Node API: path

Describes the API provided by the Node API built-in path module, which supplies utilities for dealing with file and directory paths. Routines are provided for joining, parsing, and extracting bits of information from paths.

Summary

The default implementation of the path module supplies path logic for the operating system on which the program is currently running; specific implementations for POSIX and Windows are also provided. The module provides utilities for common path operations, including:

• basename(): Extracts the last portion of a path.

• dirname(): Extracts the directory portion of a path.

• extname(): Extracts the file extension from a path.

• isAbsolute(): Determines if a path is absolute.

• join(): Joins multiple path segments together.

• normalize(): Normalizes a path.

• parse(): Parses a path into an object.

• relative(): Determines the relative path between two paths.

• resolve(): Resolves a sequence of paths or path segments into an absolute path.

• toNamespacedPath(): Converts a path to a namespace-prefixed path.

• format(): Converts a path object to a path string.

Several configuration properties are also provided, including:

• sep: The path segment separator.

• delimiter: The path delimiter.

Specification compliance

This formulation of the Node Path API follows the official definition of the path module for Node version 21.7.3, which is current at the time of this writing. The specification for this API can be found here.

Differences in behavior between Node's implementation of this API are usually considered bugs; where this behavior is intentional, it will be noted in this section.

Behavior in Elide

Elide doesn't provide host I/O access by default, and in the case of embedded VFS use, paths are considered under Unix-style rules unconditionally. Most path function implementations use the underlying JVM NIO path utilities.

Further reading

• Node.js path module

• Java NIO Path