Corectly convert from %PATH%=c:\\X; "c:\\a; b" TO ['c:\\X', 'c:\\a; b']

[chirayuk]

Hi,

I am trying to treat an environment variable as a python list - and I'm
sure there must be a standard and simple way to do so. I know that the
interpreter itself must use it (to process $PATH / %PATH%, etc) but I
am not able to find a simple function to do so.

os.environ['PATH'].split(os.sep) is wrong on Windows for the case when
PATH="c:\\A;B";c:\\D;
where there is a ';' embedded in the quoted path.

Does anyone know of a simple way (addons ok) which would do it in a
cross platform way? If not - I will roll my own. My search has shown
that generally people just use the simple split menthod as above and
leave it there but it seemed like such a common operation that I
believe there must be a way out for it which I am not seeing.

Thanks,
Chirayu.