README.md

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🛁 pathtub

Reading and editing Windows PATH variables and ensuring python finds your DLLs.

    ✅ Ensuring that a folder exists in Path.
    🔗 Ensuring that DLL(s) are found by python.
    🧽 Cleaning the PATH (duplicates, removed folders, sorting)
    ✏️ Adding or removing folders to/from Path (temporary or permanently)

Installing

pip install pathtub

Usage

• Ensuring folder is in PATH
• Ensuring that DLL(s) are found
• Cleaning PATH
• Rest of the docs
  • Getting path variables
  • Adding permanently to PATH
  • Removing permanently from PATH
  • Checking if folder is in PATH

✅ Ensuring folder is in PATH

from pathtub import ensure
folder_to_add = r'C:\something to add to path\folder'
# 1) Check Process PATH
# 2) Add to Process PATH if not found
# 3) Add also to User PATH (permanent), if 2) happens
ensure(folder_to_add, permanent=True)

What is ensure()?

ensure(folder) checks if folder is in Process PATH

• If folder is in Process PATH, does nothing
• If folder is not in Process PATH, adds it to Process PATH
• If folder is not in Process PATH and permanent=True, adds also to the User PATH or System PATH, depending on the permanent_mode.

⚠️ If you want to ensure a DLL folder is visible to python, use ensure_dll instead.

🔗 Ensuring that DLL(s) are found

• ensure_dll() is for making sure that python finds needed DLL's (and the DLL's find their dependencies, if any.)
• If folder is not yet added, it adds folder to Process PATH and, in case of Python 3.8+, also uses the os.add_dll_directory (More info). If folder is already added, does nothing.

from pathtub import ensure_dll
dll_folder = r'C:\path to\libusb-1.0.21\MS32\dll'
ensure_dll(dll_folder)

• Folders added with ensure_dll can be removed with forget_dll in the same process.
• More info related to ensure_dll here.

🧽 Cleaning PATH

from pathtub import clean
# Default parameter values shown
clean(sort=True, remove_non_existent=True, remove_user_duplicates=True)

What does it do

• Removes duplicates and empty entries (;;) from the "User PATH" and "System PATH" (trailing backslash neglected when comparing two folders). Editing "System PATH" needs that python is executed with Admin rights.
• Sorts PATH(s) alphabetically (optional, enabled by default). Controlled with the sort parameter.
• Removes folders from PATH(s) that do not exist on the filesystem (optional, enabled by default). Controlled with the remove_non_existent -parameter.
• Removing from "User PATH" the entries that are in the "System PATH" (optional, enabled by default). Controlled with the remove_user_duplicates-parameter.

Screenshots of User PATH before and after clean:

• For more detailed example, see Full example of pathtub.clean
• Full documentation of clean() is in the source code (pathtools.py).

Rest of the docs

Did not find what you were looking for? See the Rest of the docs.