std/path Spec

Path string manipulation on the POSIX / separator. Every function is pure string work: no filesystem access, no allocation beyond the returned String. The functions are built in Raven on std/string's String methods (length, substring, concat, char_at, starts_with, ends_with); the module import std/string and lets stdlib expansion merge it transitively.

Model

A path is a String whose components are separated by /. This is the only separator the module understands. Windows backslash (\) paths and drive letters are out of scope for v2.0; a \ is treated as an ordinary path byte.

Import

The functions have no natural single receiver, so they are free functions bound by a selective import:

import std/path { join, basename, dirname, extension, stem, is_absolute }

fun main() {
    let p = join("a/b", "c.txt")   // a/b/c.txt
    let d = dirname(p)             // a/b
    let f = basename(p)            // c.txt
    let e = extension(p)           // txt
    let s = stem(p)                // c
}

Surface

Function	Result	Notes
join(a, b)	String	join with a single /; never doubles when a ends with / or b starts with /. An empty operand returns the other unchanged.
basename(p)	String	final component after the last /, or the whole string when there is no /.
dirname(p)	String	everything up to the last /; "." when there is no /; "/" when the only / is at index 0.
extension(p)	String	substring after the last . in the basename, or "" when none. A leading dot (a dotfile such as .gitignore) is not an extension.
stem(p)	String	basename without its extension.
with_extension(p, ext)	String	replace the extension with ext (no leading dot); an empty ext removes it. A trailing dot counts as the separator, matching stem.
is_absolute(p)	Bool	whether p starts with /. The empty string is relative.
is_relative(p)	Bool	the negation of is_absolute.
components(p)	List<String>	the non-empty /-separated segments, in order; leading, trailing, and repeated separators drop out.
normalize(p)	String	resolve . and .. segments and collapse repeated separators, keeping a leading / for an absolute path. An empty relative result is ".". A .. that would escape a relative root is kept; one at an absolute root is dropped.

Indices are byte offsets, consistent with std/string. Paths are assumed to be valid UTF-8 with the separator and dot appearing only as their own single-byte ASCII forms.

Out of scope

• Windows \ separators, drive letters, and UNC paths.
• Filesystem queries (existence, canonicalization); those belong to std/fs.