Python os.path.splitext() method

os.path.splitext() method is used to split the pathname into a pair (root, ext), where root is the part of the path before the file extension and ext is the file extension itself. It is particularly useful when you need to extract the file extension or handle files dynamically based on their type. os.path module is submodule of OS module in Python used for common pathname manipulation.

For example consider the following path names:

Example:

Let’s see a basic example of how os.path.splitext() works:

import os

file_path = "example_file.txt"

# Splitting the file path
root, ext = os.path.splitext(file_path)

print(f"Root: {root}")  
print(f"Extension: {ext}")  

Root: example_file
Extension: .txt

Explanation:

• The file_path is “example_file.txt”.
• The function splits it into root (“example_file”) and ext (“.txt”).

Syntax

os.path.splitext(path)

Parameters

• path: The complete file path, which can be relative or absolute.

Return Value

The method returns a tuple with two elements:

• root: The part of the path before the extension (file name without the extension).
• ext: The file extension, including the dot (e.g., .txt, .jpg, .py).

Example of os.path.splitext() method

1. Using os.path.splitext() to Split Path into Root and Extension

import os

# path
path = '/home/User/Desktop/file.txt'

# Split the path in 
# root and ext pair
root_ext = os.path.splitext(path)

# print root and ext
# of the specified path
print("root part of '% s':" % path, root_ext[0])
print("ext part of '% s':" % path, root_ext[1], "\n")


# path
path = '/home/User/Desktop/'

# Split the path in 
# root and ext pair
root_ext = os.path.splitext(path)

# print root and ext
# of the specified path
print("root part of '% s':" % path, root_ext[0])
print("ext part of '% s':" % path, root_ext[1])

root part of '/home/User/Desktop/file.txt': /home/User/Desktop/file
ext part of '/home/User/Desktop/file.txt': .txt 

root part of '/home/User/Desktop/': /home/User/Desktop/
ext part of '/home/User/Desktop/': 

Explanation:

• The example demonstrates how to use os.path.splitext() to split a file path into its root and extension parts.
• The first part of the code shows a path with a file extension, and the second part shows a path without a file extension (just a directory).

2. Path Without an Extension

If the file doesn’t have an extension, the function will return an empty string for the extension.

import os

file_path = "example_file"

# Splitting the file path
root, ext = os.path.splitext(file_path)

print(f"Root: {root}")  
print(f"Extension: {ext}")  

Root: example_file
Extension: 

Explanation: Since “example_file” doesn’t have an extension, ext will be an empty string.