GitHub - netanel-haber/snakepath: Python's Pathlib in C99. Single header, STB style. Written with Claude Opus 4.5/6 and codex 5.2/3. Use at your own peril.

Snakepath: C99 STB-style header-only port of Python's pathlib. Passes CPython 3.12's own test suite. POSIX + Windows. No malloc (OS functions like opendir/stat may allocate internally). Vibe-coded with Claude Code + Cursor.

The original API was created by Antoine Pitrou.

u=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/netanel-haber/snakepath/main/snakepath.h &&
curl -sSLo snakepath.h "$u" &&
cat <<'EOF' | cc -xc - -o demo &&
#define SP_PATH_MAX 4096
#define SNAKEPATH_FLUENT
#define SNAKEPATH_IMPLEMENTATION
#include "snakepath.h"
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    SpPath boring = sp_path("/foo/bar.txt");
    printf("BORING API: %s\n", sp_name(&boring).buf);
    printf("BORING API: %s\n", sp_stem(&boring).buf);

    SpPath fluent = SPF("/etc")->join("nginx")->join("nginx.conf")->path();
    printf("FLUENT API: %s\n", sp_str(&fluent));
}
EOF
./demo
rm -f demo snakepath.h

Build & Test

cc -o build/nob build/nob.c && ./build/nob

Snakepath API Reference (api_demo.c)

/* compile: cc api_demo.c -o api_demo && ./api_demo
 * Creates a demo_tmp/ directory in cwd, cleans up on exit. */
#define SP_PATH_MAX 4096
#define SNAKEPATH_FLUENT
#define SNAKEPATH_IMPLEMENTATION
#include "snakepath.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>

static void section(const char *s) { printf("\n--- %s ---\n\n", s); }

static bool on_walk(struct SpWalkEntry *e) {
    printf("  %s/ (%zu dirs, %zu files)\n",
           sp_str(&e->dirpath), e->dirname_count, e->filename_count);
    return true;
}

int main(void) {
    SpPath tmp;

    SpPath p     = sp_path("/home/user/docs/report.tar.gz");
    SpPath posix = sp_path_f("/etc/nginx/nginx.conf", SP_FLAVOR_POSIX);
    SpPath win   = sp_path_f("C:\\Users\\dev\\file.txt", SP_FLAVOR_WINDOWS);
    SpPath base  = sp_path("/home/user");

    /* Fluent entry: SPF("path"), SPF_P("path"), SPF_W("path"), SPF_PATH(var) */

    /* ── Components ────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Components");

    /* .drive https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.drive */
    printf("  drive:   \"%s\"\n", sp_drive(&p).buf);
    printf("  (fluent) \"%s\"\n", SPF_PATH(p)->drive().buf);

    /* .root https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.root */
    printf("  root:    %s\n", sp_root(&p).buf);
    printf("  (fluent) %s\n", SPF_PATH(p)->root().buf);

    /* .anchor https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.anchor */
    printf("  anchor:  %s\n", sp_anchor(&p).buf);
    printf("  (fluent) %s\n", SPF_PATH(p)->anchor().buf);

    /* .name https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.name */
    printf("  name:    %s\n", sp_name(&p).buf);
    printf("  (fluent) %s\n", SPF_PATH(p)->name().buf);

    /* .stem https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.stem */
    printf("  stem:    %s\n", sp_stem(&p).buf);
    printf("  (fluent) %s\n", SPF_PATH(p)->stem().buf);

    /* .suffix https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.suffix */
    printf("  suffix:  %s\n", sp_suffix(&p).buf);
    printf("  (fluent) %s\n", SPF_PATH(p)->suffix().buf);

    /* .suffixes https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.suffixes
     * Returns ALL dot-separated segments, not just "real" extensions. */
    SpSuffixes sfx = sp_suffixes(&p);
    printf("  suffixes (%zu):", sfx.count);
    for (size_t i = 0; i < sfx.count; i++)
        printf(" %.*s", (int)sfx.items[i].len, sfx.items[i].data);
    printf("\n");

    /* Windows / POSIX flavor differences */
    printf("  win drive: %s, root: %s\n", sp_drive(&win).buf, sp_root(&win).buf);
    printf("  posix drive: \"%s\", root: %s\n", sp_drive(&posix).buf, sp_root(&posix).buf);

    /* ── Navigation ────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Navigation");

    /* .parent https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.parent */
    tmp = sp_parent(&p);
    printf("  parent:  %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));
    tmp = SPF_PATH(p)->parent()->path();
    printf("  (fluent) %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .parents https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.parents
     * Terminates at "/" for absolute, "." for relative. */
    SpParentsIter pit = sp_parents_begin(&p);
    SpPath par;
    printf("  parents (%zu):\n", sp_parents_count(&p));
    while (sp_parents_next(&pit, &par))
        printf("    %s\n", sp_str(&par));

    /* .parts https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.parts */
    SpPartsIter parts_it = sp_parts_begin(&p);
    SpStr part;
    printf("  parts (%zu):", sp_parts_count(&p));
    while (sp_parts_next(&parts_it, &part))
        printf(" [%.*s]", (int)part.len, part.data);
    printf("\n");

    /* ── Joining ───────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Joining");

    /* .joinpath https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.joinpath */
    tmp = sp_join_one(&base, "docs");
    printf("  join_one: %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));
    tmp = SPF_PATH(base)->join("docs")->path();
    printf("  (fluent)  %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    tmp = sp_join(&base, "a", "b", "c"); /* variadic, C only */
    printf("  join:     %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    SpPath other = sp_path("extra");
    tmp = sp_joinpath(&base, &other);
    printf("  joinpath: %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .with_segments https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.with_segments */
    const char *segments[] = {"var", "log", "nginx"};
    tmp = sp_with_segments(&base, segments, SP_ARRAY_LEN(segments));
    printf("  with_segments: %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));
    tmp = SPF_PATH(base)->with_segments(segments, SP_ARRAY_LEN(segments))->path();
    printf("  (fluent)      %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* ── Modification ──────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Modification");

    /* .with_name https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.with_name */
    tmp = sp_with_name(&p, "README.md");
    printf("  with_name:   %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));
    tmp = SPF_PATH(p)->with_name("README.md")->path();
    printf("  (fluent)     %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .with_stem https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.with_stem */
    tmp = sp_with_stem(&p, "archive");
    printf("  with_stem:   %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));
    tmp = SPF_PATH(p)->with_stem("archive")->path();
    printf("  (fluent)     %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .with_suffix https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.with_suffix */
    tmp = sp_with_suffix(&p, ".bz2");
    printf("  with_suffix: %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));
    tmp = SPF_PATH(p)->with_suffix(".bz2")->path();
    printf("  (fluent)     %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* ── Queries ───────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Queries");

    /* .is_absolute https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.is_absolute */
    printf("  is_absolute:    %d\n", sp_is_absolute(&p));
    printf("  (fluent)        %d\n", SPF_PATH(p)->is_absolute());

    /* .is_relative_to https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.is_relative_to */
    printf("  is_relative_to: %d\n", sp_is_relative_to(&p, &base));
    printf("  (fluent)        %d\n", SPF_PATH(p)->is_relative_to(&base));

    /* .relative_to https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.relative_to */
    tmp = sp_relative_to(&p, &base);
    printf("  relative_to:    %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));
    tmp = SPF_PATH(p)->relative_to(&base)->path();
    printf("  (fluent)        %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .relative_to(walk_up=True) */
    SpPath sibling = sp_path("/home/other/file.txt");
    tmp = sp_relative_to_walk_up(&sibling, &base);
    printf("  walk_up:        %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .match https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.match */
    printf("  match *.gz:     %d\n", SP_MATCH(&p, "*.gz"));

    printf("  is_reserved:    %d\n", sp_is_reserved(&p));

    /* ── Comparison ────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Comparison");

    SpPath a = sp_path("/foo/bar"), b = sp_path("/foo/bar");

    /* __eq__ / __ne__ */
    printf("  eq:   %d\n", sp_path_eq(&a, &b));
    printf("  ne:   %d\n", sp_path_ne(&a, &b));
    printf("  (fluent eq) %d\n", SPF_PATH(a)->eq(&b));
    printf("  (fluent ne) %d\n", SPF_PATH(a)->ne(&b));

    printf("  cmp:  %d\n", sp_path_cmp(&a, &b));
    printf("  hash: %lu\n", sp_path_hash(&a));

    /* ── String Conversion ─────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("String Conversion");

    /* .as_posix https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.PurePath.as_posix */
    char posix_buf[SP_PATH_MAX];
    sp_as_posix(&win, posix_buf, sizeof(posix_buf));
    printf("  as_posix: %s\n", posix_buf);

    /* .as_uri https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.as_uri */
    char uri_buf[SP_PATH_MAX];
    sp_as_uri(&p, uri_buf, sizeof(uri_buf));
    printf("  as_uri:   %s\n", uri_buf);

    SpPath converted = sp_path_convert("C:\\Users\\dev", SP_FLAVOR_WINDOWS, SP_FLAVOR_POSIX);
    printf("  convert:  %s\n", sp_str(&converted));

    /* ── Chaining ──────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Chaining");

    SpPath built = SPF_P("/home/user")
        ->join("projects")->join("snakepath")
        ->with_name("libsnakepath.so")
        ->path();
    printf("  %s\n", sp_str(&built));

    SpTerm fname = SPF("/etc/nginx/nginx.conf")->parent()->name();
    printf("  %s\n", fname.buf);

    /* ── Filesystem ────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Filesystem");

    /* Path.cwd https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.cwd */
    SpPath cwd = sp_cwd(SP_FLAVOR_NATIVE);
    printf("  cwd:        %s\n", sp_str(&cwd));

    /* Path.home https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.home */
    SpPath home = sp_home(SP_FLAVOR_NATIVE);
    printf("  home:       %s\n", sp_str(&home));

    /* .expanduser https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.expanduser */
    SpPath tilde = sp_path("~/docs");
    tmp = sp_expanduser(&tilde);
    printf("  expanduser: %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));
    tmp = SPF_PATH(tilde)->expanduser()->path();
    printf("  (fluent)    %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .absolute https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.absolute */
    SpPath dot = sp_path(".");
    tmp = sp_absolute(&dot);
    printf("  absolute:   %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .resolve https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.resolve */
    tmp = sp_resolve(&dot, false);
    printf("  resolve:    %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* ── Type Checks ───────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Type Checks");

    /* .exists https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.exists */
    printf("  exists:     %d\n", sp_exists(&cwd));
    printf("  (fluent)    %d\n", SPF_PATH(cwd)->exists());

    /* .is_dir https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.is_dir */
    printf("  is_dir:     %d\n", sp_is_dir(&cwd));

    /* .is_file https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.is_file */
    printf("  is_file:    %d\n", sp_is_file(&cwd));

    /* .is_symlink https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.is_symlink */
    printf("  is_symlink: %d\n", sp_is_symlink(&cwd));
    /* Also: sp_is_block_device, sp_is_char_device, sp_is_fifo,
             sp_is_socket, sp_is_mount, sp_is_junction */

    /* .stat https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.stat */
    /* sp_stat follows symlinks; sp_lstat does not */
    SpStatResult st = sp_stat(&cwd);
    printf("  stat size:  %lld\n", st.sp_size);

    /* ── File I/O ──────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("File I/O");

    SpPath tmpdir  = sp_join_one(&cwd, "demo_tmp");
    SpPath subdir  = sp_join_one(&tmpdir, "sub");
    SpPath tmpfile = sp_join_one(&tmpdir, "hello.txt");

    /* .mkdir https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.mkdir */
    sp_mkdir(&subdir, 0755, true, true);
    printf("  mkdir:   demo_tmp/sub/\n");

    /* .touch https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.touch */
    sp_touch(&tmpfile, 0644, true);

    /* .write_bytes https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.write_bytes */
    const char *msg = "Hello, snakepath!";
    SpIOResult wr = sp_write_file(&tmpfile, msg, strlen(msg));
    printf("  write:   %zu bytes (err=%d)\n", wr.bytes, wr.error);

    /* .read_bytes https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.read_bytes */
    char buf[256];
    SpIOResult rd = sp_read_file(&tmpfile, buf, sizeof(buf));
    buf[rd.bytes] = '\0';
    printf("  read:    \"%s\"\n", buf);

    /* .rename https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.rename */
    SpPath renamed = sp_join_one(&tmpdir, "renamed.txt");
    sp_rename(&tmpfile, &renamed);
    printf("  rename:  hello.txt -> renamed.txt\n");

    /* .chmod https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.chmod */
    sp_chmod(&renamed, 0600);

    /* .owner https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.owner */
    printf("  owner:   %s\n", sp_owner(&renamed).buf);
    printf("  (fluent) %s\n", SPF_PATH(renamed)->owner().buf);

    /* .group https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.group */
    printf("  group:   %s\n", sp_group(&renamed).buf);

    /* ── Symlinks ──────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Symlinks");

    SpPath link = sp_join_one(&tmpdir, "link.txt");

    /* .symlink_to https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.symlink_to */
    sp_symlink_to(&link, &renamed, false);

    /* .readlink https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.readlink */
    tmp = sp_readlink(&link);
    printf("  readlink: %s\n", sp_str(&tmp));

    /* .samefile https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.samefile */
    printf("  samefile: %d\n", sp_samefile(&link, &renamed));
    printf("  (fluent)  %d\n", SPF_PATH(link)->samefile(&renamed));

    /* ── Glob & Iterdir ────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Glob & Iterdir");

    /* .iterdir https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.iterdir */
    SP_ITERDIR_FOREACH(&tmpdir, entry)
        printf("  iterdir: %s\n", sp_str(&entry));

    /* .glob https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.glob */
    SP_GLOB_FOREACH(&tmpdir, "*.txt", match)
        printf("  glob:    %s\n", sp_str(&match));

    /* .rglob https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.rglob */
    SP_RGLOB_FOREACH(&tmpdir, "*.txt", match)
        printf("  rglob:   %s\n", sp_str(&match));

    /* ── Walk ──────────────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Walk");

    /* .walk https://docs.python.org/3/library/pathlib.html#pathlib.Path.walk
     * Callback-based, allocation-free, unlimited depth via stack recursion. */
    sp_walk(&tmpdir, true, false, on_walk, NULL, NULL);

    /* ── Error Handling ────────────────────────────────────────── */
    section("Error Handling");

    /* Operations that fail return SpPath checked with sp_path_is_error(). */
    SpPath no_name = sp_path("/");
    SpPath err = sp_with_name(&no_name, "x");
    if (sp_path_is_error(&err))
        printf("  with_name(\"/\", \"x\"): %s\n", sp_error_str(sp_path_error_code(&err)));

    sp_unlink(&link, false);
    sp_unlink(&renamed, false);
    sp_rmdir(&subdir);
    sp_rmdir(&tmpdir);

    return 0;
}

MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 202 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
build		build
docs		docs
.gitignore		.gitignore
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
README.md		README.md
api_demo.c		api_demo.c
snakepath.h		snakepath.h

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