Node.js v15.14.0 documentation

Windows vs. POSIX#

The default operation of the path module varies based on the operating system on which a Node.js application is running. Specifically, when running on a Windows operating system, the path module will assume that Windows-style paths are being used.

So using path.basename() might yield different results on POSIX and Windows:

On POSIX:

path.basename('C:\\temp\\myfile.html');
// Returns: 'C:\\temp\\myfile.html'

On Windows:

path.basename('C:\\temp\\myfile.html');
// Returns: 'myfile.html'

To achieve consistent results when working with Windows file paths on any operating system, use path.win32:

On POSIX and Windows:

path.win32.basename('C:\\temp\\myfile.html');
// Returns: 'myfile.html'

To achieve consistent results when working with POSIX file paths on any operating system, use path.posix:

On POSIX and Windows:

path.posix.basename('/tmp/myfile.html');
// Returns: 'myfile.html'

On Windows Node.js follows the concept of per-drive working directory. This behavior can be observed when using a drive path without a backslash. For example, path.resolve('C:\\') can potentially return a different result than path.resolve('C:'). For more information, see this MSDN page.

path.basename(path[, ext])#

• path <string>
• ext <string> An optional file extension
• Returns: <string>

The path.basename() method returns the last portion of a path, similar to the Unix basename command. Trailing directory separators are ignored, see path.sep.

path.basename('/foo/bar/baz/asdf/quux.html');
// Returns: 'quux.html'

path.basename('/foo/bar/baz/asdf/quux.html', '.html');
// Returns: 'quux'

Although Windows usually treats file names, including file extensions, in a case-insensitive manner, this function does not. For example, C:\\foo.html and C:\\foo.HTML refer to the same file, but basename treats the extension as a case-sensitive string:

path.win32.basename('C:\\foo.html', '.html');
// Returns: 'foo'

path.win32.basename('C:\\foo.HTML', '.html');
// Returns: 'foo.HTML'

A TypeError is thrown if path is not a string or if ext is given and is not a string.

path.delimiter#

• <string>

Provides the platform-specific path delimiter:

• ; for Windows
• : for POSIX

For example, on POSIX:

console.log(process.env.PATH);
// Prints: '/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/bin'

process.env.PATH.split(path.delimiter);
// Returns: ['/usr/bin', '/bin', '/usr/sbin', '/sbin', '/usr/local/bin']

On Windows:

console.log(process.env.PATH);
// Prints: 'C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Program Files\node\'

process.env.PATH.split(path.delimiter);
// Returns ['C:\\Windows\\system32', 'C:\\Windows', 'C:\\Program Files\\node\\']

path.dirname(path)#

• path <string>
• Returns: