Behaviour of os.path.join

[BlindAnagram]

On 27/05/2020 23:39, Roel Schroeven wrote:
> BlindAnagram schreef op 27/05/2020 om 22:55:
>> On 27/05/2020 18:42, Roel Schroeven wrote:
>>> BlindAnagram schreef op 27/05/2020 om 18:53:
>>>> Its not my bug to fix - the semantics of what I send is very clear on
>>>> any Windows system.
>>>
>>> That's the first time I see any mention of those semantics, and I've
>>> been using Windows since the Windows 3.1 days (and MS-DOS before that,
>>> since 3.2 IIRC).
>>
>> Well I can only say that I am surpised that anyone working on Windows
>> code development for as long as you have doesn't know that a path that
>> ends in '\\' is a path to a directory.
> 
> A path ending in a backslash cannot refer to a file, that much is true.
> So if you have such a path and you insist that path is not an incomplete
> path, than it must out of necessity be a directory. But a path not
> ending in a backslash can refer to a directory just as well.

I understand that directory paths do not necessarily end in a '\\'.

But I am NOT claiming that paths on Windows are paths to directories if
and only if they end in '\\' - there is only ONE 'if' in my claim.

And this can be refuted with a single counterexample.

> If those semantics are as clear as you say, it shouldn't be too
> difficult to point us to a section in the Windows documentation that
> confirms that.

I don't know whether, in the many gigabytes of MS documentation that
exists since Windows first emerged, this has ever been explicitly
stated.  And I am not going to look as it isn't important to me that
people accept my claim.  But I do find it interesting that it seems
important to others here that I should withdraw it.

[snip]

> I find no hints of adding a backslash at the end to indicate directories.
> If you can point me to convincing evidence in the documentation I'll
> change my mind.

And if you find a counterexample, I will change mine.

> I'm sorry if my language seems abrasive; that is not my intention. I'm
> only trying to help you and clear up a misunderstanding (which could be
> mine, if it turns out you're right after all).

No need to apologise, I don't have any problem with your input to this
exchange.