pathlib.Path: glob and rglob should accept PathLike patterns

[ciupicri]

BPO	35453
Nosy	@serhiy-storchaka, @nanjekyejoannah, @isidentical, @ciupicri

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = None
created_at = <Date 2018-12-10.10:54:42.124>
labels = ['3.8', 'type-feature', 'library']
title = 'pathlib.Path: glob and rglob should accept PathLike patterns'
updated_at = <Date 2019-11-15.23:43:31.989>
user = 'https://github.com/ciupicri'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2019-11-15.23:43:31.989>
actor = 'BTaskaya'
assignee = 'none'
closed = False
closed_date = None
closer = None
components = ['Library (Lib)']
creation = <Date 2018-12-10.10:54:42.124>
creator = 'ciupicri'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 35453
keywords = []
message_count = 8.0
messages = ['331491', '331503', '331507', '331567', '343840', '356682', '356684', '356728']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['serhiy.storchaka', 'nanjekyejoannah', 'BTaskaya', 'ciupicri']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = None
stage = 'test needed'
status = 'open'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue35453'
versions = ['Python 3.8']

Linked PRs

• GH-79634: Accept path-like objects as pathlib glob patterns. #114017
• GH-79634: Speed up pathlib globbing by removing joinpath() call. #114623

[ciupicri]

pathlib.Path.glob and pathlib.Path.rglob don't work with os.PathLike patterns.

Short example:

from pathlib import Path, PurePath
# fails
tuple(Path('/etc').glob(PurePath('passwd'))) # TypeError
tuple(Path('/etc').rglob(PurePath('passwd'))) # TypeError
tuple(Path('C:\\').glob(PurePath('Windows'))) # AttributeError
tuple(Path('C:\\').rglob(PurePath('Windows'))) # AttributeError
# works
from os import fspath
tuple(Path('/etc').glob(fspath(PurePath('passwd'))))
tuple(Path('/etc').rglob(fspath(PurePath('passwd'))))
tuple(Path('C:\\').glob(fspath(PurePath('Windows'))))
tuple(Path('C:\\').rglob(fspath(PurePath('Windows'))))

[serhiy-storchaka]

This is for purpose. Path is not a glob pattern, and glob pattern is not a path. '*.txt' is aт ordinary file name on Linux and is invalid file name on Windows. If we wanted to accept Path in any place that accepts a string, we would make Path a subclass of str.

[ciupicri]

What if the pattern has some directories in it, e.g. "SourceArt/**/*.png", how do you compose it? The traditional way is to either hardcode the separator (e.g. / or \) or use os.path.combine. I don't see why PurePath can't be used for this, e.g. PurePath('SourceArt')/"**'/'*.png'.

[ciupicri]

Err, I meant os.path.join instead of os.path.combine.

[nanjekyejoannah]

Since this is not considered an issue, I will just add tests to confirm this behavior and close this.

[isidentical]

@nanjekyejoannah, are you still interested in adding tests or can i add tests?

[nanjekyejoannah]

@BTaskaya From what I see, there is no consensus yet.If you are interested in exploring, go on.

[isidentical]

From what I see, there is no consensus yet.

@serhiy.storchaka said this isn't an issue. I can add tests about this behavior (as you mentioned) or this issue can be directly resolved as not a bug. What are you thinking @nanjekyejoannah and @serhiy.storchaka?