In Python, how can I get the correctly-cased path for a file?

python windows filenames
Ned Batchelder picture Ned Batchelder · Sep 11, 2010 · Viewed 8.1k times · Source

Windows uses case-insensitive file names, so I can open the same file with any of these:

r"c:\windows\system32\desktop.ini"
r"C:\WINdows\System32\DESKTOP.ini"
r"C:\WiNdOwS\SyStEm32\DeSkToP.iNi"

etc. Given any of these paths, how can I find the true case? I want them all to produce:

r"C:\Windows\System32\desktop.ini"

os.path.normcase doesn't do it, it simply lowercases everything. os.path.abspath returns an absolute path, but each of these is already absolute, and so it doesn't change any of them. os.path.realpath is only used to resolve symbolic links, which Windows doesn't have, so it's the same as abspath on Windows.

Is there a straightforward way to do this?

Answer

Paul Moore picture Paul Moore · Sep 24, 2010

Ned's GetLongPathName answer doesn't quite work (at least not for me). You need to call GetLongPathName on the return value of GetShortPathname. Using pywin32 for brevity (a ctypes solution would look similar to Ned's):

>>> win32api.GetLongPathName(win32api.GetShortPathName('stopservices.vbs'))
'StopServices.vbs'

Related questions

Why do I get a SyntaxError for a Unicode escape in my file path?

The folder I want to get to is called python and is on my desktop. I get the following error when I try to get to it >>> os.chdir('C:\Users\expoperialed\Desktop\Python') SyntaxError: (unicode error) …

Read More
How can I install pip on Windows?

pip is a replacement for easy_install. But should I install pip using easy_install on Windows? Is there a better way?

Read More
How to add to the PYTHONPATH in Windows, so it finds my modules/packages?

I have a directory which hosts all of my Django apps (C:\My_Projects). I want to add this directory to my PYTHONPATH so I can call the apps directly. I tried adding C:\My_Projects\; to my Windows Path …

Read More