:

import os

path = os.path.join('..', 'file.txt')
print(path)  # Output: ../file.txt

# Expand the path to an absolute path
path = os.path.abspath(path)
print(path)  # Output: /home/user/file.txt

Overall, the os.path.join() method is a useful tool for working with file paths in Python.

It can help you create and manipulate paths in a platform-independent way, and make it easier to work with files and directories in your Python programs.