On 18/09/05, xah lee <xah@...> wrote:
> Python Doc Problem Example: os.path.split()
>
> Xah Lee, 20050918
>
> Quote from:
> http://www.python.org/doc/2.4.1/lib/module-os.path.html
>
> split(path)
> Split the pathname path into a pair, (head, tail) where tail is the
> last pathname component and head is everything leading up to that. The
> tail part will never contain a slash; if path ends in a slash, tail
> will be empty. If there is no slash in path, head will be empty. If
> path is empty, both head and tail are empty. Trailing slashes are
> stripped from head unless it is the root (one or more slashes only). In
> nearly all cases, join(head, tail) equals path (the only exception
> being when there were multiple slashes separating head from tail).
>
> This confusive verbiage is a result of the author's pretention in a
> austere style and his failure to think clearly before writing.
>
> Suggested rewrite:
>
> split(path)
> returns a pair (dirname,filename), where dirname is the part of
> path up to the last slash, and filename is the rest of the string after
> the last slash.
>
> Exceptional cases are:
> • if path is a single slash (or repeated), then path == dirname and
> filename is empty.
> • If the "last" slash is repeated, they are treated as one single
> slash.
> -----------
> This post is archived at:
> http://xahlee.org/perl-python/python_doc_os_path_split.html

Umm nearly - but the exceptions should be as follows:
* If the last slash is repeated, and it is not the first set of
slashes, it treated as single slash.
* If the path ends in a slash, filename will be empty
* It the path has no slashes, dirname will be empty.

This behaviour means that it preserves UNC names.

Cheers,
Danny
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