Path & PathBuf - rust-course

Path and PathBuf use OsStr and OsString respectively to handle operating system paths to file systems. Path is thus a slice on a file system path, and PathBuf a path stored on the heap.

See Table 1 and Table 2 for lists of the most useful methods for these both types.

Table 1:Some methods of Path

Method	Description
`ancestors()`	Returns an iterator over all parent paths starting from this path.
`as_os_str()`	Returns the underlying `OsStr` slice.
`canonicalize()`	Returns the canonical & absolute form of the path with symbolic links resolved.
`components()`	Returns an iterator over all individual components of the path.
`display()`	Returns an object that can be used to safely print the path.
`ends_with(p)`	Tests if `p` is a suffix of this path.
`exists()`	Returns `true` if this path exists on the file system.
`extension()`	Returns the extension without the dot.
`file_name()`	Returns the final component, including any extension.
`file_prefix()`	Returns the start of the file name up to the eventual dot character. If the file name starts with a dot, it does not account as a termination.
`file_stem()`	Returns the final component, without the eventual extension.
`has_root()`	Returns `true` if this path has a root. Equivalent to `is_absolute()` on Unix.
`is_absolute()`	Returns `true` if this path is absolute.
`is_dir()`	Returns `true` if this path is a directory.
`is_empty()`	Returns `true` if this path is empty.
`is_file()`	Returns `true` if this path is a regular file.
`is_relative()`	Returns `true` if this path is relative.
`is_symlink()`	Returns `true` if this path is a symbolic link.
`iter()`	Returns an iterator over the components of this path, viewed as `OsStr` slices.
`join(p)`	Returns a `PathBuf` built from joining this path with `p`.
`metadata()`	Returns the Metadata (size, file type, ...) of this path.
`parent()`	Returns the `Path` without its final component.
`read_dir()`	Returns an iterator over the entries of a directory.
`read_link()`	Returns the `Path` pointed to by a symbol link.
`starts_with(p)`	Tests if `p` is a prefix of this path.
`strips_prefix(p)`	Returns the path without the prefix `p`.
`to_path_buf()`	Converts this path to a `PathBuf`.
`to_str()`	Converts this path into a string slice.
`to_string_lossy()`	Converts this path into a string with non-UTF-8 sequences replaced with `U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER` (�).
`with_extension()`	Create a `PathBuf` from this path by replacing the extension.
`with_file_name()`	Create a `PathBuf` from this path by replacing the file name.

The Path struct resides inside the std::path module. We declare it using the use keyword:

use std::path::Path;

The new() method can be used to create a new Path object from a string slice:

let file = Path::new("data/measures.tsv");

Couldn't automatically determine type of variable `file`.
Please give it an explicit type.

We can extract the file name from the path as following:

file.file_name()

The extension:

file.extension()

The name without the extension:

file.file_stem()

We can change the extension:

file.with_extension("txt")

Table 2:Some methods of PathBuf

Method	Description
`add_extension()`	Appends an extension to this path.
`as_path()`	Returns the underlying `Path` slice.
`clear()`	Empty this path.
`new()`	Creates a new empty path.
`pop()`	Truncates this path to its parent.
`push(p)`	Appends p to this path.
`set_extension(e)`	Replaces the current extension with `e`.
`set_file_name(f)`	Replaces the current file name with `f`.

The PathBuf struct resides inside the std::path module. We declare it using the use keyword:

use std::path::PathBuf;

The new() method can be used to create a new empty PathBuf object:

let mut file2 = PathBuf::new();

We can then add some path to it:

file2.push("README.md");
file2

We may also transform a Path instance into a new PathBuf instance:

file.to_path_buf()

36.2 Path & PathBuf