pathlib

pathlib

Inspired by Python's pathlib, made better by Golang.

pathlib is an "object-oriented" package for manipulating filesystem path objects. It takes many cues from Python's pathlib, although it does not strictly adhere to its design philosophy. It provides a simple, intuitive, easy, and abstracted interface for dealing with many different types of filesystems.

pathlib is currently in the alpha stage of development, meaning the API is subject to change. However, the current state of the project is already proving to be highly useful.

Examples

OsFs

Beacuse pathlib treats afero filesystems as first-class citizens, you can instantiate a Path object with the filesystem of your choosing.

Code

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"

	"github.com/chigopher/pathlib"
	"github.com/spf13/afero"
)

func main() {
	// Create a path on your regular OS filesystem
	path := pathlib.NewPathAfero("/home/ltclipp", afero.NewOsFs())

	subdirs, err := path.ReadDir()
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("%v\n", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}

	for _, dir := range subdirs {
		fmt.Println(dir.Name())
	}
}

Output

[ltclipp@landon-virtualbox examples]$ go build .
[ltclipp@landon-virtualbox examples]$ ./examples | tail
Music
Pictures
Public
Templates
Videos
git
go
mockery_test
snap
software

In-memory FS

Code

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"

	"github.com/chigopher/pathlib"
	"github.com/spf13/afero"
)

func main() {
	// Create a path using an in-memory filesystem
	path := pathlib.NewPathAfero("/", afero.NewMemMapFs())
	hello := path.Join("hello_world.txt")
	hello.WriteFile([]byte("hello world!"), 0o644)

	subpaths, err := path.ReadDir()
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("%v\n", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}

	for _, subpath := range subpaths {
		fmt.Printf("Name: %s Mode: %o Size: %d\n", subpath.Name(), subpath.Mode(), subpath.Size())
	}

	bytes, _ := hello.ReadFile()
	fmt.Println(string(bytes))
}

Output

[ltclipp@landon-virtualbox examples]$ go build
[ltclipp@landon-virtualbox examples]$ ./examples 
Name: hello_world.txt Mode: 644 Size: 12
hello world!

Frequently Asked Questions

Why pathlib and not filepath?

filepath is a package that is tightly coupled to the OS filesystem APIs and also is not written in an object-oriented way. pathlib uses afero under the hood for its abstracted filesystem interface, which allows you to represent a vast array of different filesystems (e.g. SFTP, HTTP, in-memory, and of course OS filesystems) using the same Path object.

Why not use afero directly?

You certainly could, however afero does not represent a filesystem object in an object-oriented way. It is only object-oriented with respect to the filesystem itself. pathlib is simply a thin layer on top of afero that provides the filesystem-object-orientation.