On Dec 16, 8:30 pm, Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 17:02:04 -0800, Sandra-24 wrote: > > Comparing file system paths as strings is very brittle.Why do you say that? > > Are you thinking of something like this? > > /home//user/somedirectory/../file > /home/user/file > > Both point to the same file. > > > Is there a > > better way to test if two paths point to the same file or directory > > (and that will work across platforms?)How complicated do you want to get? > > If you are thinking about aliases, > hard links, shortcuts, SMB shares and other complications, I'd be > surprised if there is a simple way.
So would I. Maybe it would make a good addition to the os.path library? os.path.isalias(path1, path2) > But for the simple case above: > > >>> import os > >>> path = '/home//user/somedirectory/../file' > >>> os.path.normpath(path)'/home/user/file' The simplest I can think of that works for me is: def isalias(path1, path2): ... return os.path.normcase(os.path.normpath(path1)) == os.path.normcase(os.path.normpath(path2)) But that won't work with more complicated examples. A common one that bites me on windows is shortening of path segments to 6 characters and a ~1. -Dan -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
